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Peer Review, Spring 2003
Reality Check
Learning Civic Engagement without Diversity?
By Debra Humphreys, vice president for communications
and public affairs, Association of American Colleges and Universities |
Articles in this issue of Peer Review argue that involving students
in hands-on experiences to address social problems enhances their
learning and deepens their understanding of their civic responsibilities.
It does so because students are exposed to a broader world--both
on- and off-campus. Out in the larger community, they begin to see
the world through someone else's eyes. The capacity to do that comes
with practice and proximity.
This facet of learning is a key reason why so many higher education
institutions chose to publicly affirm their support for the University
of Michigan's affirmative action policies in scores of briefs filed
with the Supreme Court this past March. These institutions, along
with many other national leaders from business, public policy, and
even the military, understand that the strength of our democracy
and its institutions depends not only on an engaged citizenry, but
on citizens who understand, value, and have had experience learning
from one another across many differences.
The two Michigan cases before the Court will likely be decided
just as this issue is reaching your desk. While they may not directly
affect colleges and universities that do not have selective admissions,
the decisions will have a profound effect on our entire nation.
They will serve as an important milestone in our nation's often
troubled march toward integration and equality. Today's students
see the importance of this decision. In large numbers--representing
institutions large and small, private and public, selective and
open admissions--they demonstrated on the steps of the Supreme Court
the day oral arguments were heard. They don't want to return to
the all-too-recent racially segregated U.S. colleges of earlier
periods.
That is what is at stake. Will our most prestigious and selective
institutions be forced by the Supreme Court to try to educate students
for civic engagement in institutions lacking serious racial diversity?
It would be a bit like trying to learn how to swim without water.
Let us all hope that the Court has the wisdom to see that nothing
could be more compelling a national interest than, at once, ensuring
that all citizens have access to selective institutions that represent
such important doors to opportunity and helping today's college
students learn from one another in diverse environments.
It would be tragic for education and for the nation to derail the
significant progress of the last four decades that had begun to
create genuinely multiracial, multicultural campuses. Research clearly
shows that integrated campuses are good for the quality of students'
learning and good for our democracy. For all students, whatever
their background, studies show that engaging diversity on campus,
in the curriculum, and in service and community-based learning experiences,
promotes intellectual development, reduces prejudice, and improves
intergroup relations. Research also shows that students who experience
diversity on campus are more likely to challenge racial discrimination
and choose to live in integrated communities after graduation. This
is surely one of the most important realms of civic engagement that
higher education should be encouraging if our diverse democracy
is to remain strong.
While there is broad consensus in the academy and many other sectors
of society about the value of the kinds of policies and programs
that the University of Michigan and many other institutions have
developed to advance diversity and learning, we should not pretend
that this consensus alone will ensure progress. The road to equality
in America is littered with setbacks--legal, political, and economic.
The abolitionist movement of the 1830s collided with the Dred Scott
decision in 1857 denying blacks citizenship. The Emancipation of
black slaves in 1863 was followed by Jim Crow laws. New Japanese
American citizens were stripped of property and sent to internment
camps during World War II. The history of these setbacks should,
in fact, be part of every college student's curriculum--and the
Michigan case, too, will surely be one that every student should
study as a part of their civic education in college.
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