Civic leaders from Alamance County and the surrounding area joined with members of the Elon community at a summit June 26 to explore ways they can work together to enhance civic engagement between the university and local communities. Details...
Titled “Elon Listens: A Community Summit on Civic Engagement,” the summit seeks to build upon Elon’s outstanding tradition of community service and outreach. The discussion was facilitated by James Applegate, a consultant for the American Association for Higher Education and vice president for academic affairs at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. Applegate challenged approximately 100 participants to think of new ways for Elon and the community to interact.
“The maps we have for how we think about ourselves as a community are out of date,” Applegate says. “The community must understand that the shaping of ideas sometimes changes the way the community thinks about itself and its challenges.”
During two separate discussion sessions, Applegate encouraged participants to conceive strategies to implement partnerships between the university and the community as a whole. Some of the strategies identified include reaching out to other organizations to break down stereotypes and making an effort to stay focused on the main goal of strengthening the community.
Burlington police chief Mike Gauldin attended the summit and says he developed an appreciation for the common effort so many in the community share. “I came away from this realizing that we’re all in the same business, which is making our community stronger. I applaud Elon for hosting this summit, because it helps not only Elon but all of us.”
Julie Walker of the Alamance County Public Library says she will take many of the ideas from the summit back to her office. She added that the summit will inspire her to look for new ways to become more involved with the community. “This was a very positive meeting and there was a lot of good information sharing. I’m glad Elon took this step to bring everybody together.”
Tom Arcaro, professor of sociology, helped organize the event. “This is a beginning,” Arcaro said of Wednesday’s summit. “What we would like to see is for this to become a regular event. We are in a time where we need to share our social capital, those things we can agree are worth working on for the common good.”
Arcaro says the summit is also important to Elon’s effort to instill a sense of civic responsibility in every student, a point Applegate stressed in his closing remarks. “There is nothing wrong with wanting an education to live the good life,” Applegate says, “as long as you understand that the privilege, the opportunity of an education also commits you to a life of doing good.”
Overview of the results from the Civic Engagement Summit
Thanks again for attending the Civic Engagement Summit at Elon University. We are committed to sustaining the energy that was in evidence at this community meeting, and as part of that commitment we will make every effort to stay in contact.
Click here to access “raw data” from every session that was held at the Summit. There were four rooms that each held two conversations, and the lists from each of the four rooms have been combined. As soon as we receive the written analysis and comment from our external consultant (James Applegate), we will post his remarks on this site.
One additional way to remain in contact is to send e-mail to summit@elon.edu. Again, thank you to everyone who attended, and continue to check E-net, for more information and updates.
Tom Arcaro
Professor of Sociology
Director, Project Pericles