Cultivating Our Nation's Engaged Citizenry: Institutional Factors That Promote the Civic Engagement of College Students

Through the power of social media and increased access to mobile technology, our country is witnessing a rise in college student-led protests and mobilizing to try to challenge racism on college campuses (Curwen, Song, & Gordon, 2015). One of the key functions of higher education institutions is cultivating our engaged citizenry (Hurtado, 2007). We know civic engagement in college influences future civic participation of students (Coley & Sum, 2012). However, very little is known about the factors in college that promote civic engagement of students. The purpose of this study is to explore the institutional- and student-level characteristics that affect the development of students' level of civic values after four years of college enrollment, utilizing data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), a longitudinal dataset of college students. Overall, this study found differences in the factors that promote civic values of students based on race/ethnicity and institutional contexts. More specifically, various civic-related curricular and co-curricular college experiences and institutional contexts influenced the development of civic values of racial/ethnic minority students differently. For example, service learning, a proven curricular approach that promotes the civic values and engagement of students, negatively influenced the civic values of Latina/o students. Additionally, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Institutions (AANAPISIs) were particularly influential in promoting civic values, but only for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students. Moreover, the same factors that influenced civic values also influenced student's aspirations to pursue a career in service. The findings will help higher education researchers and practitioners understand the student- and institutional-level factors that promote the development of civic values in higher education, as well as shed light on which higher education institutions develop the next generation of leaders and engaged citizens