The Center’s work situates the goal of reducing structural inequality within an affirmative frame referred to as institutional citizenship. This goal involves creating conditions so that people of all races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, abilities, and backgrounds can realize their capabilities as they understand them and participate fully in the life of the institutions that matter to their well-being. This goal has a positive valence; it engages participants in articulating an affirmative vision of full participation in their community and of building the capacity for individuals and the group to achieve those goals.
At an individual and experiential level, full participation describes a sense of belonging, mobility, engagement, access to networks and resources, and a sense of personal efficacy and capacity to influence the environment. Not only do individuals have institutional access, as measured by their representation as members of the institution—they are also able and motivated to contribute their capabilities and energy to animate the institution.
Full participation also entails voice: having adequate power and opportunity to influence decisions relevant to one’s circumstances. The state of full participation describes a vibrant and engaged institutional community, which fully benefits from the individual and collective contributions of its members. It also provokes an inquiry about who is—and is not—included in the prevailing definitions and practices of full participation. Achieving the full participation element of institutional citizenship requires a critical assessment of the barriers and obstacles facing groups at the various institutional locations that shape inclusion and advancement.
Institutional citizenship carries a second meaning, focused on the position of institutions in a broader democracy. Institutions such as universities occupy a crucial location where public citizenship is expressed, the benefits of participation are distributed, and public values are elaborated. Universities are gateways to leadership and definers of social and political status. They bear responsibility both for creating broad access and for developing knowledge to benefit diverse communities. Institutional citizenship reflects the linked agenda of building the capacity to increase full participation in important institutions by underserved communities, in combination with increasing participation of those institutions in tackling the pressing challenges facing those communities.
