This volume explores how colleges and universities can respond to divisive political environments by carefully and intentionally cultivating students’ civic learning and democratic flourishing.
Structured in five cohesive sections, each chapter offers adaptable frameworks, promising practices, and tangible strategies for building positive momentum toward civic-minded student learning in higher education. Chapters explore how dialogue inside and outside the classroom, community involvement, and student agency can shape inclusive, engaged campus environments that directly support students’ civic learning and development. Together, the text presents a comprehensive approach that acknowledges the interconnected challenges faced by students, faculty, and staff and demonstrates how higher education institutions can foster environments that not only educate but also renew their promise to cultivate democratically informed and socially responsible citizens.
This volume explores how colleges and universities can respond to divisive political environments by carefully and intentionally cultivating students’ civic learning and democratic flourishing.
1. Introduction: Higher Education in Polarized Times Part I: Foundations
for Civic-Minded Learning in Higher Education
2. Dialogue and Democratic
Flourishing: Creating the Conditions for Student Learning in a Polarized Time
3. Fostering Civic Responsibility: The Role of Community Engagement in Higher
Education
4. Civic and Democratic Learning Across the College Curriculum and
Co-Curriculum
5. From Preparation to Renewal: A Multiphase Approach to
Democratic Engagement in the First-Year and Beyond Part II: Dialogue and
Democratic Education
6. Engaging with the Moral Complexities of Classroom
Conversations
7. Trauma-Informed Approaches to Engaging in Difficult
Dialogues
8. #USvsHate: Supporting Anti-Hate Learning and Public Messaging on
Campus Part III: Community Engagement as Civic Education
9. Leveraging
Institutional Definitions: Community Engagement for Student Learning
10.
Democratically Engaged Partnerships as Microcosms of and Catalysts for
Democratic Civic Learning
11. Civic Engagement as Democratic Learning:
Supporting Ethical Community Engagement for Undergraduates via Curricular
Guidance and Long-term Partnerships
12. Nurturing Civic Consciousness:
Developing a Scaffolded Community Engagement Program at a Rural Liberal Arts
College Part IV: Finding Civic Engagement Inroads on Campus
13. Naming a
Civic Champion: Lessons in Leading Campus-Wide Student Civic and Voter
Empowerment
14. The Role of Student Leadership Development in Democratic
Learning
15. The Power and Complexity of Students Service on Higher
Education Governing Boards Part V: Democracy in Flux: Contemporary Issues and
Possibilities
16. Countering Anti-DEI and Anti-CRT Laws in Academic
Environments
17. Echoes of Empowerment: The Impact of HBCUs Historical
Legacy on the Political Socialization of Black Youth Voters in Florida
18.
Picket Line Pedagogy: Democratic Learning at Work in Graduate Student Labor
Movements
19. Fighting for my Life: Southern LGBTQ+ College Students
Motivations for Activist-Minded Civic Engagement
20. ConclusionReawakening
Democratic Education
Maximilian T. Schuster is Associate Professor of Higher Education and Associate Chair of the Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, USA.
