Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Agent of Democracy
PICO and Gamaliel networks. It is not, however, fully compatible
with a view of politics that puts economic injustice at the center
and emphasizes reforms in state policy. Compared to an economic-injustice
model, cultural politics is more respectful of actually
existing cultural traditions, more optimistic about people’s
capacity to create (even under current conditions), and more likely
to balance cultural values against economic ones.
In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld affirmative action as constitutional
if it enhanced the mission of a university (thus converting
Powell’s lone opinion into a 5-4 majority). The Michigan decision
was much influenced by supportive testimony from numerous
universities and by experiences with creative diversity during
the 1980s and 1990s.
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Recent Generational Change
I have described the developments in public scholarship
recorded in HEX as the fruitful result of an encounter between
Boomer academics and students born after 1965. Since 1994, however,
most Gen-X college students have moved on and members
of the Millennial Generation have replaced them.
Some of the undergraduates who were engaged in public
scholarship, service learning, or deliberation when HEX was
launched went on to obtain doctorates of their own. While that
group included people who became civically engaged professors,
many responded to the tight job market by becoming knowledgeworkers
outside academia. Their pragmatism, enthusiasm for collaborating
with lay publics, and resistance to large organizations—
all generational traits—encouraged them to work in nonprofits and
communities. Maria Farland wrote in HEX that these younger
PhDs were “going public” by working outside academia, and
therefore formed “the vanguard of an exciting professional
revolution.”
The scholars of my generation who have chosen to
leave academic professionalism as it is narrowly defined
within the university’s walls … address the
public, and public problems, in a language and style
that differ significantly from the highly specialized