#CLDE18 OPENING PLENARY | CivEd Talks and Our CLDE Theory of Change
The 2018 Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement (CLDE18) meeting organized by the American Democracy Project (ADP), The Democracy Commitment (TDC) and NASPA LEAD Initiative, is continuing the conversation about our collective emergent Theory of Change adapted from elements of the 2012 A Crucible Moment report. We encourage participants to reflect on how together we can build campus cultures and contexts contribute to a more vibrant democracy, advance civic outcomes and pedagogies, and strategically institutionalize our work.
This year’s conference will feature three CivEd talks by practitioner scholars who will actively engage participants in stretching our thinking and motivating us to action concerning three wicked problems faced by our campuses and communities: hunger and homelessness, DACA and immigration, and climate change. CivEd Talks are dynamic, short, and quick-paced presentations by members of the civic learning and democratic engagement community intended to inspire and challenge our collective imagination and thinking. Each of the three CivEd Talks presented will actively engage participants in stretching our thinking and motivating us to action as we return to our campuses and communities following the meeting.
Join us for an opening plenary session that asks you to envisioning the work of our CLDE movement in higher education and consider how you can help us move the needle on democratic engagement on campus, in your communities, and in our civil society.
The opening plenary session will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday, June 7, 2018.
Opening remarks by: Mildred García, President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities
CivEd Talks:
- Hunger, Homelessness, and Action to Include Today’s Students
There are invisible populations on our campuses – students who are not sure where they will sleep tonight, or when they will get their next meal. Knowing that obtaining a college degree is a key to a more stable and successful life, students are having to choose between groceries and graduation, textbooks or rent. This talk describes the challenges facing today’s student as they seek to survive and to thrive in the new economics of higher education, offering ideas and potential solutions from the growing intersection of higher education and human services.
Speaker: Clare Cady, Director of Community Engagement, Temple University (Pa.) & Founder and Director, College and University Food Bank Alliance - Climate Change Action Through Student Resiliency Ambassadors
Higher education institutions across the country are committed to climate action and leadership through the Second Nature framework. The Second Nature Climate Resilience in Urban Campuses + Communities (CRUX) grant, from the Kresge Foundation, is a pilot program designed to encourage resiliency across the country. South Mountain Community College has partnered with the City of Phoenix to develop a climate resiliency model for heat related incidences. This talk describes how we developed an individual resiliency survey and empowered student to take action by creating resiliency ambassadors.Speaker: Sian Proctor, Geology Professor, South Mountain Community College (Ariz.) - Dream Deferred: Broken Promises for Undocumented Students
An estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year. Undocumented students face many tests, including potential deportation and emotional challenges that affect their daily lives, including loneliness and depression. Their undocumented status leaves many of these students feeling hopeless and seeking answers. This talk will address how to best support our students as they navigate the already challenging journey of achieving their dreams of obtaining a degree while trying to remain hopeful in the midst of an uncertain future.Speaker: Joel Pérez, Vice President and Dean of Students/Title IX Coordinator, Whittier College (Calif.)
There will be plenty of additional engagement opportunities about these wicked problems during the Featured Sessions on Friday, June 8 from 1:15 – 2:45 p.m.:
- Climate Change – Environmental Stewardship: The civic imperative for learning about and engaging within our local habitats
- DACA and Immigration – Creating a Welcoming and Inclusive Campus Environment
- Hunger and Homelessness – Democratic Action to Address Food and Housing Insecurity on Campus
- Media Literacy – What to do next? Understanding and responding to student’s media literacy skills
To learn more about the 2018 Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Meeting and to register by the May 1, 2018 early-bird deadline, visit the conference website.
Young conservatives are here to stay, and in 2016, they voted in higher numbers — and exhibited higher engagement with candidates and issues — than they had in the past 20 years. But millennial conservatives aren’t social conservatives, and they aren’t necessarily fiscal conservatives, either. Jane Coaston will review the latest polling data and analytics to discuss what we’re hearing — and not hearing — from a demographic that will impact our politics, and our policies, for decades to come.
Amid perhaps the most polarized time in our nation’s history, the quality of public discourse has also reached historic lows. Civic engagement practitioners must find ways to build capacity in our communities and campuses to change the dialogue, work against the overly adversarial climate, and support the kind of conversation democracy requires. Martin Carcasson will make the case for taking a “wicked problems” perspective on tough issues to work toward improving the quality of public discourse and building the necessary civic skill sets and mindsets in our students.
Far too many Americans are illiterate in power – what it is, how it operates, why some individuals have more than others. As a result, those few who do understand power wield it disproportionately. How can you learn to activate your civic power to see problems through fresh eyes and bypass broken institutions, stale ideologies, and divisive politics? Eric Liu answered this question in his recent book 
AASCU's American Democracy Project 