A decade of budgetary, policy, and ideological contention has resulted in American universities being run by management models. As corporate culture increasingly invades educational and other public sectors, the nation is seen by some to have lost its vision of the public good and the necessary components of a vital democracy. The scholars who contribute to this work seek to redress these trends. They aim to show how and why the critical functions of a democratically informed civic education should become the core of the university’s mission.