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AASCU's American Democracy Project

By Stephanie South, Program Associate, AASCU

In the 2004 film National Treasure, the hero Ben Gates waxes nostalgic about the Declaration of Independence (as he well should):

Of all the words written here about freedom, there’s a line here that’s at the heart of all the others: ‘But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security.’

The heroine of the film and Gates’ soon-to-be-something-or-other, Abigail, assures him that people don’t really talk like that anymore, and Ben comes back with this: “I know, but they think like it.”

However, thanks to the Center for Civic Education and iTunes, those of us who do think like that but a need a little help remembering our lines…

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Social Media Use Leads to Real-World Actions | Mashable

Center for Digital Civic Engagement

“The thought is father to the deed, at least when it comes to the relationship between online social interactions and offline activities. A new survey shows that more than half of users on four of the top five social platforms have taken offline action directly as a result of an online interaction. The findings suggest that businesses and organizations can grow their customer base, increase revenue and drive greater participation by linking online behaviors to offline activity.” Read the full article at mashable.com

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SUNY Oswego Civic Engagement Coalition

Created by: Jon Zella

Update

This Thursday the Civic Engagement Coalition will be meeting to discuss a number of topics and to debrief for this past semester’s events. The group plans to help solidify what events and collaborations will occur for the Spring 2013 semester. More updates after the meeting.

Busy end to a successful semester…

Last week and this week have been filled with meetings, and it’s only Monday! We’ve been in touch with numerous campus and student organizations and, have been planning some big events for the Spring 2013 semester that will be amazing. Keep an eye out for our event calendar and updates on what we’re up to.