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Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and...
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Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context

A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (12 January 2024) | Viewed by 21195

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bolek Kabala

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Guest Editor
Department of Government, Legal Studies and Philosophy, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76402, USA
Interests: republicanism; Hobbes & Spinoza; American political thought; judicial review; constitutional populism; political philosophy; critical theory; political theology; Augustine & ideology; civic engagement
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Casey D. Thompson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 76401, USA
Interests: United States constitutional law; higher education and civic engagement

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The public role of universities is several centuries old. However, it was President Truman’s official legal recommendations for democratic citizenship that contributed to the burgeoning “civic engagement” movement that attracted national attention in the 1980s and 1990s, and that continues to structure university investments, strategic plans, as well as curriculum and assessment designs, through today. This raises a host of intersecting questions about power, justice, and the law.

First, to what end or purpose (moral, ethical, or natural law) is higher education promoting student engagement? Does and/or can the law require or incentivize different civic engagement programs to consider global or national citizenship, social justice, informed patriotism, or other goals? We acknowledge a need for sensitivity to the diversity of existing institutions, ranging from public to private to denominational colleges and universities.

Second, and related to these broader questions, especially at public universities, who is to decide? What are the legal guidelines around gatekeepers at different institutions which structure institutes and civic engagement programs, whether with respect to selecting the mission of a citizenship-related center, or deciding on equitable choices of invited speakers? And to what extent, legally, do these centers and/or civic engagement programs need to see the public or affected communities as stakeholders?

These are all themes in which power, justice, and the law overlap.

In terms of even more specific legal questions that apply, especially at public universities in the United States and around the world:

  • What are relevant legal and regulatory guidelines if an interested party is designing a new civic engagement center at a public, private, or denominational school (that accepts or does not accept federal funds)?
  • How is student activism both a challenge and an opportunity for genuine dialogue across different spheres, and what are the contemporary legal ramifications of potentially productive disruptions on campus? As we show, it is currently legal in the US for universities that accept federal funds to severely limit the free expression, protest, and assembly rights of students. Legally speaking—how is it possible to change this unfortunate reality?
  • At non-profit universities, what are the legal issues to consider in order to ensure a diversity of viewpoints among invited speakers so as not to lose tax-exempt status?
  • Many consider Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which is currently illegal on public university campuses in several American states, to represent a robust form of civic engagement. Where has DEI been legally prohibited? What are diversity, equity, and inclusion possibilities that remain in place, and what are multiple ways, while upholding the law, to still pursue a dynamic civic engagement framework?

Dr. Bolek Kabala
Dr. Casey D. Thompson
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 217 KiB  
Article
The Problem of Civic and Liberal Education: Legislative and Civil-Society Remedies for Our Era
by Gregory A. McBrayer
Laws 2024, 13(6), 75; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13060075 - 29 Nov 2024
Viewed by 558
Abstract
This paper addresses the current state of civic education legislation in higher education. While state-level legislation that aims to improve civics in colleges and universities in the United States is laudable, such laws run the risk of meeting students too late and so [...] Read more.
This paper addresses the current state of civic education legislation in higher education. While state-level legislation that aims to improve civics in colleges and universities in the United States is laudable, such laws run the risk of meeting students too late and so must be coupled with renewed legislative focus on civic education at the elementary and secondary level. Civic education aims to make good citizens, to cultivate students’ love of their country, and this may be difficult to effect by the time students reach college. Laws mandating and forbidding certain content from being taught in history and civics classes is also considered. Further, I aim to show the deleterious effect an impoverished civic education has on liberal education, drawing, principally, on lessons from Socrates’s understanding of education as we find it in the writing of Plato. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
11 pages, 189 KiB  
Article
Natural Law, Common Law, and the Problem of Historicism in American Public Life and Education
by Benjamin P. Haines
Laws 2024, 13(4), 56; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13040056 - 21 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1077
Abstract
Recent developments within American politics have witnessed an increase in the use of history to highlight the need for social justice and civic engagement. Yet, on its own, history is an altogether impotent means of doing so, for it fails to provide the [...] Read more.
Recent developments within American politics have witnessed an increase in the use of history to highlight the need for social justice and civic engagement. Yet, on its own, history is an altogether impotent means of doing so, for it fails to provide the public with the moral framework necessary for evaluating past injustices on an objective basis. To remedy this problem, this essay suggests that historians and other scholars and activists who are interested in civic engagement and social justice should look to the classical and common law traditions; the answer to the theoretical need for a solution to problems within presentist activism has, in other words, been the law. Doing so would provide a more universal and shared conception of past injustices and help increase a polity’s moral consciousness. Practically, this strategy can be implemented through a classical or liberal education, with the additional help of state legislatures. In all, this essay argues that history on its own is insufficient for moral education, that the best moral education is offered through the classical model, and that, as a practical matter, it is necessary for a legislative solution to mandate that education, if it will ever be possible to find an objective basis for civic engagement and social justice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
17 pages, 252 KiB  
Article
First-Year Experience or One-Year Experience? The Future of Civic Engagement in Higher Education
by Glenn Moots and James M. Patterson
Laws 2024, 13(4), 55; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13040055 - 20 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1145
Abstract
Building on recent civic engagement conversations, this article considers several legal proposals and existing frameworks that are meant to expand opportunities for civic growth and interaction in higher education. Though well intentioned, these proposed and existing guidelines, as we demonstrate, in many cases, [...] Read more.
Building on recent civic engagement conversations, this article considers several legal proposals and existing frameworks that are meant to expand opportunities for civic growth and interaction in higher education. Though well intentioned, these proposed and existing guidelines, as we demonstrate, in many cases, restrict the ability of students to learn in traditional ways that facilitate their civic interactions on campus. The suggested and recently implemented reforms include expanded Advanced Placement and Dual Credit opportunities, reduced support for general education classes, and 90 h degrees intended to replace 120 credit hour degrees. The issue with all of these ideas (implemented or not), as we show, is that they amputate what is critical to a genuine undergraduate civic engagement experience: time physically spent on campus, building bonds of trust within a cohort in a way that makes possible the tough conversations, without which true civic connection never becomes a reality. The recommendation of our article as a whole, then—at the local, state, and federal levels—is to use all available legal tools, including ones connected to financial aid and accreditation, to not further reduce time that students are required to spend on campus as a prerequisite of graduation. Maintaining residential requirements, as we further show, will also advance goals of equity and equal access. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
14 pages, 253 KiB  
Article
A Lived Experience Well-Understood: What Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws Can Tell Us about Civic Learning in Higher Education
by Constantine Christos Vassiliou
Laws 2024, 13(4), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13040040 - 27 Jun 2024
Viewed by 941
Abstract
This article considers how Montesquieu’s theoretical response to his perceived dangers of modern commerce may guide us on teaching citizenship in higher learning today. I argue that a Montesquieu informed framework for civic learning, which primarily stresses a careful study of the nation’s [...] Read more.
This article considers how Montesquieu’s theoretical response to his perceived dangers of modern commerce may guide us on teaching citizenship in higher learning today. I argue that a Montesquieu informed framework for civic learning, which primarily stresses a careful study of the nation’s existing constitutional and positive laws, would (1) entail a baseline level of scientific and economic literacy to deepen our understanding of how commercial modernity’s most recent innovations may undermine the authority of those laws if left unchecked, and (2) cultivate an appreciation for the laws, mores, institutions, and practices that some of these same innovations threaten to dissolve if left unchecked. The article concludes with practical recommendations on how to cultivate resilient future custodians of our self-governing republic. I contend that universities need to provide a learning environment that inspires students to crave different kinds of success or recognition, distinctly highlighting the need for heavy restrictions on the use of electronics in the classroom. I then propose that civics-focused curricula must ensure that students are furnished with the requisite technocratic expertise to (1) recognize how their daily economic decisions as private citizens will impact the public interest and (2) exercise prudent judgment over future legislation aiming to safeguard individual liberties within a techno-mediated twenty-first century commercial world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
13 pages, 259 KiB  
Article
Constituting the American Higher-Education Elite: Rush and Jefferson on Collegiate Civic Engagement
by Luke Foster
Laws 2024, 13(3), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13030038 - 18 Jun 2024
Viewed by 908
Abstract
The foundation of new centers for civic education has sparked a new round of debate over the political independence of the public university. Do legal mandates by state legislatures undermine academic freedom? The underlying debate concerns alternative visions of elite formation, as comparing [...] Read more.
The foundation of new centers for civic education has sparked a new round of debate over the political independence of the public university. Do legal mandates by state legislatures undermine academic freedom? The underlying debate concerns alternative visions of elite formation, as comparing Benjamin Rush and Thomas Jefferson’s arguments during the Founding period makes apparent. Both believed that the American constitutional order depended on educated citizens of a certain character, requiring coercive authority in education to instill moral and political commitments. But whereas Jefferson made an exception for educational coercion, Rush viewed education as an aristocratic element that could complement democracy. Rush’s prioritizing of duties over rights offers a more helpful framework for the task of reforming elite education today to restore trust between leaders and people. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
30 pages, 338 KiB  
Article
Incentivizing Civic Engagement at Public and Private Universities: Tax Exemptions, Laws, and Critical Dialogues
by Eric Morrow, Casey Thompson, Payton Jones and Boleslaw Z. Kabala
Laws 2024, 13(3), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13030032 - 22 May 2024
Viewed by 1117
Abstract
What are the differences in how public and private institutions of higher education, with religious schools as a subset of private colleges and universities, approach on-campus protests in a framework of civic engagement? Unfortunately, public, private, and religious schools have all restricted opportunities [...] Read more.
What are the differences in how public and private institutions of higher education, with religious schools as a subset of private colleges and universities, approach on-campus protests in a framework of civic engagement? Unfortunately, public, private, and religious schools have all restricted opportunities of speech, assembly, and protest, despite in many cases state and federal courts ruling that this is against the law. With the goal of increasing the civic capacities of students at all institutions of higher education, we propose a mechanism of partial revocation of tax exemptions at universities that do not currently uphold a robust understanding of civic engagement opportunities for all students, which will apply to any college or university receiving federal funding, consistent with the constitutional tradition of free speech still exemplified by Brandenburg v. Ohio and the “national policy” test of Bob Jones University vs. United States. In doing so, we build on the critique of exemptions in the recent work of Vincent Phillip Munoz on religious liberty. By opting only for incentives and by not even incentivizing private institutions that continue to restrict civic engagement but that do not accept federal dollars, we affirm and support a mutually beneficial ongoing dialogue among public, private, and religious schools. This dialogue, as it is sharpened and maintained in place by our recommended policies, is also consistent with pluralism as conceptualized by Jacob Levy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
13 pages, 205 KiB  
Article
Human and Divine Law at the Secular University: The Divide between Classical Liberalism and Post-Classical Liberalism
by Owen Anderson
Laws 2024, 13(3), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13030025 - 24 Apr 2024
Viewed by 2012
Abstract
The American university has been guided by classical liberalism in its defense of the freedom of speech and academic freedom. The idea is that a university is a place where all ideas and perspectives can be debated. However, this idea is increasingly being [...] Read more.
The American university has been guided by classical liberalism in its defense of the freedom of speech and academic freedom. The idea is that a university is a place where all ideas and perspectives can be debated. However, this idea is increasingly being challenged by those who want the secular university to be a place that advances a social philosophy that promises to transform society by dismantling structural racism and providing for greater equity. In this article, I will argue that both of these models have been shaped by democratic legal ideals and both share a common skeptical assumption about the basic questions of meaning that each person must answer. The legal structures developed by Westphalian modernity attempt neutrality on questions about meaning. This can be seen even in recent Supreme Court decisions affirming the individual’s right to determine meaning for themselves. This skeptical root has produced the conflict between classical liberals and the social transformation that we are witnessing at our universities. I argue for a third option that I find in the Declaration of Independence, which affirms that we can and should know the answers to basic questions which then provide the foundation for education and law. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
16 pages, 244 KiB  
Article
Civic Thought and Leadership: A Higher Civics to Sustain American Constitutional Democracy
by Paul O. Carrese
Laws 2024, 13(2), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13020019 - 25 Mar 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2874
Abstract
Multiple civic crises facing American constitutional democracy—deepening political polarization and dysfunction, loss of confidence in major institutions and professions, and collapse of confidence in higher education—can be simultaneously redressed by restoring traditional civic education in universities and colleges. A nascent national reform in [...] Read more.
Multiple civic crises facing American constitutional democracy—deepening political polarization and dysfunction, loss of confidence in major institutions and professions, and collapse of confidence in higher education—can be simultaneously redressed by restoring traditional civic education in universities and colleges. A nascent national reform in public universities, establishing departments of civic thought and leadership, reintroduces a blend of classical liberal arts and American civic education. This restores a core mission of truth-seeking and Socratic debate to universities, while providing the higher civics needed to perpetuate the American legal and constitutional order through non-partisan, non-ideological preparation of thoughtful citizens and leaders with the necessary civic knowledge and civic virtues, including commitment to the rule of law and American constitutionalism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
12 pages, 208 KiB  
Article
A Renaissance of Civic Education and Civic Engagement in Higher Education in the Spirit of the American Founders and Constitutionalism
by Kody W. Cooper
Laws 2024, 13(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13010008 - 6 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2963
Abstract
A growing number of states have responded to negative trends in civic knowledge, trust, and engagement by creating new institutes or schools at state universities, with the express aim of reinvigorating civic education and thoughtful, engaged citizenship. In seeking to increase civic knowledge, [...] Read more.
A growing number of states have responded to negative trends in civic knowledge, trust, and engagement by creating new institutes or schools at state universities, with the express aim of reinvigorating civic education and thoughtful, engaged citizenship. In seeking to increase civic knowledge, champion viewpoint diversity, model civil discussion of ideas, combat polarization, and embrace the civic responsibilities of higher education, these institutes can be seen as carrying forward the American founders’ vision of civic education, the moral foundations of law and constitutionalism, and the constitutional principles of free speech and federalism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
11 pages, 209 KiB  
Article
Why Equity Follows the Law
by Adam J. MacLeod
Laws 2024, 13(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws13010003 - 3 Jan 2024
Viewed by 4450
Abstract
Renewed attention to equity in higher education is welcome because true equity helps us to reason together well. When administered correctly, the jurisprudence of equity models civil discourse and, therefore, can teach us how to carry out civic engagement reasonably. Equitable interpretation of [...] Read more.
Renewed attention to equity in higher education is welcome because true equity helps us to reason together well. When administered correctly, the jurisprudence of equity models civil discourse and, therefore, can teach us how to carry out civic engagement reasonably. Equitable interpretation of the law teaches us how to understand each other charitably. And equity’s deference to law teaches us how to reason well together about our practical problems. Law is the practical reasoning that we do together. Equity serves the ends of justice by serving law, rather than undermining it. These functions of equity in adjudication point toward a model of equity in practical reasoning and civic discourse more broadly. Research method: jurisprudence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Civic Engagement, Justice, and the Law in a National and International Context)
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