Campus Compact's Sixth Presidents' Leadership Colloquium
Building a More Perfect Union - Asserting Higher Education's Civic Role
October 5-6, 2004
One Old Ranch Rd.
Carmel Valley Ranch, Carmel, CA, 93923
Help Shape a Public Campaign to Affirm the Importance of Higher Education in Sustaining and Strengthening Our American Democracy
It is hard to imagine a time when the public good of higher education has been under greater attack as states withdraw support and call for tuition and enrollment caps, foundations shift their funding priorities to other sectors, and the media portray colleges and universities as offering a private rather than a public benefit.
At the same time, more and more campuses are embracing their civic purposes: to educate their students for active citizenship and to act as good citizens in their own communities. Why do these activities receive so little recognition in the public debate about the role of higher education? What can presidents do to assert the role of colleges and universities as essential architects and agents of the democracy?
Come to Carmel to debate these and other important questions and help craft a national campaign to affirm higher education’s civic role.
The Presidents' Leadership Colloquium offers:
- A chance to take part in the planning and discussion of a national public awareness campaign on behalf of higher education, spearheaded by a consortium of influential organizations including Campus Compact, Harvard’s Institute of Politics, the American Democracy Project of the AASCU, and others. This campaign will combine media and other initiatives to bring the public work of higher education back into the forefront of American consciousness and debate.
- Time to meet and talk in small groups with other presidents and leaders from across the nation. Campus Compact is designing a unique program that combines high-level presentations with time to network and discuss the issues at hand.
- An inside line on the national political climate. Campus Compact is working with representatives of the presidential nominees to get statements about their agendas for service and civic learning.
- Read the Agenda (64 K pdf)
Proceedings from the 2004 PLC
- Keynote Address: Exercising Leadership to Promote the Civic Mission of Higher Education(192 K pdf)
- Alexander W. Astin, University of California, Los Angeles - Remarks by Dr. Charles B. Reed (90 K pdf)
Chancellor, California State University - Photos from the 2004 PLC
I know of no other educational organization that has a track record like Campus Compact's over the past 20 years... It is a phenomenal success, not just in terms of growth in numbers, but in terms of the impact it's had on communities, on campuses, and on individual lives.
-- Frank Rhodes, former president, Cornell University