Elizabeth Bennion, campus director of the American Democracy Project, talks about the project and shares some of her books on political discourse. The American Democracy Project will team with FACET’s Global Citizenship Initiative this semester. The campus goal is to imbed civic engagement in the curriculum.

Lectures, discussions, voter registration drives, a Web site and a series of radio commentaries on the local National Public Radio station filled the campus fall schedule. For the spring semester, ADP will be cooperating with FACET’s Global Citizenship Initiative to increase the campus focus on global citizenship and to introduce more active citizenship into the curriculum.

In addition to conversations on voting, military duty, the media and war and veterans, the project piqued interest in the democratic process, with more than 500 new voters registered on campus. The voter registration campaign was led by student organizations, including the non-partisan Political Science Club and the newly energized College Republicans and College Democrats.

The next step is taking civic engagement beyond election-year politics, to more involvement in a wide range of activities both inside and outside of the political sphere. According to Elizabeth Bennion, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science who is serving as ADP campus director, the campus wants civic engagement to be embedded in the curriculum.

“At IU South Bend, we provide an education to create a work force. We also need to create citizens. As alumni, our students will be in the position to make a real difference in the life of the community.”

IU South Bend joined more than 190 college campuses taking part in the ADP project, which is being directed nationally by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities with co-direction from the New York Times.

The national project seeks to create a national conversation among many campuses about the theory and practice of civic engagement, to develop institution commitment to civic engagement, strengthen civic education for undergraduates and to create new programs.

Bennion said the Web site and the commentaries have been a successful link from the campus to the community.

“The Web site and the commentaries on WVPE (the public radio station) have been models for other campuses. More than 15,000 people hear the commentaries, and this partnership is good for the campus and the community.”

For more information about the American Democracy Project at IU South Bend, or to publish thoughts about civic engagement and American democracy, visit:

http://www.iusb.edu/~sbadp