Scholars and a lawmaker clashed over the merits of state-led efforts to reform civics education at the college level during a forum held Wednesday at Howard University.
“The state should not be dictating higher education,” Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University, told attendees of a higher education form convened by the Education Writers Association. “That is the job of actual people with qualifications,” Franks said.
Franks made her remarks during a panel discussion about “civics centers” that now dot the higher education landscape. As of 2025, there were at least 45 centers at 41 institutions in 25 states, many of them legislatively mandated centers at public universities.
“Academics want to paint this as a ‘left-right issue.’ It is not a left-right issue. Don't fall for that,”
Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirino, a Republican, told the education journalists, “This is about, how do we make higher education better in our respective states? How do we make sure that we’re delivering the best preparation for careers to our students?” Cirino continued. “How are we teaching them how to think, not what to think? And how are we dealing with so many other massive changes that are going on in our society right now, and AI is certainly one of them.”
Franks shot down the notion that state-led efforts to reform civics education are nonpartisan. She noted that Cirino and co-panelist Paul Carrese, a professor of in School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, lamented that “the whole reason why we have some civic centers is because there's too much leftism in universities.”
Franks also questioned why the kind of civics education being pushed by the right doesn’t deal with state-sponsored violence being used to squelch campus protests.
