A Call for Civically Engaged Educational Policy-Related Scholarship

Abstract

At a time when higher education is undergoing great challenges and diminished public support, the civically engaged university holds the promise of reclaiming the meaning and the purpose of higher education, where contributions toward promoting democratic public life through research and education become central institutional priorities. The civically engaged university that takes its scholarly leadership seriously is one that is committed to higher education as an institution within the public sphere and whose mission is to embrace difficult questions about our values and responsibilities, about our past, present, and future, about our differences and alternative worldviews, and about enhancing democracy and inclusion. This piece takes this charge seriously as the authors outline what educational scholarship should or could be as scholars move toward educational policy—related scholarship in the civically engaged university.