The Next Era at UGA: Greatness in 'Public Trust'

As we strive to become one of the great national universities, we always must be mindful about the word "public" in our mission. What exactly is that public purpose?

The first American colleges were established by colonial assemblies to be held in "public trust" and governed by appointed boards of "trustees." Colleges received some public money. The obligation of the board of trustees was to serve the "common interest" of educating the future servants of society.

American colleges were to provide a liberal arts education consistent with democratic traditions--and tensions--of character, virtue, morals and the pursuit of greater knowledge and truth. "Liberal arts" was derived from a Latin term that meant "the education of citizens." The modern American university, in advancing the "common good," has three chief obligations to balance and maintain. First is the role of higher education to transmit cultural values while promoting critical inquiry, academic freedom and free thinking of each generation of citizen leaders. The second obligation is to respond through research and service to the current needs of the welfare of all citizens while at the same time critiquing those very institutions. A third obligation is to prepare students for personal and professional career advancement while educating them to contribute to their communities and society at large. This balancing of obligations is intended so that higher education can serve the American common good of promoting "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The one overarching goal of public higher education is to prepare the next generation of citizens for responsible, thoughtful and participatory citizenship. All other goals--academic, vocational, aesthetic, social and economic--are integral subsets of the larger whole. Research indicates that students achieve higher intellectual standards when they are expected to make applications of their classroom learning to field and community settings and master the complexities of a fast-changing world.

Congruent actions
Our commitment to public purpose is demonstrated through knowing students well, using participatory teaching methods, pursuing academic studies through community service, focusing on faculty and student research on public issues, promoting activities that bring faculty and students together across ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups, and committing to equal partnerships and reciprocal changes with public schools, social agencies, non-profit organizations and local community and government organizations. Let me suggest five points of emphasis:

1. Democracy, as an active way of learning, must permeate the classrooms and programs of the university. Students must actively work with problems, ideas, materials and other students as they learn skills and content. They should have escalating degrees of choices, both as individuals and as groups, with parameters provided by the instructor. They should share their learning with each other, with teachers and with other community members. And they must decide how to make their learning contribute to their community.
2. Diversity of individuals, groups and perspectives must be reflected not only in courses, but in all institutional activities. Diversity must be realized by how people learn from each other, in classrooms, in academic programs and in recreational, cultural and social settings. Diversity comes from people sharing their differences, not simply sitting in a class or occupying the same physical campus.
3. The ethics of citizenship must have a high priority, in both general and specialized academic programs. Students must come to understand and apply such democratic values as justice and equality, fairness and care, and honesty and civility, as they apply to their immediate and future professional and intellectual lives.
4. Equal partnerships between our university, community and state organizations is central to our mission. We have a strong history of consultation to community and state agencies and, more recently, have collaboratively designed services with private industries in training, development and research programs. What needs increased emphasis is the integration of traditional academic courses, programs and departments with community agencies. This will create both improved learning experiences for university students and faculty and improved services to the clients of the agencies.
5. More campus activities and events must be accessible to and inclusive of our larger community. It is important that our campus become a public place where all citizens come together face-to-face to discuss ideas and issues.

Carl Glickman is University Professor of the Social Foundations of Education.