In 1977, poet and activist Adrienne Rich started her address to Douglass College students at Rutgers by stating: “the first thing I want to say to you who are students, is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.” Today, in many different ways, students are doing just this, creating for themselves an educational experience and an educational community that is aware of the social, economic and cultural influences it has through the members of this community and the operation of the institution.

There are many ways that a college or university can make a commitment to public problem-solving, community development and civic learning. Increasingly students are leading initiatives to deepen this with a commitment to creating an Engaged Campus – from creating space for public dialogue, to campus environmental sustainability, to sustaining student engagement. While prevailing trends within higher education such as college education as a private commodity(as opposed to a public good) and passive, individual learning(as opposed to engaged learning), students are going beyond a role of consumer to producers and partner in creating a more engaged, public and democratic institutional culture and commitment.

As part of Campus Compact’s Raise Your Voice campaign we are catalyzing and documenting the leadership of students in creating Engaged Campuses. By sharing the stories of how students have successfully influenced and changed institutional culture, we highlight the unique story each student has to tell about their campus as well as their own transformation – and by doing so reinforcing that students are important, new voices at the table in the pursuit of democracy, strong communities and engaged campuses.