The word "community" evokes many pleasant images: a bustling town square, for example; a neighborhood yard sale; a collection of friends at a coffee shop; or a local craft fair.

Colleges and universities, regardless of their size and scope, can be and should be part of those images. We all are aware of the importance of "town-gown" relationships, but there is a renewed focus in the ways in which higher education truly engages its communities, including those in urban and rural settings.

Part of the need to refocus comes from an attitude change both publicly and in state government about higher education in general. The rising cost of attendance — in part because of a reciprocal drop in state funding — and a growing belief that college is but a means to a job has led to the perception that higher education is an exclusionary avocation rather than a public benefit.

With financial pressures only expected to increase, institutions must look to re-engage their communities to help persuade public opinion about higher education in a time during which the "town" expects more from the "gown." It is now incumbent upon all colleges and universities to be engaged — in some cases to a very high level — in their communities and not be separated by walls, be they ivy covered or otherwise.

The whole campus has a role to play, but intercollegiate athletics often is the bridge to community engagement. For some schools in fact, it is the primary route.

We are familiar with athletics being referred to as "the front porch" of an institution. Our athletics events by their very nature offer an ideal setting in which to engage our communities. And the high visibility of our student-athletes positions them as institutional ambassadors for community outreach. That is the same regardless of whether the institution is a large land-grant school or a small, private liberal arts institution.

What is the right path to community engagement? First, it is important to understand that engagement is more than just posting sports schedules at the local hardware store and having student-athletes read to elementary-school kids. Most athletics departments already are committed to community service, but community engagement is a campus-wide initiative of which athletics plays an important part.

For intercollegiate athletics to facilitate community engagement, athletics first must be integrated as part of the campus community. In many cases, student-athletes not only don’t know when the school’s next theater production is, they may not know when their fellow student-athletes’ games are, either. Similarly, the music students may not know much about the field hockey team and the debate team might be hard-pressed to say what the soccer squad is doing.

In most cases it is up to athletics to take the first step. Student-athletes engaging with other departments prompts support for athletics not only from student peers but also from faculty and staff. It may be as simple as promoting the drama and music department schedules on the athletics Web site, or for the athletics department to be more involved with school-wide community efforts.

Service-learning courses are another avenue in which student-athletes may engage for credit with community projects. Have the student-athlete seeking her business degree serve as an intern at a soup kitchen. Encourage the pre-med in basketball to take service learning at the local hospital. Campus Compact is the national service-learning organization that advances the public purposes of colleges and universities by educating students for civic and social responsibility. Most institutions have a Campus Contact link. Let’s encourage student-athletes to be involved.

Habitat for Humanity and the Make-A-Wish initiative are other examples that allow intercollegiate athletics to extend beyond just community service. United Way programs also provide community-engagement opportunities. All of these approaches allow student-athletes to see a side of the community they may not otherwise see because they are focused on their campus activities and training schedules. While student-athletes are giving through these projects, they also receive.

The Division II Presidents Council is sponsoring legislation at this year’s Convention that suspends current recruiting and benefits regulations while the institution engages in projects designed to benefit the community more than the school. The proposal represents a bold shift from guarded and competitive-equity-based thinking, but it is the kind of approach we should encourage from a higher-education environment expected to be more involved at the community level.

To be sure, community engagement has a domino effect. Campus integration, in which athletics becomes highly valued, leads to community engagement, where the public perception of higher education is strengthened because the institution reached out to serve community needs.

More community people come to the university to watch sports than for any other reason. Accordingly, athletics is the natural podium from which the university can engage the community and tear down the barriers. To play off a famous phrase from John F. Kennedy, ask not what the community can do for the university, but what the university can do for the community.