Sept. 2, 2003
Contact: Charles Johnson, UCO News Bureau Director (405) 974-2315
 
UCO LEADING THE WAY; LAUNCHES NATIONAL CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVE
 
Throughout the past three years, the “3-C’s” – Character, Civility and Community – have become the articulated values of the University of Central Oklahoma.

As that expression and the understanding of what those values can mean to the university and to the lives of those in our community grow, the “3-C’s” are becoming progressively woven into the fabric of university life.

UCO offers its students an education to enable them to become good citizens and responsible, independent adults who embrace learning and civic engagement as lifelong commitments.

Yet, while more and more people are attending college with the apparent desire to enrich their lives through learning, recent research shows that students are less likely to be involved in their community.

“When compared to just 10 or 20 years ago, students are less likely to vote, less likely to volunteer, less likely to join an organization, or even a social club,” said UCO President W. Roger Webb.

“Civic engagement is absolutely necessary for the vitality of our democracy.”

And that, Webb said, is why UCO, in partnership with other members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and The New York Times, is helping to lead an initiative to encourage civic participation and engagement in American life.

The initiative, titled “The American Democracy Project (ADP),” targets students enrolled at AASCU institutions.

It seeks to increase the number of undergraduate students who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful civic actions and to focus the attention of policy makers and opinion leaders on the civic value of the college experience.

UCO is among the thirteen colleges and universities that make up the original national implementation committee for ADP.

What Kind of Society Do We Want?

“We must all have a well-developed understanding of the role of the citizen and his or her engagement in the life of the nation,” said UCO Provost Don Betz.

“As an institution, we will review academic programs and processes, extracurricular programs and activities and the institutional culture in order to achieve that understanding.”

Betz launched the ADP initiative at UCO during the first week of the fall semester by inviting UCO students, faculty and staff to campus meetings and by encouraging them to begin to “create something that wasn’t there before.”

“We plan to develop an institutional commitment at UCO and to participate in a national conversation among the AASCU institutions about the theory and practice of civic engagement.”

He said UCO’s initial effort will be to produce a statewide gathering with the other Oklahoma AASCU institutions involved in the ADP to explore ways of enriching the conversation of civic engagement in the state.

One hundred and fifty-two AASCU institutions from across the country, representing more than 1.3 million students are currently involved in the three-year ADP initiative.

In addition, The New York Times will use its resources to link remote campuses, will provide journalists and commentators to share ideas, and will host an interactive website for the project.

Why Are We Here?

The American Democracy Project is designed to be a three-year initiative. However, Betz said he hopes it will result in the long-term assimilation of civic engagement and the “3-C’s” – Character, Community and Civility – on the UCO campus.

“We are faced with the inescapable question on institutional intentionality: ‘Why are we here?’” Betz said. “In the midst of the day-to-day issues of teaching and learning on a college campus, there are the larger questions of goals, purposes and meaning.

 “The importance of the creation of informed, active citizens can not be overemphasized. It reaches to the very core of preserving our republic.”

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