Civil society is an arena in which all social entities interact and freely express themselves, based on common values and is built by the four pillars of social actors: the academic community, civic community, mass media, and political parties. Unfortunately for years there has been a discord among the fours, especially between the academic community and the civic community, as in the case of Indonesia. This paper is composed from a series of long discussions, held as part of the institutionaliation process of Pacivis?Center for Global Civil Society Studies. If gives a historical outlook of the development of the academic community's roles, its significance in the civil society arena and the necessity to reorganise the academic community in order to regain its strategic place in civil society.