10.1177/0899764003260588 ARTICLEOstranderCivic Engagement Democracy, Civic Participation, and the University: A Comparative Study of Civic Engagement on Five Campuses

This research is a comparative study of civic engagement on five campuses. Based on site visits, interviews on campuses and in host communities, document analysis, and litera-ture reviews, four key findings emerged: (a) shifting and varying emphases in main com-ponents of engagement; (b) local factors that facilitate and present barriers to engage-ment; (c) intellectual rationales and projects to drive new knowledge, involve faculty, and institutionalize and sustain engagement; and (d) new organizational structures to link the campus and community and share power and resources. The argument is made for a dynamic and developmental framework that acknowledges multiplicity and flow. The article concludes with an initial mapping of changing relationships between local factors and civic-engagement program emphases and an articulation of three main current theo-ries of engagement that a developmental framework would take into account