Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

The Makings of a Public
manifold aspects of a problem itself as well as its consequences
for all concerned; and there is the meaning it has for all of us in
connection with our own ever-evolving values, concerns, and
purposes. When we look for the meaning of an event or a problem,
it is not just what it means but what it means for us. Earlier I described
how public deliberation helps elucidate the topography of
a problem. In fact, in deliberations a seemingly inordinate amount
of time is spent trying to understanding the problem itself (whether
it’s crime, immigration, the U.S. role in the world, or anything else).
This may be the case because understanding the problem, and its
meaning for us, is not just a matter of excavation and discovery but
also of creation and interpretation. In articulating what a problem
means for us, we also begin to articulate (both retrospectively and
prospectively) the meaning of “us”: who we are, what we want to
stand for, with whom we are in relation.
This hermeneutic, interpretive aspect of public deliberation
may explain how this work helps to create a public. Like the broken
limb that is healed in returning to its function, in bearing weight,
the public is formed by connecting disparate people through a
process of forging meanings that connect people to each other and
delineate possible courses of action. Any course of action will continue
the process of public formation, and so with trepidation and
anything but universal certitude we make our choices.
So what might be a civic relationship between the academy
and the public? I’d say that it might be for the academy to be an
ally in creating opportunities and ideas that support public making.
The new chapter in this relationship, as documented in the pages of
the Higher Education Exchange, has focused on creating new meanings
of public scholarship and resurrecting old civic missions of the
university as well as new opportunities to organize publics. But I
caution against this “organizing” model. The occasions are good
and welcome. But only a public can make itself into a public. If
someone else leads the effort, then the very idea of a public as a
creator of will and judgment is undermined. But the academy can
be an ally, in no small part by continuing its own research and teaching
with a newfound respect for public work.
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