Skidmore president joins College Presidents for Civic Preparedness
Skidmore College recently announced that its president, Marc Conner, is joining College Presidents for Civic Preparedness (CPFCP).
The group is a new initiative convened by The Institute for Citizens & Scholars to facilitate learning and greater impact through partnership toward the goal of developing college students for democratic engagement as empowered citizens. It advocates equipping students with the tools necessary to become active civic participants. The program’s goals align closely with Skidmore College’s mission of preparing students to engage in civic democracy — “to make the choices required of informed, responsible citizens,” as articulated in its mission statement.
“This project is very connected to what we do at Skidmore: We are training our students to think critically as we prepare them for their professional lives and careers. Regardless of the individual professional path our students follow, a vital part of our mission is to prepare them to participate in civic democracy and for leadership roles in their communities,” Conner said in a news release. “I look forward to working with two dozen other college leaders as we gather in common cause to enhance the education of our students for civic democracy and participation in the civic and democratic sphere.”
According to CPFCP, colleges and universities are among the few places in America where people from a range of backgrounds, cultures, and political orientations come together to wrestle with the complexity of what it means to be a democratic community. For many students, a college campus is the most diverse community they have ever been part of — and for many, it is the least. At college, students have the opportunity to develop the skills and practices essential to living in a multicultural and interconnected democracy.
Skidmore is planning to explore the integration of CPFCP’s program into multiple efforts, ranging from how students are welcomed to the college to curricular and co-curricular programs; continuing programming on speech and expression; its Racial Justice Initiative; and Skidmore’s Visions and Values initiative, a collaborative community reflection on Skidmore’s identity in the College’s second century. Members of Skidmore faculty will also be invited to participate in programming.
“We’re thrilled to add President Marc C. Conner to our new initiative College Presidents for Civic Preparedness,” Institute for Citizens & Scholars president Rajiv Vinnakota said in the release. “He joins a diverse coalition of college presidents — from institutions large and small, private and public — united in its commitment to ensuring students are civically well-informed, productively engaged, and committed to democracy.”
CPFCP currently includes 25 leaders from higher education institutions across the country, such as Georgetown University, Howard University, The University of Notre Dame, Wesleyan University, and Wellesley College.
For more information, visit https://citizensandscholars.org/ focus-areas/enable/college-presidents-for-civic-preparedness/.