If You Build It, They Will Come

Citizen engagement is a critical part of a democracy. As citizens engage with a democracy, they must possess the skills to critically examine information and couple it with the ability to exercise analytical skills. This will allow them to investigate information to discern truth from lies. In this chapter, the authors argue that higher education has a role in cultivating participation in the democratic process, as education is for the public good. Through democratic engagement, students will gain the skills needed to be informed citizens. Democratic engagement on campus done right has to have the proper infrastructure and intentional inclusion efforts.

Navigating the First Amendment in Higher Education and Supporting Students to Be Engaged Citizens

Higher education administrators continue to encounter ever evolving challenges related to the First Amendment on college campuses. As administrators encounter lawsuits ranging from protests, student media, student organization funding, campus speakers, and beyond, they must be equipped to navigate these scenarios. Ultimately, the key is gaining a better understanding of the history, relevant case law, tools to analyze the situation, and how the First Amendment may appear in their work. The chapter seeks to provide a foundation of knowledge related to the First Amendment and its application to higher education.

Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement in Student Affairs

This chapter explores the challenges, issues, and recommendations that student affairs practitioners should consider in order to implement constructive civic learning and democratic engagement on college and university campuses in the United States. The work of student affairs directly impacts the development of students. Yet, student affairs professionals and programs face challenges in collaborating with academic affairs, understanding and practicing political neutrality, and responding to the current issues of the day. With consideration of quality and successful programs, student affairs can continue to move the needle of impact forward through new learning opportunities throughout the college experience, including restorative justice efforts, housing and residence life programs, and collaborative university themes.

College Fraternal Organizations Offer Experiential Civic Learning and Engagement Opportunities

Fraternal organizations are a valuable component of the American higher education experience. Among the many benefits promised by fraternity and sorority organizations is that a student may be connected to a network of powerful leaders in business and politics. As self-funded organizations with democratic processes pulled from the U.S. system of government, fraternal organizations can serve a unique role in preparing college students for a life of civic engagement and democratic leadership. This chapter explores the potential for fraternities, sororities, and inter-fraternal organizations to offer a complimentary, highly personalized, and values-driven form of civic education that may be offered through higher education institutions.

Fulfilling the Democratic Mission of the Community College Through Student Civic Engagement

Community colleges are inherently democratizing institutions. Through their open access policies, immersion in their local communities, and mission of preparing students for transfer or the workforce, they are positioned to produce graduates who have the skills to become change agents in their communities. Incorporating civic engagement within the community college setting often presents steep challenges as a result of funding models, a national narrow-focus on completion and credential production, and the barriers their own students face. Yet despite these challenges, community colleges across the country are increasingly focusing on methods of encouraging the civic engagement of their students and are participating in high-impact practices. Research confirms that students who are engaged civically do better academically. By assessing their civic programming, community colleges can shine light on the value of civic engagement as a fundamental outcome of a community college education. Only then will these institutions fully realize their mission as America's democracy colleges.

First-Generation Students in Service-Learning Programs

First-generation students count for roughly one-third of the students enrolled in higher education in the United States. However, the retention and graduation rates for first-generation students are much lower than their continuing-generation peers. In this chapter, the authors employ a strengths-based approach to explore institutional service-learning models that lead to improved outcomes for first-generation students. By connecting extant research to practical applications at the institutional level, the authors provide readers with multiple models from which to develop a service-learning program based on first-generation students' assets and strengths rather than their perceived deficits.

Leading From the Top

Higher education institutions represent powerful structures that both empower and disenfranchise students, faculty, administrators, and communities, influencing the possibilities of progress and inclusion. This chapter focuses on the role presidents have as agents of ongoing engagement in civic and democratic ideals and efforts. In the midst of a global pandemic, police violence, racial injustice, and the conclusion to a divisive four-year presidency, 2020 presented college and university presidents with unique challenges on their campuses. Leading a campus is further complicated by competing interests and the identities of presidents themselves with most presidents identifying as white men in their 60s. Lastly, this chapter will share examples of best practices demonstrating ways in which presidents are driving democracy and civic engagement in varying ways centered in recent world events such as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, violent deaths of Black community members, and the presidential election.

Creating a Culture of Community Leadership

Many innovative higher education initiatives become ephemeral because they are not adequately integrated into the incentive structures of the academy. When an initiative is simply work, done without alignment to larger learning goals or the inducements faculty follow in seeking tenure and rank promotion, that initiative usually fails. Roughly 20 years into the era of civic skill-building focus in the academy, civic engagement is still at a place where it is ‘finding its way' at universities where it has been implemented. To fully integrate and become a stable, mission-central commitment, civic engagement must become something from which faculty, staff, and students can see the tangible benefits. Three developments in the evolution of civic engagement in the academy are hallmarks of the success intentional incentives have in advancing civic skill-building in college students. The chapter will focus on those three best practices of civic engagement: student civic engagement learning outcomes, incentives for faculty participation, and curricular integration.

Funding Democracy

This chapter focuses on the importance of budgets in higher education and their role in advancing civic engagement on college campuses. In a period marked by calls for societal change following the 2020 presidential election, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, higher education may be the only institution left to respond to society's ills. Institutions must find ways to deliver high-quality education safely, while also encouraging active civic learning as a part of the experience. Higher education's investment in civic education will be a key component to any response to the challenges facing America. Institutions must prepare to respond in kind during a period marked by financial uncertainty.

Empowering Students to Fight the Power

The mobilization of social movements within a higher education context have long been connected to one another, from the formation of the Civil Rights Movement to the recent protests over George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020. While these movements have commonalities with one another, they also have changed with the times, which include social media outlets offering new ways for people to engage. This chapter will introduce and explore the relationships between social media, activism, allyship, and identity in higher education today. The authors provide working definitions and examples of each concept to build understanding and highlight its importance to the overall chapter. They then leave the reader with a set of reflection questions to consider how these key concepts have shown up in their work with students.