Editors’ introduction: civic engagement and student learning in 2021 and beyond

Abstract

In 2000, the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities argued that universities and their communities have a reciprocal responsibility to one another, noting that one of the purposes of the university is to “help produce civicminded graduates who are as well prepared to take up the complex problems of our society as they are to succeed in their careers” (p. 17). During the past 20 years or so, however, declining rates of civic and political knowledge and engagement among young adults across the world have sparked calls to action as well as a strengthening commitment to teaching the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to sustain a democracy. At the same time, higher education has become harder to access for many populations. Millions of Americans live in “education deserts” that do not have geographic access to public colleges and universities. Even more people in rural and urban areas cannot secure a level of broadband Internet access required for online learning, and rising costs make higher education less attainable. The same lines that divide those who have access to education and those who do not have also often divided our citizenry in the polling place, and that division was more evident than ever in the 2020 election and its aftermath. On January 6 2021, as Congress was beginning the electoral vote count that would formalize the presidential election results, hundreds of people attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election results (Barry & Frenkel, 2021). Though then-President Trump was narrowly acquitted by Congress for incitement of the January 6 insurrection in a 57–43 vote (Montanaro, 2021), these events underscored the extent to which the foundations of democracy have been weakened. It is against this backdrop that educators across disciplines are faced with teaching challenges in an era in which populist values are on the rise, authoritarian governance is legitimized, and core democratic tenets are regularly questioned and undermined by leaders and citizens alike. A thriving and peaceful democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry, but such citizenship must be learned. On many campuses, the term “civic engagement” serves as a synonym for some form of reciprocal, community based, service-learning. However, it also encompasses efforts to advance the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed for effective political participation in a representative democracy. Due to a growing body of scholarship that highlights the political disaffection of American