Partnerships with Students

The authors propose that students can best develop as active citizens on campuses that model democratic practices internally and also reach out to create authentic partnerships with their communities. Examples are presented of how the benchmarks that are applied to relationships between campuses and external partners can be adapted to partnerships between students and institutional leaders, service-learning program administrators, faculty, and alumni. The possibilities for extending the reach of democratic policies and practices beyond service-learning partnerships to encompass all aspects of student life are also discussed.