11 February 2006
MEMORANDUM
TO: Participants in the American Democracy Project (ADP)
FROM: George L. Mehaffy
SUBJECT: American Democracy Project News and Notes
There continues to be enormous activity in our American
Democracy Project.
We now have 208 institutions participating, having just added 3
more
campuses recently.
We are preparing for a stellar event, the fourth annual American
Democracy
Project national meeting, June 15-17 at Snowbird, Utah. For
meeting
details, see
http://www.aascu.org/meetings/06_adp_nm/default.htm.
Here are a few highlights of current activities:
1. The Stewardship of Public Lands project has prompted the
creation of a
course for students at Yellowstone by the Yellowstone Institute
on The
Politics of Wolf Reintroduction, scheduled for late May. I sent
out
information about that recently. We're also planning another ADP
administrator/faculty seminar, this time on the Yellowstone
Ecosystem,
focused on designing a multi-disciplinary program available to
multiple
campuses, and supported by journalists from The New York Times.
The
announcement for the August seminar will be sent out early next
week. This
project will involve individual campus activity, as well as the
use of
several technologies to link campuses with New York Times
journalists and
specialists from around the world. Diana Oblinger from EDUCAUSE
will be
joining us for this special initiative.
2. The Voting initiative is preparing a monograph for
publication late
this summer, providing examples of good practices in voter
education,
registration, and participation. The monograph will be ready in
time for
use this fall as campuses prepare for the mid-term elections.
3. The First Year initiative is creating a 3 year project
coordinated by
Tom Ehrlich and Anne Colby at the Carnegie Foundation, growing
out of the
work they are completing in the Political Engagement Project
(PEP). The
previous project addressed political engagement in courses and
programs.
This new initiative focuses on campus-wide implementation of
political
engagement activities. We have 8 campuses that have volunteered
to
participate.
Let me take a moment to quote from a recent letter from Tom, as
it has
important implications for all of us. Excerpt of a letter from
Tom
Ehrlich:
"Two key conclusions from our study are worth particular
emphasis:
First, and most important, these courses and programs are
succeeding
in promoting greater political engagement. All the survey
scales
that we have analyzed so far show statistically
significant change
from when students first take the survey as they begin
their courses
and programs to the time they complete them. They advance
in terms
of: (a) knowledge & understanding, (b) skills, (c)
motivations and
values, and (d) actions & involvement. An article
documenting these
results is being published in a special issue of the
Journal of
Political Science Education.
Second, these courses and programs are NOT creating any
significant
changes in students' partisan identification (Democrat or
Republican)
or their political ideologies (where they would place
themselves on a
liberal - conservative continuum). That finding supports
the
legitimacy of this work in educational institutions, and
reflects the
fact that faculty and program leaders in the project work
hard to
maintain an atmosphere of open inquiry and expose students
to many
viewpoints - this is not an effort to indoctrinate
students into any
particular political ideology."
4. We recently attended a meeting of organizations that are
supporting
Constitution Day. The collaborative, convened by the National
Constitution
Center, will coordinate the development and distribution of
resources and
ideas about how to celebrate Constitution Day, which this year
will be
celebrated on September 18th (as September 17th is a Sunday). I
think
Constitution Day would be a great way to kick off a year of
civic
engagement activities.
5. I'm enclosing an announcement (pdf) for a second year of
competition
for Film Your Issue (FYI). A number of ADP institutions
participated last
year. Please feel free to distribute the pdf announcement
widely on your
campus.
Please let us know how we can be of help. Don't forget to sign
up for a
presentation at Snowbird if you are interested in sharing
successes you
have had. Mary-Kathryn is preparing an ADP Newsletter that will
be going
out in the next week or so, and I will have some additional
reminders and
announcements as well.
My thanks to all of you for your continuing participation in
this work of
preparing undergraduates to be active, engaged citizens.
George
George L. Mehaffy
Vice President for Academic Leadership and Change
American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
1307 New York Ave., NW (Fifth Floor)
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: 202 478-4672 Fax: 202 296-5819
mehaffyg@aascu.org
http://www.aascu.org
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