Published: March 11, 2008 11:49 am         

Webb: Civic engagement low among young people

EDMOND — What is this thing called democracy worth to you? Is it worth fighting for? Is it worth dying for?

These were all questions posed Monday by W. Roger Webb, University of Central Oklahoma president, at the American Democracy Project Conference, “Democracy and Civic Engagement: A Call to Action.”

“(Sept.) 11 was not only about bombing and bringing down two buildings,” Webb said. “(Sept.) 11 was an attack on the American democracy and what it stands for.”

Democracy works only if there is participation, he said.

Bill Radke, UCO provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced that in a recent survey only 14 percent of college freshman admitted they planned to keep up with political issues and processes.

“Citizens today must be more prepared to make decisions than in the past,” Radke said. “The public purpose of a public institute is to engage students in a democracy.”

He said involvement in civic engagement is particularly low among ages 18-24.

George Mehaffy, vice president for Academic Leadership and Change for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, said the most important thing institutes of higher learning must teach students is to preserve and protect democracy and the communities they live in.

He said there is a decline in social capital. Attendance of club meetings has decreased by 58 percent and family dinners have decreased by 33 percent.

An increase in inequality also is a threat to democracy, Mehaffy said. The top 100 CEOs used to earn 30 times the pay of average workers but they now make 1,000 times the pay. In 2008, Exxon-Mobil reported the highest earnings in U.S. corporate history. That same day unemployment surged to 7 percent, which is the lowest job growth in seven years.

Research shows that most young people lean toward voluntary civic engagement, which includes volunteering and community service. Mehaffy said there is not as much involvement in political civic engagement, which includes protests and petitions.

He said institutes of higher learning have to prepare a generation that can sit down together and solve problems.

“The most discouraging thing is young people don’t trust us,” Mehaffy said. “The greatest generation went through a great depression and great war and did it together.”

He said in a recent study, 36 percent of 112,000 young people surveyed believed newspapers should get permission from the government before they print a political story.

Institutes of higher learning need to promote civic engagement through institutional intentionality, including leadership and rewards and recognitions, programs and activities and by measuring results, Mehaffy said.

“Our obligation is to prepare the next generation of active engaged citizens for democracy,” he said. “There are many leaders on this campus and they do not all reside in the president’s office.”

Megan Lee, a journalism senior, said she was interested in the conference because she has participated in activism in the local community and was involved in the “Keep Edmond Green” campaign.

“With my experience with doing stuff on a local level, it’s very important to me to be involved with things close to home,” Lee said. “I don’t want there be apathetic people.”

She said every little bit helps when it comes to being engaged citizens. Even if it is just a signature on a petition.

     

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