Civic Honors: April 2003 Archives

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April 29, 2003

Interview with Andrew R. Cline

The Civic Honors Project got to interview Andrew R. Cline who is a former journalist. Andrew R. Cline is a rhetoric scholar and adjunct professor of English at Park University near Kansas City, Missouri. If you are a frequent vaster of The Rhetorica Network you know of its unique perspective that comes from the interdisciplinary focus on both English (Rhetoric) and Political Science. If you have a chance to look around Rhetorica make sure to check out the Presidential Campaign Rhetoric 2004 and the Critical Meter.

1. Looking at idea criticism and how issues are compared and deconstructed, do you think the ideas of civic engagement and participation within civil society are only compared and not deconstructed?

Deconstruction is a scary word for some people because is suggests to them a kind of post-modern relativism. Instead, we may think of it as a method of critical thinking--specifically of looking at the historical situations, power relationships, and contradictions, of a message. We might also use the term "breaking down" as a catch-all description for any deep analysis of how something--a text, an idea--works.

That "works' part is where rhetoric comes in. An idea or message must be accepted in some way in order to work as the speaker intends.

Okay, now let me consider the question. For the most part, yes, discourse in the public sphere about civic issues mostly engages in comparison. Such discourse compares the ideology of an idea so that it may be classified in a particular socio-political slot that is acceptable to the culture, e.g. "Civil unions for gays is a moral issue" versus "Civil unions for gays is an economic issue." Or the discourse may compare an idea to expected socio-political outcomes, e.g. "A tax cut will stimulate the economy" versus "A tax cut will hamper the economy." Such comparisons can be mapped to standardized ideological positions, i.e. liberal versus conservative.

Rarely, however, do we find discourse in the public sphere that attempts to break down ideas, i.e. to get at the heart of social/political/cultural assumptions and questions them. We take it for granted, for example, that people of other cultures will embrace our form of economy and government if only they have the chance to try it.

2. How is rhetoric important in talking about an issue like graduation with civic honors, does the presentation of the message really matter?

Any change you want to make in the world has to be sold. For the idea of civic honors to mean anything--to students, to faculty, to employers, to civic leaders--the value of it will have to be created and then sold. So the presentation means everything because it is part of both creation and persuasion.

3. Does using rhetoric techniques enhance the ability to communicate a message to the masses on a topic like volunteerism and should that message be focused at the volunteer or the media?

I'm detecting in this question a couple of misconceptions about rhetoric. First, there is no zero-grade rhetoric. In other words, all human messages carry at least some minimum rhetorical energy. I would argue from that assertion that all human utterances are fundamentally rhetorical in that some persuasive intent exists in all messages.

Second, too often rhetoric is thought of merely as style, i.e. the dress (tropes and schemes) one uses to make and present a message well. Rhetoric is so much more than that. There are five canons to rhetoric according to the ancient system, and style is just one of those five.

The focus of a message, in terms of the audience to be reached, must be determined based on the persuasive intent. So there is no way to choose a volunteer audience versus a media audience until one knows what one wants to achieve.

I think it's safe to say that both audiences are important and will require message crafted to specifically for each.

4. Can programs aimed at benefiting society present a message that resonates with individuals within the community or have such messages, crafted to spur volunteerism or generate support for programs, been desensitized through overuse?

Well, that's one way to state the problem all PR and advertising professionals face: How do we make the same old thing seem new? Actually, I think selling the idea of civic honors benefits from our current political situation. We're hypersensitive about patriotism right now. What better way to sell a beneficial program than link it to civic pride, patriotism, and enduring values/symbols?

5. How important is the community advocate in spreading the message of a program to the community? Without a strong advocate can the message still get out?

This is a question about ethos--the appeal to character. This will remain a strong appeal in American society as long as we look up to heroes. It would be impossible to sell $200 sneakers without Michael Jorden. I think it's difficult to sell a program without a balance of appeals, including ethos. So, yes, I'd say a strong community advocate--someone well-known and respected--is essential to any such message.

In the absence of such an advocate, such a message can certainly get out. We should be speaking in terms of messages, i.e. multiple appeals to multiple audiences.

6. With revolutions in technology bringing people together every day will this technology increase civic participation or simply contribute to fragmentation of it?

I think the most accurate answer to the question of the impact of technology on civic participation is: We don't know yet. We do know that the introduction of a technological advance in moving information creates a space that needs to be filled. When the first telegraph wire was strung between Baltimore and Washington D. C., no one was sure what to do with it. By the end of the first week, news was traveling at light speed between the two cities.

We can see now how radio and television have changed the way we get and use information.

As for the internet, we're just at the early stages.

I think there is some evidence that the internet increases civic participation. These include:

1- Collecting campaign contributions and soliciting volunteers.
2- Vote swapping.
3- Blogs and other forms of online talk.
4- Government sites that offer once hard-to-get information.
5- Inter-active government sites ("Ask the White House" for example)
6- E-mail lists.
7- Grass roots organizing.

Will such things fragment participation? Almost surely. But I'm not sure that's saying much. Fragmentation is a phenomenon of our post-modern age. It's difficult to imagine how we might operate today in a homogeneous environment.

7. What is the best way to measure the change a program makes within the community?

Good ol' fashioned policy analysis and performance auditing.

8. Is it important to have a positive message when dealing with the topics of volunteerism and civic engagement?

That depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

For example, the North Kansas City School District just lost another tax levy. I contend they lost, and have lost several times, because the campaigns they run are too nice. Their opponents run "dirty" campaigns and win most of the time. By "dirty" I mean they are not shy about sticking it to the opposition, spinning facts to suit their needs, and using emotional appeals to scare their constituents into voting against further taxes. To counter this, the NKCSD has to get tough--run a hardball campaign. But they won't do it. I've actually had members of the Citizens Committee in charge of the campaign tell me that they don't want to make anyone angry. Sheesh!

In this case, civic engagement means getting your people to the polls and, if possible, suppressing the opposition's vote. You can't do that with positive message alone.

As for volunteerism, I think the great example of how to use a positive message well is the Kennedy administration's selling of the Peace Corps.
Get them to feel good about themselves. Get them to feel patriotic. Great tactic.

But I can see how a negative message could work, too--one aimed at some evil force that needs to be thwarted by volunteer action. Many of the Save-The-Children type programs operate this way--with veiled bad guys and emotional appeals to help before disaster strikes.

9. Do you think allowing students to graduate with civic honors for volunteering in the community is a good idea?

I think it's an excellent idea. My only reservation is this: What percentage of students will merely see this as a resume-building opportunity? Not that there's anything wrong with resume-building. But it seems to me that such a program should aim for higher goals in results, i.e. encourage volunteerism and community service as life-long activities and positive values in their own right.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank Andrew R. Cline for bringing persepctive to the issue and more importantly, the ideas that The Rhetorica Network has inspired.

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April 28, 2003

Thoughts on Civic Honors

Imagine a world where anyone who wanted to volunteer some of their time had one place they could go to find out how to participate. Understating that individuals are all different and that bringing all of their individual strengths, capacity, and skill specialization will benefit the community. Imagine if you will, a world where there was no gap between the individual who wanted to benefit society and the organization that desperately needed their help. A world of accessible information created by universities an organization with potential to make this world a reality. This is something that is not only possible but also could be achieved quickly if the time and effort are put into the program. This is an idea that can quickly become reality if the right motivation and intentions are used to view the potential of what can be achieved. It is possible to motivate individuals within the community by focusing on their civic attitudes and participation within the community. It is very important to be able to start designing the civic honors program with the end in mind. One of the first steps is being able to identify how the program can develop into the vision of what is possible.

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Thinking about E-Community

The other day listening to a discussion of bringing community into the technological revolution the audience seemed to be very focused on the internet and technology as a means to exchange information and get in touch but they argued that it was not an avenue to build community. Working with the Civic Honors Project from my experience I would argue the opposite assumption is true based on the rational that information exchange is a great form of communication and is the basis of quality discussion based on mutually acquired information and interest. However lets think for a moment about an example of building community.

Robert has always attended his homeowner association meetings and wanted to find out more about his community. Since meetings only happen once a month for the city and other groups are spread out all over the city Robert wanted to find somewhere to get immediate information and results. If the city had an online community that held information and the potential for interaction Robert could not only find out information. Robert would have transcended his community of place with an addition of a community of interest in interacting in the E-Community.

The next generation of individuals within the community will be online savvy and the expectation for the ability of immediate interaction is on the rise. Individuals within the online community expect to be able to send E-mail post to bulletin boards and find discussion threads about anything and everything they would want to read about. In fact if somebody within the community finds a topic that is not being discussed a new webpage and bulletin board are not far away as the technology has become decentralized and anybody can put together a digital commons for the purposes of communication.

Understanding that anybody within the community can create a forum for discussion it then becomes imperative for the community to create its own forum. Without a centralized discussion of the community in one place fragmentation of the community within different groups will occur and the ability for mass communication will be lost as a struggle to communicate occurs. If Robert could simply go to the city or country online discussion find the answers to questions and even learn about new organizations and meetings online discussion is not the focus is it is becomes the foundation of building a supplemental network.

Not everyone can attend every meeting within the community and sometimes those individuals get lost within the cracks of the system if they cannot find some avenue of getting the information. What do you think about the value of online communities within modern society, are they supplemental or are they going to become the norm?

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April 27, 2003

Interview with Jean Bethke Elshtain

Recently the Civic Honors Project had the opportunity to interview Jean Bethke Elshtain who is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago and is the author of Democracy on Trial.

1. Is civic engagement declining in modern American society, and does it matter?

It appears to be, if we can trust the empirical data. It matters because the American democracy has been so uniquely dependent on citizen engagement. Toqueville here.

2. How important is volunteering to a community as a whole in the long term?

Without the hands-on efforts of platoons of volunteers, community life in all its aspects would be immensely poorer and more isolating. I don't think we can even measure it--it is so significant in so many ways, many not entirely visible to us--all those tendrils reaching out and attaching us to one another.

3. How does civic participation change the dynamics of the community?

The more participation there is, the more there is, so to speak. That is, civic participation becomes a developed habit. When people do it, they not only get the habit of it, they help to form others in this way of being a community citizen.

4. Can programs like graduating with civic honors help change the level of civic participation in the community?

I actually doubt that. Civic engagement -- by that I don't mean mobilizing people for a narrowly partisan purpose, I don't think that should be part of a curriculum, but teaching civic habits, yes--should be recognized and certainly informally honored. But once you grind it up and put it in a curricular structure in a formal sense, it loses much of its authentic character, becomes more 'professionalized.'

5. Readings on engagement and civil society often talk about the changes that are occurring within society, what are the best alternatives suggested to increase engagement in civil society?

To form children in civic knowledge and habits. This formation must take place early on--in grade school, middle school, high school. Really getting at this dimensions of the passing on of a civic tradition is what we need most desperately.

6. What kind of vision does it take at the community level of leadership to be able to motivate individuals to volunteer?

A vision that understands that we can come to know a good in common we cannot know alone; that it is vital to engage with others in a variety of contexts. It doesn't require any comprehensive 'public philosophy',.just a rough and ready civic disposition.

7. Is it possible to nurture trends in volunteering at the national level or do will it take the vision of regional and local organizations?

The smaller the better. Mostly the government shouldn't get in the way. But the government contributes by helping to lift up politics as the way a free people does the people's business. And a clearer animation of the polity by our most enduring principles--that, too, helps. I think more of that has been done and is being done since 9/11. Too bad we needed that plenary jolt to think again about the necessity of civic transmission.

8. If you were thinking about what is possible within communities what is the one thing that would stick out as being most important to try to accomplish?

I refer back to my question about civic education.

9. How does collaboration at the national and local level impact volunteering efforts?

It helps to strengthen it, so long as one doesn't get highly professionalized NGOs trying to run the show.

10. How can programs be designed to take into account both large and small communities while still building models that will be successful nationally?

Reading Catholic Social Thought would help! It's all there in the so-called doctrine of subsidiarity. Try JPII's encyclical, "Centesimus Annus". I'm serious! This is uncannily apt to our situation.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank Jean Bethke Elshtain for the interview and more importantly, the ideas that Jean's writing has inspired.

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April 26, 2003

Interview with Peter Levine

The Civic Honors Project had a chance to interview Peter Levine who is a research scholar at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland and deputy director of CIRCLE: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement. Peter Levine is also involved in several online projects, which have caught our attention, especially the Weblog.

1. Can locating information and discussion about ideas related to civic engagement on the Internet help strengthen voluntary nonprofit organizations like the civic honors project?

To a limited extent, yes. Today, the best scholarly work is still found in books, and to a lesser extent in peer-reviewed journal articles than tend not to be posted online. So if you want scholarly information and analysis, there is still no substitute for a library. But it depends on what questions you are trying to answer. You may be able to get a good project together without much research at all.

2. How important is encouraging civic engagement of young Americans to developing long term changes within society?

If we do not reverse declines in civic engagement among young people, those who are least advantaged will continue to drop out, leading to an electorate than more and more perfectly reflects the values and interests of the wealthy and best educated in our society. That will be a "change"--but not a good one, in my view.

3. Are organizations like the National Alliance for Civic Education�s online presence the future of discussion on civil society?

Almost all the best conversations I am involved with are face-to-face. Websites and weblogs tend not to be visited and re-visited often enough to sustain good discussions. Email exchanges and listservs are OK, although the amount of text involved tends to be small. Meetings, conferences, and conference calls remain essential.

4. Will programs like graduation with civic honors help to enhance a beneficial commons for civil society that helps motivate citizens to be involved?

(I'm not sure what "commons" means here.) Will the program motivate citizens to be involved?--I hope so. Since we already have a cadre of highly involved young people, the question is whether the uninvolved and alienated will be motivated by a new honors program. It's worth trying.

5. How will civil society moving toward the Internet change the way information is exchanged and organizations try to encourage volunteerism?

This is a complex question, and the answer is uncertain. My argument has been that volunteers are motivated by face-to-face, human ties and community membership. The Internet sometimes substitutes distant and ad hoc relationships for such ties. Thus I would tend to predict that the Internet will reduce the level of volunteerism, all else being equal. Clearly, it is nice to have online databases of local volunteer opportunities. However, the most common barrier to volunteering is not a lack of information about opportunities; it is a lack of motivation. I don't think that websites are usually very motivating.

6. Does your background in philosophy help define your perspective on how volunteerism benefits civil society?

My philosophical position would be something like this: (1) Volunteerism is an inadequate form of civic engagement, because it replaces political action with service, which does not address the root cause of problems or tap the political capacities of the volunteers. (2) Civic engagement should be cultivated for two reasons. First, if we don't deliberately teach it, the least advantaged among us will be the first to disengage, leading to political inequality later on. Second, civic participation is a good human activity. It is not the only or highest good activity: theoretical reflection, spiritual contemplation, appreciation of nature, creation of art, and care for family members are some of the other activities that are inherently good. All of these ends or projects are preferable to the forms of life that are more frequently advertised to young people: consumerism, athletics, and sexual gratification. Moreover, we cannot teach activities connected to spirituality or care for family in public schools. Therefore, we ought to teach civic engagement (along with art and science) so that it is an option available to young people.

7. Has your path through higher education motivated your work in developing creative commons environments and working to strengthen civic engagement?

The commons idea is a fairly sophisticated concept that I probably would not have encountered outside of the academy (at this early point in the history of the idea). Moreover, universities at their best are creative commons, so I suppose I have been inspired by academic ideals.

I have been consistently interested in civic engagement since my years in college, when I helped start a financial program to encourage volunteering and also interned for the Kettering Foundation.

8. Can programs that reward volunteerism like graduating with civic honors make a long-term difference within society?

Again, I am not thrilled about volunteerism, which often substitutes for political engagement or community problem-solving, and which often has a patronizing aspect. Programs that increase civic engagement (more broadly defined) could change both the nature of the electorate and their styles of participation for a long time to come. This is because habits of engagement or disengagement tend to be set in the years between 15 and 25.

9. Looking at the development of the Internet and the changes in ways people communicate what is the next step for online volunteerism?

It would be good to see people in local communities creating high-end public goods online, such as video documentaries, databases of local assets, oral history projects, news sources, and structured deliberative forums. This is what we are trying to do here: www.princegeorges.org. We also need to encourage people to create and give away open-source software of public value.

10. Why do you think volunteerism and civic engagement transcend modern politics as issues that bring people together?

Do you mean, "Why do people volunteer together, even when they disagree?" That's because volunteering is often non-controversial, whereas politics is the method we use to solve disagreements. Or do you mean, "Why do people across the ideological spectrum come together to support volunteerism and civic engagement?" I think the answer to that question is that there is usually more agreement about the processes and requirements of democracy than there is about any particular issue that politicians debate. Furthermore, volunteerism is "soft" and unthreatening. Note, however, that the Corporation for National Service was highly controversial during the years of the Clinton administration, when many Congressional Republicans attacked federal promotion of volunteering as an inappropriate use of public money.

The Civic Honors Project would like to thank Peter Levin for his time and more importantly, the ideas that his writing has inspired.

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April 25, 2003

Civic Engagement and Celebration, Florida

I was introduced to ideas behind the city of Celebration Florida, �The heart of CELEBRATION is a commitment to community, education, health, technology, and a sense of place. These cornerstones form the building blocks for the dynamic and special place we call home.� J. Geoffrey Mouen of Geoffrey Mouen Architects being the former city architect of Celebration, Florida Geoffrey was not only elegant in explanation of some very technical architecture but a very well rounded speaker.

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April 24, 2003

Bill Hansell former Executive director of ICMA

Listening to Bill Hansell former Executive director of ICMA discuss the issue of The City Manager as a Community Builder he addressed several interesting ideas that are worth repeating. Talking almost exclusively about a book written long ago in a far away land the 1970�s called �WE the lonely people searching for community,� by Ralph Keyes who defines his book with this statement, "We, the Lonely People explores the loss of community in America. It considers the ways in which we are trying to rediscover a sense of community in rock concerts that become family for a few hours, shopping malls where we search for familiar faces, and talk shows with familiar voices. Instead of settling for "throwaway intimacy," Keyes encourages readers to become more direct about their need for one another and cultivate the communities that are already sprouting in laundromats, self-help groups and corner pubs." Bill Hansell brokedown the book in the following differnt lists and discussions.

The idea that we have lost the sense of what it means to value community through the expression of rhetoric of individual persons can make a difference. The sense of community was defined around the idea of being known to others and the ability to find intimacy in others around the individual. The benefits of valuing community were expressed as a community of place built around the notions of small communities where everybody knows everybody else, which results in rigidity and heightened social norms. A complete lack of privacy where gossip is the primary exchange of information. Hansell then talked about individuals no longer looking for community in places the idea that anonymity bring a great deal of freedom because you can for the most part do what you want to do.

1. Literacy causes a breakdown of intimacy
2. Professionalism has to be objective and fair
3. Modern mobility causes jobs not to be routed in community
4. An individual�s great desire for privacy
5. Connivance ended the corner grocery store

Communities of place have been replaced with virtual communities like 7-11, which is uniform in design and product placement feel like you are home at all, times, creating a feeling of comfort away from home. Interest groups are building around community this workshop over the few days we are here will become a community. Some definitions of community were then through out: where you share love and joy, live together and share, feel like you have good extended family, Robert Frost was quoted as, �Home is where they have to take you in,� place where you are stuck with someone, where the group is more important than individual relationships, in a single collective judgment everyone is welcome.

Hansell then listed the three types of community as, communities of place, interest, and situation. Specifically focusing on the idea of communities of place and taking care of physical place, today�s criteria for place are more complex than before, even our words are more complex, sprawl, access, resource efficiency, smart growth all part of a vocabulary of complexity. How do we then go about balancing all of this?

North Central Texas Council of Governments Criteria:

1. Development options; land use types
2. Efficient growth; refill with new investment
3. Design street spaces
4. Housing choice
5. Activity centers
6. Environmental stewardship
7. Quality places; design component
8. Transpiration efficiency; movement
9. Resource efficiency
10. Implantation of design

Talking about the other side of human community and the human potential movement the ideas of being known, having intimacy, enjoying groups, and feeling safe are important to understanding community.

Sense of Community Strategies listed by Bill Hansell:

1. Understand demographics of community interest, background, ability you need to know what we are all about within a community because demographics are the destiny of a community.
2. Value diversity, �Foster Dialogue, discussion and equality,� America is one of the most diverse societies in history we have to accept differences and value diversity.
3. Promote broad and include involvement tell us how we are doing research how the organization is impacting the community.
4. Understand, access, and guide culture of the community a quality arts program is essential to the community. Guide it in a direction to celebrate all groups and art within the community.
5. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate, and find things to rejoice about�

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54th City & County Management Conference

I was in attendance at the 54th City & County Management Conference, which was convened to discuss the issues surrounding Community-Building: Design and Dialogue. To begin the event John Nalbandian who is the chair of the department of public administration at the University of Kansas talked about the two major themes that occurring within community, first the attempt to build a sense of community or in some cases recapture an older tradition of community, and second the ideas of modernization the organization, privatization, and flexibility within modern administration. One of the over arching themes addressed throughout the conference was the idea of the value of public service and what it brings to the stewardship that is modern public administration.

The mayor of the city of Lawrence David Dunfield said something that really made me think about the ideas between the lifespan of elected officials and the reliance they have on professional staff that is the only steady experienced part of government that keeps the learning curve from starting over every election cycle. David expressed the idea that with out professional staff nothing would ever get done from administration to administration because no commonality would exist. This made me think about the nature of elected office and if from time to time the leader changes do the overall visions of the organization really change?

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April 23, 2003

World Bank On Civic Particpation

Reading about Civic Participation on the World Bank webpage found the following statment, "Nowadays, citizens increasingly demand a governance scheme free of bureaucratic and administrative corruption, patronage, nepotism, diversion of public funds and stealing of public assets; a governance schemes that promotes development and equity. It is, citizens are demanding more participation in the decision-making process of public policies, as well as on their implementation and follow-ups." It is interesting that the World Bank has linked civic participation to quality growth. The association that to ensure quality civil society it will take a certain level of participation developing programs to increase civic participation within that society.

The World Bank had the following recommendations:

1. ensuring public access to government information;
2. requiring certain types of government meetings to be open to public observation;
3. conducting public hearings and referenda con drafts, decrees, regulations, laws;
4. publishing judicial and legislative decisions and keeping a registry;
5. ensuring freedom of the press by prohibiting censorship, discouraging use by public officials of libel and defamation laws as a means for intimidating journalists, and encouraging diversity of media ownership;
6. involving civil society to monitor its performance in areas such as anti-corruption and large-scale public procurement bidding, and
7. using new web-based tools on the Internet for transparency, disclosure, public participation and dissemination of information.

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Campus Compact Presidents Declaration

I found the following declaration at Campus Compact, the Presidents� Fourth of July Declaration on the Civic Responsibility of Higher Education was drafted with the advice of a large body of indviduals.

The Declaration

As presidents of colleges and universities, both private and public, large and small, two-year and four-year, we challenge higher education to reexamine 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.

We are encouraged that more and more students are volunteering and participating in public and community service, and we have all encouraged them to do so through curricular and co-curricular activity. However, this service is not leading students to embrace the duties of active citizenship and civic participation (2). We do not blame these college students for their attitudes toward the democracy, rather we take responsibility to help them realize the values and skills of our democratic society and their need to claim ownership of it.

This country cannot afford to educate a generation that acquires knowledge without ever understanding how that knowledge can benefit society or how to influence democratic decision making. We must teach the skills and values of democracy, creating innumerable opportunities for our students to practice and reap the results of the real, hard work of citizenship.

Colleges and universities have long embraced a mission to educate students for citizenship. But now, with over two-thirds of recent high school graduates, and ever larger numbers of adults, enrolling in post secondary studies, higher education has an unprecedented opportunity to influence the democratic knowledge, dispositions, and habits of the heart that graduates carry with them into the public square.

Higher education is uniquely positioned to help Americans understand the histories and contours of our present challenges as a diverse democracy. It is also uniquely positioned to help both students and our communities to explore new ways of fulfilling the promise of justice and dignity for all, both in our own democracy and as part of the global community. We know that pluralism is a source of strength and vitality that will enrich our students� education and help them to learn both to respect difference and work together for the common good.

We live in a time when every sector�corporate, government and nonprofit�is being mobilized to address community needs and reinvigorate our democracy (Gardner, 1998). We cannot be complacent in the face of a country where one out of five children sleeps in poverty and one in six central cities has an unemployment rate 50% or more above the national average, even as our economy shows unprecedented strength. Higher education�its leaders, students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni�remains a key institutional force in our culture that can respond, and can do so without a political agenda and with the intellectual and professional capacities today�s challenges so desperately demand. Thus, for society�s benefit and for the academy�s, we need to do more. Only by demonstrating the democratic principles we espouse, can higher education effectively educate our students to be good citizens.

How can we realize this vision of institutional public engagement? It will, of course, take as many forms as there are types of colleges and universities. And it will require our hard work, as a whole, and within each of our institutions. We will know we are successful by the robust debate on our campuses, and by the civic behaviors of our students. We will know it by the civic engagement of our faculty. We will know it when our community partnerships improve the quality of community life and the quality of the education we provide.

To achieve these goals, our presidential leadership is essential but, by itself, it is not enough. Faculty, staff, trustees and students must help craft and act upon our civic missions and responsibilities. We must seek reciprocal partnerships with community leaders, such as those responsible for elementary and secondary education. To achieve our goals we must define them in ways that inspire our institutional missions and help measure our success. We have suggested a Campus Assessment of Civic Responsibility that will help in this task. It is a work in progress. We ask you to review the draft and to ask yourself what aspects of this can work on your campus and also to share with others practices that are not on this list.

We ask other college presidents to join us in seeking recognition of civic responsibility in accreditation procedures, Carnegie classifications, and national rankings and to work with Governors, State Legislators, and State Higher Education Offices on state expectations for civic engagement in public systems.
We believe that the challenge of the next millennium is the renewal of our own democratic life and reassertion of social stewardship. In celebrating the birth of our democracy, we can think of no nobler task than committing ourselves to helping catalyze and lead a national movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. We believe that now and through the next century, our institutions must be vital agents and architects of a flourishing democracy. We urge all of higher education to join us.

(2) UCLA American Council on Education Study 1999; National Association of Secretaries of State 1998

This statement is really an interesting look at the values and views of higher education as it relates to responsibility. It really expresses the ideas behind the vision statements that higher education has produced in recent years.

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April 22, 2003

President's Volunteer Service Award

Looking at the different governmental programs dealing with civic engagement it seems that United States department of state has a fairly concise look at what is going on with respect to the government.

�Engaging Millions - the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation

� President Bush announced that he has formed a new President's Council on Service and Civic Participation modeled on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and introduced the first members of the 25-member council who include: entertainers, athletes, retired elected officials, business and media leaders, leaders of nonprofit and volunteer service organizations, and community volunteers.

� The council members will work with a small professional staff. Darrell Green, former Washington Redskins cornerback, will serve as the chair of the council, and retired Senator Robert Dole and retired Senator John Glenn will serve as honorary co-chairs of the council.

� The council will oversee the creation of a nationwide recognition program called the President's Volunteer Service Awards.The awards will be given to millions of individuals engaged in a variety of volunteer services who have made a sustained commitment to service over the course of a one year period.

� Youth can earn a President's Volunteer Service Award by serving 50 or more hours a year, while adults can earn the award by serving 100 or more hours in a year. President's Volunteer Service Awards will also be available for families, for individuals who have served more than 4,000 hours since the President's call to service in 2002, and community-serving groups. Organizations such as businesses and schools will be eligible to receive awards on the basis of supporting a large number of their employees or members in receiving the individual President's Volunteer Service Awards.

� The awards will be available in the spring of this year, and will be used to recognize the dedication of those who earn them and to celebrate excellence in volunteering.�

This is a great example of the administrations willingness to reward programs without designing a large national initiative. What has become of interest is the reporting of the success and the information on what programs are getting increased volunteers. The national statistics on this matter should be very interesting indeed.

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April 20, 2003

Thinking about smaller communities

When thinking about organizations that might be isolated from bigger cities and larger universities I turned to the model created by Kirtland Community College and how they have designed and implemented models to benefit the community through volunteering. Many organizations have accepted the reality that being a part of the community is integral to developing civic engagement to benefit the community, �The geographic isolation faced by many community colleges tempts us to turn inward to our students and our community. Our campuses must model civic engagement at the regional and national level as well. Regionally, Kirtland is a founding member for the Michigan Alliance for Rural Service Learning. In consortium with our university partners, we seek to expand student service opportunities and research options in the rural areas of Northern Michigan. We are working with a local secondary school to provide technical guidance in the creation of its own service learning program. At the national level our faculty have attended conferences, participated on committees and in focus groups and national dialog sessions.� It is interesting to look at the different ways that organizations struggle to unite the student body and volunteering opportunities.

Agreeing with Dr. Charles D. Rorie the president of Kirtland Community College that without participation democracy cannot survive. It is important to take steps like graduating with Civic Honors to motivate the student body to become involved within the community. Recognizing that Civic Honors is not a cure all solution but it is an integral way to help focus motivation and an inexpensive way to reward students for participation within the community. Being able to develop a balanced approach becomes even more important in areas that are isolated from advocacy groups and charitable organizations in larger cities. It is important to look at increasing civic engagement and volunteerism at all sizes of communities within the country to develop a better understanding of what practices are most efficient in helping to develop closer ties between individuals and the community.

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April 19, 2003

Student volunteering worth $17.5 billion

Reported in the Campus Cares online discussion the, "The importance of community service and civic engagement to higher education�s mission, and the ways in which colleges and universities implement that commitment in the classroom and through campus activities and events." Discussing how civic engagement and volunteerism are important to the nations institutions of higher education in fact they did a fairly interesting study that produced some figures of what the economic benefit of volunteerism is on those institutions. �Service to the community and the world has long been an integral part of the nation�s colleges and universities, in many cases dating back to their founding. Campus volunteerism is a powerful force in society. The value of the volunteer service of students alone has been estimated at more than $17.5 billion for 1999-2000, and that figure ignores the substantial volunteer efforts of faculty, staff, and administrators.� Imagine this figure within the world of the Civic Honors Project where it would be possible to really increase the numbers of individuals volunteering within the community and to increase the relationship between volunteers and organizations in such a way that the community becomes more aware of how volunteering can impact the community.

The relationship between Universities and volunteering is clear and the assumptions about why the relationships are valid which creates the question what is stopping organizations from increasing volunteerism within the community currently. Without focusing on building a central location for information building a sustainable base of volunteers is difficult because as opportunities change and availability of volunteers shift the reality is new information becomes integral to sustaining volunteering within the community. It is true that some volunteers stay with one organization they entire time they are involved within the community however it is also true the majority of volunteers will constantly be looking and available to new opportunities. Students are an example of a special case under that consideration where for a limited period of time they have a high availability but a significant lack of information about how and where to get involved.

Students therefore are a key building block of creating a lasting network of individuals who are willing to spend there time within the community. A Civic Honors program provides two services that have a value that is immeasurable because it energizes a labor pool through providing the incentive of graduating with Civic Honors while it introduces students to volunteering which is important to creating a sustainable level of civic engagement throughout that student�s life. The emphasis is on showing the individual or the student in this case what it means to volunteer and introducing a positive sanction in the form of community recognition through graduation with Civic Honors. This reinforces a positive association with volunteering and hopefully creates a life long lasting interest in being a part of the community.

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April 18, 2003

Special thanks to Jason Wall

The Civic Honors network would like to extend special thanks to Jason Wall for technical support in helping put together the new design. His help in installing Movable Type has been immeasurable and without his involvement the new archiving and commenting features would not have been possible.

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The possibility is real

The resources and technology exist to create the program and the university has the leadership ability to make this program a reality. The university already has the internal organization necessary to track students and it is possible for that database to be utilized to also track the civic honors program internally for students. This foundation of information makes implementation of the internal civic honors program much simpler than the implementation of the external program. The internal program only has to deal with students and the coordination of declaring the civic honors within the university itself. The external program is more complex it requires working with the organizations to develop a database that is not only accessible to the organizations but to members of the community. Being able to work with individuals outside the university is the basis for long-term development of the civic honors program within the community.

It is not likely that a civic honors program will spontaneously develop within the community without the backing of a strong organization like a university. The college has the resource of the students to connect or bridge to community. This cannot be taken for granted and the development of a rich and complex civil society will just appear. It has to be cultivated by the vision of an organization willing to acknowledge the advanced industrialization and technology alone will not create a sustainable and efficient program for developing the community. To truly develop a strong civic honors program, the organization has to acknowledge the difference between developing a strategy for crafting a stronger civil society and just developing technology for the sake of developing technology. The university has to design the civic honors program based on utilizing the strengths of developing technology to benefit society. One of the benefits of advancing technology is being able to lower the cost of implementing a civic honors program.

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The Idea of Civic Honors

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Civic Honors

Unlock the power of community opportunity... Graduation with Civic Honors.