The Association of American College and Universities is participating in White House national convening, For Democracy’s Future: Education Reclaims Our Civic Mission, Tuesday, Jan. 10.

View highlights from the event through a live stream provided on the White House website (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live). The streaming will be Tuesday, Jan. 10 from 1 to 5 p.m., and offers a discussion guide to promote dialogue among viewers. College students, faculty, and student and academic affairs professionals are invited to view it.

This convening will bring together higher education and K-12 leaders as well as policymakers and stakeholders to discuss a national strategy for making civic learning and democratic engagement expected rather than optional in all the nation’s schools and for every college student.

Presentations will be by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider, and others.

The event also will mark the release of A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future, a report and National Call to Action from the National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement.  President Schneider is a member of the National Task Force. The full text and highlights of the report will be available for downloading January 10 on AAC&U’s website at: www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible.

A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s Future was prepared at the invitation of the U.S. Department of Education under the leadership of Larry A. Braskamp, president of the Global Perspective Institute Inc. (GPI), and AAC&U’s senior vice president, Caryn McTighe Musil.

The report was shaped through a series of national roundtables involving leaders from all parts of the civic renewal community. It responds to widespread concern about the democracy’s anemic civic health and calls for investing in higher education’s capacity to significantly replenish our nation’s social, intellectual, and democratic capital. The event also will highlight the new American Commonwealth Partnership, which aims to bring together thousands of universities, colleges, community colleges, schools, and other civic partners to promote civic mission and identity.