In a time of alarm about the poisoning of electoral politics, public passions inflamed by sophisticated techniques of mass polarization, and fears that the country is losing control of its collective future, higher education is called upon to take leadership in "reinventing citizenship." It needs to respond to that call on a scale unprecedented in…

Leaders in higher education's civic-engagement efforts recently have argued that those efforts need reinvigoration. John Saltmarsh, director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education, argues that educators' next task is to "empower students and other citizens in the work of democracy." A focus on civic agency has far-ranging…

This paper uses two stories to illustrate the political attitudes of today's youth. The first story, about a group of young people in a working class area of St. Paul, Minnesota, who were part of the youth civic engagement initiative called Public Achievement, suggests ways to re-engage young people with politics. Through this initiative, students…

Urges faculty involved in community public service to reject an "outside expert" role based on the discredited and outdated theory of positivism. Positivism considers the detached, rational observer the highest judge of truth, thus contributing to the detachment and negative view of most people toward politics. Supports reinvigoration of…