Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Why This Book?
George Mason University, to reflect on a piece she had written for
HEX in 1998 providing an important, but neglected, story about the
“civic roots” of higher education. We agreed that there are far too
many in academia who are ignorant of such roots. Since it is difficult
to get more than lip service to the work of democracy in the
precincts of higher education, Snyder’s work has been indispensable
and she continues to explore the past and present civic dimensions
in the piece that she has written for the book.
Although Snyder acknowledges higher education has had
“multiple understandings” of a “civic mission,” she “privileges”
the “republican version of civic” over the “liberal individualistic”
version in which “the liberal citizen has individual rights but few
duties.” But because the liberal version currently prevails, she questions
the current adequacy of higher education’s civic mission. “If
democratic citizenship involves acting collectively to achieve common
goals, then what does higher education need to do to prepare citizens
for that task?” She remains uncertain that higher education will
“play its historic role in helping democracy work as it should.”
Chapter Three—Public Work
We wanted to include important perspectives that have
emerged from HEX, and Harry Boyte, codirector of the Center for
Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota, was
certainly the obvious choice as far as “public work” is concerned.
David Brown had just completed an interview with Adam Weinberg,
then Dean of the College at Colgate, and Weinberg reminded
him of how much Boyte’s concept of public work had influenced
his work with students at Colgate. As Boyte puts it:
Democracy is, in fact, a kind of work. Its labors occur
in multiple sites, enlist multiple talents in addressing
public problems, and result in multiple forms of common
wealth. The public works of democracy create an
environment of equal respect.
So Boyte’s piece and Weinberg’s interview, which follows it,
combine that concept with an excellent story about how one institution
put public work to work, so to speak.
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