Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Public Work at Colgate: An
Interview with Adam Weinberg
David Brown, coeditor of the Higher Education Exchange,
spoke with Adam Weinberg, Dean of the College at Colgate
University and a professor of sociology, to learn more about the
ongoing story of “public work” as it has emerged at Colgate.
Brown: To start off, Adam, can you describe the work that you
have been doing at Colgate?
Weinberg: It has been a seven-year process to rebuild campus
life at Colgate around principles of civic learning. We started by getting
about 400 students involved in a partnership with the local
community around economic development. We did everything from
work on a microenterprise program to help develop a “buy local”
campaign. That work led to about $15 million of investment in the
local community. We then launched an innovative community center
to move students from thin forms of service to deeper forms of teambased
community work.
Based on lessons learned from the community work, we launched
our residential education program, which has gotten a lot of national
attention. The basic idea was to “capture all the educational moments”
that take place as students’ time on campus. We have focused on
capturing the civic potential in residential halls, student organizations,
and other forms of everyday life.
It is really a very simple concept. Rather than getting students
to go through a one-size-fits-all program, we asked ourselves: What
are students doing outside the classroom? What do students want to
do? Can we tweak those things just a little to give them some educational
value? To get to this place, we have focused on getting students
to do what Harry Boyte and others call “public work.” Harry has a
great quote in his last book where he calls for educational institutions
to develop with young people the capacities and interest to
work with others to “negotiate diverse interests for the sake of
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