Civic vision at Tufts

TUFTS UNIVERSITY received a gift last week that is unusual for its size -- $40 million -- but equally for its nature. The money is intended not to construct a building on the campus, but to help build a culture of public service that will spread throughout Greater Boston and far beyond. It is a big challenge, but it is off to a strong start.

Tufts has long been known as a center of community volunteerism. In 2000, it created the University College of Citizenship and Public Service to institutionalize that spirit -- weaving into the regular course offerings throughout the university the idea that civic engagement should be part of all careers. The goal, according to President Lawrence Bacow, is ''to infuse the entire Tufts curriculum with education for active citizenship."

Now, the gift from Jonathan Tisch of New York, chairman and chief executive officer of Loews Hotels, promises to do several things, in addition to putting Tisch's name on the college. First, it is enough to endow the college in perpetuity. This permanence will allow Bacow to create chairs -- perhaps as many as 10 -- that focus on the connection between public service and various disciplines, from engineering to veterinary medicine.

Another aim of Bacow and Rob Hollister, dean of the college, is to create partnerships with other colleges and universities to enlist them in similar activities and to take on larger tasks. In January, a report from the Carol R. Goldberg Seminar, prepared by Tufts and the Boston Foundation, recommended an alliance among the 75 higher education institutions in Greater Boston, public and private. Among these schools, the report said, there are many programs but no strategy. Since its release, the report has generated a variety of opinions, with some college presidents wanting to join together in ambitious goals, such as the improvement of K-12 public education, while others disagree on what project would be worth the effort. Tisch College should be a catalyst for a common agenda.

A continuing challenge on many campuses is to overcome the antipathy that most students feel toward politics. Tisch himself noted in a telephone interview that he graduated from Tufts with a major in political science and hopes to help young people understand that politics ''is the process we have" to make policies that can do good works wholesale. Tisch said he does not see his donation as ''giving back," but as part of ''understanding one's responsibility to the community."

Mark Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Upstate New York, and former director of the Peace Corps, said the political challenge is great. Many young people, he said, ''have crossed the line from healthy skepticism into cynicism." But Gearan, who is also chair of the Campus Compact, the national organization of college service programs, said Tufts will now be expected to build on its reputation in this field. Tisch's gift gives Tufts an enormous opportunity, and responsibility.