"Role of Higher Education in the Crisis in American Democracy" Topic of Lecture at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Harry C. Boyte, co-director of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota, will discuss "The Crisis in American Democracy: The Role of Higher Education," in a lecture at Holy Cross on Monday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Room 519 of the Hogan Campus Center.  The talk is free and open to the public.

For the last 10 years, Boyte has directed action research projects at the Center for Democracy and Citizenship aimed at developing practical strategies and a framework for citizen engagement.  His goal is to find what actually works to re-engage citizens with public life.

Boyte is the co-author of Building America: The Democratic Promise of Public Work (Temple, 1996), which draws on the last 10 years of the Center's work to advance an original theory about public work and the commonwealth tradition of democracy.   He is the author of six previous books on American democracy, citizenship and community organizing.

In addition to his work at the Center, Boyte is a senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute; a graduate faculty member of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota; and a senior advisor to the National Commission on Civic Renewal and the "State of the Union"  public television series.  In the 1960s Boyte worked for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., serving as a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the civil rights movement.

This lecture is sponsored by the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies at Holy Cross.