ADP COORDINATORS GUIDE: A Living Document to Provide a Process for the Creation and Development of Campus Civic Engagement Work A Product of the Georgia ADP Caucus University of West Georgia • Valdosta State University • Georgia College and State University Kennesaw State University • University of North Georgia • Middle Georgia State University • Gordon State University Contents Preface 3 Introduction and Background 4 ADP’s National Structure 5 National Programming 6 CLDE Theory of Change 8 Campus Audit 9 Writing An ADP Strategic Plan for Your Campus 9 Organizing Your Campus Infrastructure 10 Adapting and Adjusting to Leadership Change 13 Assessing Your Student Climate 13 Best Practices 14 Recognition 14 The American Democracy Project Georgia Caucus 16 Important Contact Information: 16 Resources: 17 2 Preface We welcome you to a community of practitioners that cares deeply about our democracy and ensuring that our students are prepared to be fully informed and engaged citizens. The campuses and coordinators are the heartbeat of ADP. Without you, the work could not occur. The national framework of ADP exists to serve our campuses and coordinators; we work to strengthen connections, enhance opportunities, and expand the conversation. ADP grew out of concern about the erosion of civic engagement in the country and disengagement of college-aged students evidenced by distrust of government and historically low voting rates. We started the 21st Century with a deep concern for how we might keep and renew our democracy, but the bitter partisanship of the early years of this century, which encouraged and animated the creation of the American Democracy Project, seems quaint by today’s standards. Heated political rhetoric and vindictive charges shape almost every aspect of public life in America today. The deep divisions that marked the beginning of the 21st-century have become chasms of almost unimaginable depth. Rather than shy away from political discourse, we need to teach civil discourse and deliberative dialogue, to link our democratic engagement across the entire spectrum of experiences. ADP and civic engagement are more than just voting and elections, however. The ability to engage in civil discourse on all topics whether political or not, creativity in approaches to public problems, and overcoming the inherent nature of collective action problems in communities are all skills that ADP and civic engagement activities help develop. In thinking about what to write for this preface, we went back to some documents from the start of ADP, even before it was given a formal name, and saw notes that spoke to early conversations about the role of higher education in a democracy and a commitment to move beyond episodic, casual thinking to a deeper understanding of how to help prepare students with the knowledge, skills and experiences to be informed and engaged citizens. In early 2003 we referred to ADP as the “project on civic engagement” and George Mehaffy noted that; “This project has already become a national conversation, started at the winter academic affairs meeting in San Antonio, then at the Committee on the Undergraduate Experience meeting in Washington, at the Summer academic affairs meeting in Monterey, CA., and at the meeting of the Committee on the Undergraduate Experience in Naples in November.” We penned some early thoughts about the nature of the work ahead and tried to capture why it was so important. PROPOSITIONS for the Project (Jan. 2003) 1. Democracy is a learned skill. 2. The core principle within democracy is a sense of community – service to those beyond self and a responsibility for and to others. 3. Institutions that promote civic engagement of all types are declining. 4. Civic engagement among university students is also declining. 5. Universities share responsibility with others for teaching civic engagement. 3 But the words that really drove home the why of what we were embarking on, were the simplest, said by George Mehaffy at one of our initial conversations, “If we don’t do this, then who?” Introduction and Background The American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ (AASCU’s) American Democracy Project (ADP) – a network of 297 public colleges and universities serving 2.7 million students across 48 states plus D.C. and the Bahamas – is committed to equipping students with the ability to understand and employ interdisciplinary perspectives to address pressing issues. AASCU institutions represent the largest undergraduate cohort in the country. We also serve the most diverse demographic with 42 percent of the nation’s first-generation students and 49 percent of all minority undergraduate students, including 61 percent of all African American students, and 45 percent of all Hispanic students in undergraduate education. AASCU’s members include 38 Historically Black Colleges and Universities. As “Stewards of Place,” 1 committed to public higher education for the public good, our institutions serve their communities. Most of the students come from the region and stay after graduation to work and live and raise families and AASCU institutions strive to fulfil their commitment to our students’ community’s success. Our work to prepare students with the knowledge, skills and experiences to be informed and engaged citizens, ready to address the current and future challenges facing our society and enact change for the public good, is more important than ever. Our campuses live the mission of public higher education for the public good. Our goal to equip our students with the skills that ensure deliberative dialogue, open inquiry and a commitment to strengthening the economic and social capital of our regions and the nation are integrated throughout the work we do with the leadership, staff, faculty and students on our campuses. On a national, regional and local level we create the conditions and programming that supports deliberative dialogue and trans-partisan civic engagement for our 2.7 million students. ADP was established under the leadership of George Mehaffy in 2003 as an initiative of the AASCU in partnership with The New York Times. Felice Nudelman served as executive director of education at The New York Times, and was a contributing designer of the Project. Former president of Indiana University and Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Tom Ehrlich, was also one of the founding Project developers. We began integrating ADP into the summer and winter AASCU Academic Meetings and then in August of 2004 we held the first ADP convening in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In June 2004, a group of the founding members along with education thought-leaders, presidents and provosts came together at Wingspread for a strategic dialogue entitled “Creating Civically-Engaged Campuses” to discuss the need for greater civic engagement and make a commitment to expand civic engagement at the university level. Using works such as Bowling Alone (Robert Putnam, 2000, Simon & Schuster) and Educating Citizens: Preparing America's Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility (Thomas Ehrlich, 2000, 1 AASCU Task Force on Public Engagement, Stepping Forward as Stewards of Place: A Guide for Leading Public Engagement at State Colleges and Universities. (Washington, DC: American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 2002). 4 Jossey-Bass) the group first agreed on a common definition of civic engagement, taken from Ehrlich’s work: Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes. - Preface, page vi A morally and civically responsible individual recognizes himself or herself as a member of a larger social fabric and therefore considers social problems to be at least partly his or her own; such an individual is willing to see the moral and civic dimensions of issues, to make and justify informed moral and civic judgments, and to take action when appropriate. - Introduction, page xxvi The result of the Wingspread Conference was a monograph, Democracy and Civic Engagement: A guide for higher education (American Democracy Project. 2004 Washington, D.C.: American Association of State Colleges and Universities) and a commitment to expand civic engagement as an intentional component to a student’s college experience. Using that monograph as a guide, institutions from coast to coast began joining ADP through their AASCU participation. Since launching in 2003, the American Democracy Project has become a brand identity on participating campuses, a central coordinator for civic engagement. For institutions such as yours, either starting your ADP involvement or looking to reinvigorate your efforts, we have prepared this startup guide to help. The guide is the result of nearly two decades of ADP participation and experience, and while it is no means comprehensive we hope that this will allow you to begin a process whereby you can help your students become tomorrow’s community leaders. The time for civic engagement is now. Since 2017, college students have been more interested in government than at any time for decades. Voting has increased, and protests have been a common companion to those votes. After decades of trying to show students their vital participatory role in government, now it is time to capitalize on that interest. The summer 2020