Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Public Work at Colgate
about democracy. They understand that places like Colgate have
a civic mission and that colleges and universities need to produce
citizens.
People push back when we tell them that we are not going to
solve a problem, but want their son/daughter to learn to problem
solve with others. I would argue that 70 percent of our parents love
it and deeply understand why we do it. Thirty percent would rather
we not, but they understand the rationale. Eighty percent still push
when it is about their child, but we have gotten very good at explaining
the philosophy.
For example: a parent will call us because their son/daughter
is being kept up by a roommate. We explain that this is a great
opportunity for their son/daughter to learn how to get along with
people and to negotiate space—a fundamental skill of democracy.
A parent will respond by saying that they don’t care about civic
skills, they sent their child to college to get good grades so they
can get a good job. We spend lots of time trying to help parents
reexamine why we provide young people with an education—
especially a liberal arts education.
Of course, there is an irony. Civic skills are also great life skills.
While we are focused on students learning to run a meeting, work
with others, negotiate conflicts, do planning, parents also understand
these to be skills that will make them professionally successful.
I think we grossly underestimate how much Americans want
educational institutions to be relevant politically and civically. We
tend to sell ourselves for the economic impact—we produce good
workers and students who can fill jobs. Politically, higher education
would garner more national attention if we resold ourselves as
institutions that will produce citizens who can lead communities.
Brown: Changing any organization’s culture is difficult and
time consuming. Does the four-year window you have for most
students make that even harder?
Weinberg: Four years is fine. It would be better if students came
to college a bit later and/or came with a richer set of life experiences,
walking across difference and taking responsibility for themselves
and others. I would advocate for a year, or two, of national service
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