Civic Responsibility: - Association of American Colleges and ...

Interestingly, other faculty members found too much—or too little—in the way of liberal political bias.
One faculty member argued, for example, “that the political content of the vast majority of these community
projects are left-liberal in their political leaning, and the sum of them adds up to an attempt at political
indoctrination” while another faculty member argued, “by and large, the most pressing and important
social issues are raised by a handful of students and faculty, but not sanctioned (and sometimes slightly
discouraged) by the university. These issues are … too politically ‘hot’ to be supported by the administration
since that might offend powerful politicians, corporate benefactors, etc.”
Faculty Cite Contradictions between Espoused and Actual Support
Faculty were also more likely than the other two professional groups to share their perceptions of
contradictions between espoused and actual support for their involvement in these efforts. One faculty
member discussed a new institutional focus on the scholarship of engagement, noting, “I think the
scholarship of engagement line was meant to help encourage being involved in the community, but has
thus far failed to do so meaningfully. It isn’t specific enough for students and faculty to get behind.” Another
pointed to administrators, in particular, saying, “I think there is a big disconnect between how the university
wants to be seen and how administrators behave.”
Others pointed to tenure and promotion issues, in particular. One faculty member noted, “The
university encourages all departments to make community connections. It is not, however, valued during
tenure review for new faculty.” A second faculty member argued, “Unless something like service learning
is explicitly tied to the promotion and tenure system (as an allowance that would be rewarded), I don’t see
any way to indicate that the university is serious about this. Most faculty will simply agree that it’s important
(how could they not) and then go on to ignore it. The power for making this part of [the institution] is
primarily in the hands of the administration, then.”
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association of american colleges & universities