Civics Centers Database

Since 2021, colleges and universities across the United States have seen a striking increase in the creation of “Civic Centers” focused on civic thought, civic discourse, or both. Although civics centers have existed for decades, their growth has accelerated dramatically, in part due to state legislative action. This rapid expansion has drawn attention from policymakers, faculty, and observers of higher education — supporters see civics centers as a constructive way to promote civic education and viewpoint diversity, while critics have raised concerns about faculty governance, academic freedom, and potential political influence.

To better understand this evolving sector, Heterodox Academy developed the first-of-its-kind public dataset cataloguing civics centers across U.S. higher education. We hope this dataset, along with the accompanying report, proves useful to higher educators and researchers who are working in civics centers or observing their development, and especially to advocates of the open inquiry goals — viewpoint diversity, constructive disagreement, and the free exchange of ideas — that HxA promotes.