Colleges and universities have developed increasingly sophisticated strategies for advancing civic and community engagement focused on student learning, social impact, and creating healthy and just communities. However, these strategies often remain siloed within institutions and across institutional contexts. A new joint planning effort led by the American Association of Colleges & Universities and Campus Compact will aim to organize these collective efforts nationally and more fully enable higher education institutions to support and advance democracy.
As a first step, we are convening a Design Team of campus leaders from across higher education. Design Team members will audit existing campus democratic engagement activities and programming to help build an understanding of the current landscape. The Design Team’s findings will lead to a guide that will enable other campuses to audit their work—and ultimately lead to the development of collaborative tools and resources to scale and streamline democratic engagement across colleges and universities.