Heeding civic duty

Hurricane Katrina has caused flooding in the South, but the true flood affecting cities and towns across the United States is that of students descending on college towns this week. When the presence of students alters the demographics of a city to such an extent as seen in Bloomington, it is impossible to discount their contributions to the economy. Equally important is the role of the University in preparing its students for their responsibilities as residents of Bloomington and as global citizens. \nIn an age when the diffusion of knowledge to multiple sectors of the economy erodes the University's hegemony on it, institutions of higher learning are confronted with the ongoing challenge of adapting their missions appropriately. Civic concerns have achieved new visibility alongside the traditional academic charge of higher education.\nIf we consider the development of intellect and character to be paramount to the success of a university graduate, then we should encourage civic learning across the curriculum and integrate it into our campus ethos. This means not only recognizing the power of service-learning classes, political organizations and volunteer groups, but also creating spaces for engagement and a culture of citizenship. After all, learning occurs best when people are confronted with a compelling and identifiable problem; why not pose substantial social issues in the classroom and arm students with the tools necessary to address them? Nothing can better prepare us for the unstructured learning environment also known as "daily life" than fostering our ability to think critically and responsibly through direct experience with our communities -- local to global. \nClasses have begun and lectures are in full swing, but our brains are better equipped to learn about the world by operating within it. This mismatch between the preferred learning styles of students and most faculty members can be redressed by impressing upon our campus community an agenda for citizenship. We grow up being taught to follow the rules, yet the struggle for democracy and the duties associated with its maintenance often demand the opposite. Active citizenship is counterintuitive to our norms of conformity and complicity. \nAs a public university, IU has an even greater responsibility to the citizens of the state of Indiana. The incorporation of themes of citizenship and civic engagement into every aspect of campus culture through participatory dialogue and collaboration would be one concrete step toward the promotion of civic prosperity as a goal. Researchers cannot merely speak to other researchers; as public intellectuals, they must communicate to a wider polity. The University need not change its mission, but rather it must shift its philosophy to focus on strengthening engaged intellectuals.\nOn the Bloomington campus, the average student has manifold options for finding a way to simultaneously learn and serve. But we needn't have to go looking. The University should insist its students make contributions larger than they could have hoped when they arrived. Higher education dare not pass up the opportunity to use its formidable resources in support of that ennobling ambition.