Considering Higher Education’s Role in Democracy

Creating Space for Democracy: Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education, edited by Nicholas V. Longo and Timothy J. Shaffer. Stylus Press, 2019. 342 pages. $39.95(paperback). Also available as an e-book. Democracy is in the news—or, more precisely, threats to democracy are in the news, including the violence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by rioters hoping to disrupt the counting of electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election. Commentators in the United States have long seen additional threats to democracy that are arising from our extreme political polarization, growing income inequality, and continuing racial injustice, which directly affect our colleges and universities as well. The message seems to be getting through: we are realizing that liberal democracy can no longer be taken for granted. But what can higher education do about it?