by Nancy S. Shapiro, PhD, Associate Vice Chancellor for Education and Outreach, University System of Maryland
As educators, we have a unique responsibility and opportunity to address the dangerous attacks on our democratic republic that we have experienced over the past year. Not only are we threatened by a world-class biologic disaster that requires every person to assume their duty for behaving responsibly, but we witnessed violent insurrection against the Capitol of the United States, brutal acts of violence against minority members of our society, and structural racism manifesting itself in voter suppression in multiple states.
This is a teachable moment if ever there was one, and none of us can be complacent in the wake of these imminent threats to our democracy.
Recently, Educating for American Democracy published an interactive tool/framework for teaching history and civics, The Roadmap to Educating for American Democracy, and while this roadmap is directed to K-12 public school teachers, there is much of value in it for higher education, as well.
Take for example the first set of challenges posed by the group: Motivating agency, sustaining the republic.[1] The Commission asked these questions:
1. How can we help students understand the full context for their role as citizens and civic participants without creating paralysis or a sense of the insignificance of their own agency in relation to the magnitude of our society, the globe, and shared challenges?
2. How can we help students become engaged citizens who also sustain civil disagreement, civic friendship, and thus American constitutional democracy?
3. How can we help students pursue civic action that is authentic, responsible, and informed?
Those of us in post-secondary education with the responsibility of setting goals and strategic plans for our systems are re-examining our role in educating for citizenship in a democracy. Motivating agency to sustain our republic: What could that look like?
University System of Maryland has accepted the challenge of educating for democracy. In his public statement on the horrifying events of January 6, 2021, Chancellor Jay Perman wrote:
I believe that we can, as a nation, move forward. And I believe this because I see in the students of the University System of Maryland the country’s next generation of leaders committed to our democracy—what George Washington called America’s “great experiment”—and to making a more perfect union, not through violence but through committed civic action.
U.S. colleges and universities—especially public universities—have a responsibility to educate students for ethical citizenship. We cannot look at what’s taking place tonight and feel anything but a sense of urgency around fulfilling this most basic contract.
In 2017 USM hosted a state-wide symposium, keynoted by Senator Barbara Mikulski, Civic Education, Civic Engagement, and Civic Responsibility: Foundations of a Democratic Society. Following the Symposium, the USM Board of Regents charged a workgroup to make recommendations for System and institutional commitments to the shared goal of educating for engaged citizenship.
We know that our democracy is strongest when we all participate. For democracy to work, more people need to participate, which is why the USM created #USMVotes, a voter registration and voter engagement initiative in 2020 leading up to the 2021 national elections. Every USM institution participated, and we published their activities through a System webpage, newsletters, and social media. In addition, we recruited students to join a USM Student Civic Leadership Committee and a USM Outreach Committee of institutional points-of-contact to share and disseminate engagement opportunities and amplify student voices.
Importantly, USM will measure whether we are successfully meeting our goal of educating our students for democratic citizenry using actual system-level voter engagement data. Every one of our USM institutions is a member of NSLVE (National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement), and we have a friendly competition to see which campuses have the highest percentage of students registered and voting in national elections.
This is not rocket science. If public higher education systems make civic education a priority—motivating individuals and institutions, recognizing those that have outstanding programs and outcomes, and broadly disseminating their results and commitment to this shared goal of educating for democracy—then we wield a powerful lever with which to preserve, protect, defend, and sustain our republic.