If You Build It, They Will Come: Encouraging Student Democratic Engagement

Introduction

The year 2020 gave us a health crisis, social issues, and other challenges not seen in a generation. Mass demonstrations for equity and a separate domestic attack on the U.S. Capitol at the beginning of 2021, caused many to begin to question the role of education could play in improving American society. Could better education prevent public misinformation? The authors of this chapter argue that a healthy democracy requires an investment in democratic engagement, that higher education has a duty to contribute to that investment, and that an improved higher education system could have prevented some of the events that occurred during 2020. For higher education institutions to fill the role of educating and encouraging democratic engagement, there must be an examination of the methods used to educate students.

Currently, institutions provide students little beyond a transactional exercise in their coursework that deemphasizes skill acquisition and favors a “read, remember, and regurgitate” style of composition. Institutions must work to develop students’ critical thinking and analytical skills. The 2020 election displayed an intense need for those skills in American society. Students must learn how to critically examine information and couple it with the ability to exercise analytical skills that will allow them to investigate information to discern truth from lies. Higher education institutions must cultivate environments that facilitate a contextual understanding of societal issues, especially around diversity, equality, and inclusion, situated with an awareness of the logic that governs our society. John Dewey (1916/1926) argued that education is a process of growth, and through growth, he linked education with democracy. In a democratic society, people must be able to grow and socially participate, and for a democracy to flourish, people must interact. Therefore, in a democracy, citizens must establish and preserve public spaces like institutions of higher education. Great responsibility comes with being an integral part of a democracy; higher education is vital because it serves as a public space for the public good.

The concept and practice of American democracy seems to have been under attack for several years. As designed, the ideal of democracy should be equal and shared rule by the people for the people, yet 2020 has demonstrated this ideal may be in crisis. Attempts to prevent participation in the democratic process by disenfranchising groups of people from participating in the election process, in addition to discrediting the free press (an integral part of democracy), paint a picture that is dire for our democracy. There are countless examples of voter disenfranchisement and intimidation against people of color, black Americans specifically, in the history of American democracy. Yet, recent efforts are creating a democratic crisis that seems unparalleled in history. Higher education is more important now than ever, and institutions must educate, develop, and engage students.

This chapter will explore the critical role higher education plays in cultivating democratic engagement, as it will provide a practical example for building a democratic engagement program by outlining the 2020 democratic engagement work at Mount St. Joseph University (MSJ) through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion. From hiring diverse democracy fellows to facilitating social justice forums on topics like racism and white supremacy, MSJ made diversity, equity, and inclusion a cornerstone of their democratic engagement work. To do so, the chapter will:

• 1.

  Explore democracy as a concept in an American context;

• 2.

  Examine the notion of education being for the public good, emphasizing higher education;

• 3.

  Through an equity lens, investigate higher education’s role in the democratic process, and

• 4.

  Provide practical examples of how one private university encouraged democratic engagement through student involvement on their campuses resulting in the institution being named a voter-friendly campus for multiple years.