Nancy Cantor is chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark. This article was adapted from Cantor's address at "The Power of Civic Engagement--Across Campus, Within Communities, Beyond Borders," the premeeting symposium at the 2018 annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Cantor contemplates the power of civic…

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has embarked on a sustained program to enhance the quality of student learning on campuses, while also supporting AAC&U members' efforts to bring liberal education to all sectors of society. This commitment to quality and equity in service to democracy forms the basis for…

Continued racial and social injustices--including hate crimes against Asian Americans and other racially minoritized groups; the mounting loss of Black lives from police violence; mass shootings that affect communities of color; efforts to disenfranchise voters of color; and the unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic--are heightening awareness…

Society is accustomed to advancing the meritocratic ethos that sends the children of affluent and professional families on to four-year liberal arts colleges while leaving behind others who are fully capable but who come from low-income or working-class families or from families of color. Such students often feel that a liberal arts college…

The Association of American Colleges and Universities' (AAC&U's) new five-year strategic plan for 2018-22, "We ASPIRE: Advancing Student Performance through Integration, Research, and Excellence," was officially launched at the association's 2018 annual meeting in Washington, DC, at the end of January. Reaffirming a dedication to…

When Charles William Eliot launched his radical reforms at Harvard in the late 1870s, he was convinced that the fixed curriculum, based on English liberal education models, was ill suited to the democratic spirit, the cultural diversity, and the rapidly changing circumstances in America. Seventy years later, in a post-World War II climate of…

Despite generations of evidence that a liberal education is one of the most powerful engines of progress, for individuals and for our society, there is growing dismissal and even distrust of what liberal arts colleges do. Recent survey data from the American Council on Education show that the public's perception of the value and quality of a…

In this article, Ira Harkavy points to the beliefs that education and schooling significantly determine the character of a society, and that higher education has broad societal impacts, including helping to shape the rest of the schooling system. It is this core idea that unites the work of Benjamin Franklin and Ernest Boyer and serves as the…

The social and economic inequities in America's K-12 education system are well known, what with a rapidly expanding system of expensive private schools and the striking contrasts between urban and suburban public schools. America's higher education system, on the other hand, is generally regarded as far more equitable, given that each of the fifty…

What is often viewed as the fairly arcane business of determining and administering higher education policy is a matter of great national interest and, actually, a matter of national security. It thus makes a difference for American society in ways you may not have considered. The ability of the United States to protect itself and its interests…

"A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy's Future," commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education, was published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities in 2012. Representing the work of the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (2012), the report builds a strong case for higher…

For years, American higher education institutions have been working hard to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of campuses. This work is driven in part by arguments for social justice and the felt need for equal and expanded access to higher education. Since the society is diverse, the author argues that campuses should also reflect that.…

This article was adapted from "The LEAP Challenge: Education for a World of Unscripted Problems," a folio distributed at the opening plenary session of the 2015 annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities at which the LEAP Challenge was formally launched. Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) prepares…

At the centennial annual meeting of the "Association of American Colleges & Universities" (AAC&U) in January 2015, there was an announcement to participants of the release of the "LEAP Challenge." The key concept at the center of the LEAP Challenge is that all college students need to prepare to contribute in a world…

At the centennial annual meeting of the "Association of American Colleges and Universities" (AAC&U), President Carol Geary Schneider introduced the "LEAP Challenge," the next phase of AAC&U's Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative. The LEAP Challenge calls on all colleges and universities to engage…