About the Project
The American Democracy Project is a multi-campus initiative that seeks to create an intellectual and experiential understanding of civic engagement for undergraduates enrolled at institutions that are members of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The goal of the project is to produce graduates who understand and are committed to engaging in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy.
The American Democracy Project (ADP) at William Paterson University aims to raise the political and civic participation levels of students attending the University. In order to accomplish these ends, the ADP seeks to:
- Create opportunities for intellectual and experiential understandings of citizenship and engagement for undergraduates.
- Produce graduates who better understand and are more able to engage in meaningful actions as citizens in a democracy.
- Strengthen partnerships between the university and the non-profit and public sector communities for the benefit of students and the community.
- Focus attention of policy makers and opinion leaders on the civic value of the public higher education experience.
The primary vehicle for fulfilling these objectives is our “Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum” (CEAC/`seek/) program. CEAC courses have all of the following characteristics: 1) The course features readings and classroom activities that will prepare students for their community experiences. 2) A substantial fraction of the course involves participating in some community activity. 3) The community participation is not just charitable work, but somehow gets students involved in learning about and trying to solve some real community problem. 4) The students are asked to reflect in some way on their community participation and their roles as citizens in a democracy.
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