To the Editor:
Robin Wilson’s recent article on “Syracuse’s Slide” (The Chronicle, October 2) provokes further consideration of our understanding of scholarship and the role of higher education as a “public good.” At the article’s core is the premise that there is a conflict between engagement and academic excellence, and between diversity and excellence. To the contrary, both engagement and diversity not only contribute to, but also are essential for, academic and institutional excellence.
This argument has considerable historical grounding. The founding purpose of both colonial colleges and historically black colleges and universities was to educate young people for service to others. Fulfilling America’s democratic promise was the founding purpose of land-grant universities. And the defined urban-serving mission for higher education dates from the late 19th century, notably the founding of the Johns Hopkins University, the first modern university, in 1876. Since the end of the cold war, there has been a re-emergence of engaged scholarship, with leading academics and university presidents making the intellectual case. That argument, simply stated, is that universities, particularly urban universities, would better fulfill their core academic functions, including advancing knowledge and learning, if they focused on improving conditions in their cities and local communities.
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