“We urgently need to bring to our communities the limitless capacity to love, serve, and create for and with each other.” - Grace Lee Boggs*

As an educator, I am committed to supporting the growth and development of students into agents of positive social change. I also see it as my role to help develop students into individuals who are equipped with the tools to engage others in discussion and discourse that positively moves communities forward. I believe we can do this through encouraging a renovation of civic love.

Civic learning and community engagement or civic learning and democratic engagement. However you phrase it, we have a responsibility as benefactors of a civilized society, and as members of a community, to push those communities toward the common good. We all want to feel safe. We all want to be happy. Since these are shared goals and shared needs, is there something we can do for all of us to achieve that?

I have the pleasure (?) of straddling multiple generations. My parents are late X’er’s, I am a Millennial, and many of the students I work with regularly are from Generations Z or Alpha. Not to mention my own daughter straddles Generation Alpha and Generation Beta. Over the last several decades we have seen a significant decline in the engagement of youth in civic life and an increase in the perceived divide between our communities. What if we we adopt the idea of civic love and encourage an ethos of civic love in our communities? What if we took the wild act of getting to know a stranger? What if the wild act of getting to know someone included getting to know the person who has expressed different opinions? What if that person is struggling with the same things? The radical act of breaking down barriers.

Why I believe encouraging civic love is important

The common good. That is the purpose of public higher education. Civic love is the love for society, expressed through a commitment to the common good – We are all better off when we are all better off. One can express their civic love through a myriad of ways, including volunteering, voting, marching, and speaking against systemic injustice. For instance, I want you and your family to be well, healthy, and safe. Simply put, again, we are all better off when we are all better off. We can grow that understanding and empathy between our communities through radical acts of love.