University
Civics Centers

In the last decade, a wave of new schools, departments, and academic centers devoted to civic education has emerged at universities across the country. Backed by legislative mandates in states like Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and North Carolina, they represent one of the most significant structural shifts in higher education in recent decades, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in state appropriations as well as federal grant money.

The new centers emphasize a different strand of civics education than the community-engagement model currently dominant on college campuses. While both can broadly be called “civics education,” the new reform movement seeks to restore balance to the discipline by reintroducing a more traditional focus on classical liberal arts, statesmanship, and Western political thought.

Proponents of civics centers often describe them as remedies for cultural and ideological ills on college campuses, including a lack of viewpoint diversity, a dearth of civics skills and knowledge, an unhealthy climate for open inquiry and discussion on controversial topics, and declining trust from the public

The centers have also received criticism from several directions. Some critics object to the fact that many civics centers have been created through state legislation, other critics worry about the potential for politicization and political interference, some are concerned about the challenge of equipping students with professional skills, and yet others cite concerns about unintended consequences such as intellectual siloing.

To assist higher educators, researchers, and journalists who are working in civics centers or observing their development, Heterodox Academy has produced a variety of freely available materials studying the rise of civics centers and documenting the discourse surrounding them.