Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Public Work at Colgate
Weinberg: Residential education allowed us to think anew
about old problems. It also sent a message that we were going to
take ourselves more seriously, wade into the middle of national
conversations, be relevant and a bit edgy, and try to lead the country.
This had a huge impact across the university. Admissions applications
were up 20 percent last year. This is a huge leap and more than
peer schools. We yielded really well the last two years. We suspect
that we are becoming a hot school within important pipelines for us.
We have also had two great fundraising years. Fundraising is
changing. Younger alumni are more investment oriented. They want
to make sure that their dollars have an impact. We are finding that
our alumni increasingly care about civic learning. They are worried
about the lack of civil discourse in America and the global challenges
and opportunities for democracy. They are excited about
residential education. We are getting great applications for student
affairs jobs. Most student affairs people know the professionalized
service model does not work. They are excited to come to a place
that is building campus life around principles of civic learning.
Brown: Getting back to your observation that most students
come to Colgate having never shared a room with anyone, having
led very structured lives organized by their parents and other adults,
and having grown up in homogeneous neighborhoods. If these are
obstacles for what you and others are trying to change at Colgate,
does this mean that the mix of those recruited and admitted will
undergo change too?
Weinberg: I hope not. I don’t want Colgate to become a success
through skimming. Or put more crassly, I don’t want to put the
hoop over the dog (as opposed to teaching the dog to jump through
the hoop.) Colgate attracts great students, many of whom will go
on to make a difference in the world. The problem is not the students.
The challenge is to take students who have grown up in noncivic
communities, and to equip them with the capacity and skills to be
citizens, community organizers, and democratic leaders.
Brown: When you speak of administrators, staff, and residential
advisors getting out of the way and letting students take
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