Document Type
Report
Publication Date
1999
Abstract
As presidents of colleges and universities, both private and public, large and small, two-year and four-year, we challenge higher education to re-examine its public purposes and its commitments to the democratic ideal.We also challenge higher education to become engaged, through actions and teaching, with its communities.We have a fundamental task to renew our role as agents of our democracy. This task is both urgent and long-term. There is growing evidence of disengagement of many Americans from the communal life of our society in general, and from the responsibilities of democracy in particular.We share a special concern about the disengagement of college students from democratic participation. A chorus of studies reveals that students are not connected to the larger purposes and aspirations of the American democracy. Voter turnout is low. Feelings that political participation will not make any difference are high. Added to this, there is a profound sense of cynicism and lack of trust in the political process.
Recommended Citation
Campus Compact, "Presidents’ Declaration on the Civic Responsibility of Higher Education" (1999). Higher Education. 14.
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/slcehighered/14