The Next Wave: Building University Engagement for the 21<sup xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">st</sup> Century

Abstract

One of the Federal government’s important contributions to democratic life was the establishment of the nation’s network of land grant colleges through the Morrill Act of 1862. That act and subsequent legislation led to the creation of land grant institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, land grants at historically black colleges, community colleges for Native Americans, and, more recently, sea grant and space grant institutions. When President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act into law, the country’s first non-elite colleges were born. Their original mission was relatively straightforward: teach agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanic arts, as well as classical studies so that members of the working classes could obtain both a practical and liberal education. Two key elements of the land grant model were the agricultural experiment station which generated practical knowledge, and an extension service to disseminate the station’s research, in particular to farmers who could then apply it to increase productivity on their land. But at the heart of Senator Morrill’s (and Lincoln’s) purpose was a grander idea than merely expanding crop yields. The land grant vision was of an institution that could be a training ground for democratic life and civic practice. If citizens are not only born but “made” (that is developed through education, training, and exposure to democratic values and ideas), then land grant institutions, by offering access to non-elites, were intended to deepen political democracy and strengthen civic life in the nation.