The professional mind-set prevailing in higher education today often
ignores the "common goods" that only democratic self-rule can provide.
Why? Some say the professional mind-set is profoundly antidemocratic,
especially when it presumes that specialized knowledge and experience is
a sufficient substitute for a democratic process of participating
equals. Although there are currently many higher education experiments
in which the public does set the agenda for research and actually
conducts much of the work, there are still too many projects ostensibly
done for the public with nothing to be done by the public. How, then,
can the academy, with such a mind-set and its preoccupation with
hustling prospective students and chasing after academic luminaries, be
of any help in renewing democratic practices?
In Agent of Democracy: Higher Education and the HEX Journey, editors
David W. Brown and Deborah Witte, a Kettering Foundation program
officer, explore the linkages that have been forged between higher
education and a "healthy democracy." This volume celebrates and expands
on the journal Higher Education Exchange, an annual publication of the
Kettering Foundation edited by Brown and Witte. For more than 10 years,
HEX has published case studies, analysis, news, and ideas about efforts
within higher education to develop more democratic societies. Agent of
Democracy features essays by 10 thoughtful theorists and practitioners
whose work regularly appears in the Higher Education Exchange. Their
work is a contribution to the resurgent movement bent on strengthening
higher education.
Chapters in this volume include:
- "The Engaged University: A Tale of Two Generations," Peter Levine
- "The Limits of Public Work: A Critical Reflection on the 'Engaged
University'," Mary Stanley
- "Should Higher Education Have a Civic Mission?," R. Claire Snyder
- "Public Work: Civic Populism versus Technocracy in Higher Education,"
Harry C. Boyte
- "Public Work at Colgate: An Interview with Adam Weinberg"
"Reconstructing a Democratic Tradition of Public Scholarship in the
Land-Grant System," Scott Peters - "A Portrait of a University as a Young Citizen," Jeremy Cohen
- "The Makings of a Public and the Role of the Academy," Noëlle McAfee
- "The New England Center for Civic Live--A Decade of Making a
Difference," Douglas F. Challenger
- "Democracy's Megachallenges Revisited," David Mathews
About the Kettering Foundation
The Kettering Foundation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit operating
foundation rooted in the American tradition of cooperative research.
Kettering's primary research question is: What does it take to make
democracy work as it should? Kettering's research is distinctive because
it is conducted from the perspective of citizens and focuses on what
people can do collectively to address problems affecting their lives,
their communities, and their nation. For more information about
Kettering research and publications, see the Kettering Foundation's
website at www.kettering.org.
