Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) — Scholars at the Hoover Institution have created a new national alliance of civics educators tasked with reinvigorating the teaching of civics at American universities to better equip graduates to participate in modern democracy.
Launched in Spring 2024 at a meeting sponsored by Stanford University and the Hoover Institution, the Alliance for Civics in the Academy is a nonpartisan network of instructors in higher education involved in teaching courses and developing academic programs aimed at civic education.
It joins together teachers from all career stages, liberal, conservative, and progressive, from red and blue states, teaching at public and private institutions, large and small. All share the pursuit of robust teaching practices to help pupils be better citizens and participate more fully in their communities.
“Our goal is not to create a “standard” civics curriculum, but to enable each member of our Alliance to learn from a diversity of well-considered and classroom-tested approaches to teaching civics,” said Senior Fellow and Stanford Civics Initiative founder Josiah Ober.
“Diversity does not mean anarchy; we ask each new member to agree to a set of core principles, including support for free speech, fair presentation of different viewpoints on controversial topics, open and mutually respectful discussions of complex issues among students, and a firm rejection of ideological pressure or posturing by instructors.”
At Stanford, the effort comprises the Stanford Civics Initiative, which offers undergraduate courses on a host of topics related to political theory, modern political thought, political economy and what history can teach us about global politics today.
The Alliance will work within different kinds of academic organizations (in departments, programs, centers, and schools). The curricula they teach feature different texts and their institutions offer students different practical experiences and opportunities for civic engagement.
It includes as Charter Members civics instructors from over 60 US universities including Stanford as well as Harvard, Princeton, the University of Virginia and Arizona State.
All members agreed to a charter at the inaugural meeting in 2024, which stated that faculty “must intentionally engage with historically significant competing arguments on contested questions of civic life, oppose indoctrination, and model the democratic values of open inquiry and freedom of expression.”
At Hoover, The Alliance for Civics in the Academy is housed within the Center for Revitalizing American Institutions (RAI), which is tasked in part with invigorating all US civics instruction across age groups.
Its director, Senior Fellow Brandice Canes-Wrone says the Alliance will become a “central pillar in RAI’s effort to revitalize civic education and democratic citizenship.”
“Recognizing that the core values of the university—open inquiry, good faith engagement with opposing ideas, and intellectual humility—are fundamental democratic skills, the ACA aims to reinvigorate civic education in higher education by building a network of post-secondary educators dedicated to fostering both the knowledge and skills essential for engaged citizenship,” she said.
The Alliance is also seeking to grow its stable of member university instructors. You can apply to join here.
The courses offered are meant to invite debate and polite disagreement between students, something that has become less natural to students in recent years.
The Alliance will periodically hold events to allow civics instructors to share knowledge and best-practices about civics education with their peers.
It will also develop a capability to offer seed grants to members interested in hosting their own workshops on topics relevant to civics education.
For coverage opportunities, contact Jeffrey Marschner, 202-760-3187, jmarsch@stanford.edu.
