NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/alt/org/pugwash/96

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Date: 23 Dec 92 13:54 PST
Subject: Re: *Tough Questions-Winter 93 News
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TOUGH QUESTIONS - WINTER 1993

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INCREASING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN COLLEGE/COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPS
BY SHIRLEY M. McBAY

INTRODUCTION
     Student Pugwash USA is committed to increasing the accessi-
bility of our Chapter network, New Careers projects, and other
existing programs to all interested individuals, and to identi-
fying avenues for personal involvement and responsibility in the
resolution of critical global and social problems.  The Personal
Plan of Action, designed to assist participants of our 1992
International Conference in extending the Conference dialogue to
their local communities, embodies one of the principal functions
of Student Pugwash USA - to serve as a link between education
and individual action.  The following article represents the vi-
sion of the QEM Network, an organization with whom we have col-
laborated in the past, and illustrates one possible way in which
Student Pugwash USA members can play an increasingly pronounced
role in facilitating the progression from social awareness to
positive social change.


     The United States is struggling to maintain its place in an
increasingly competitive global community while facing a major
shift in demographics and a number of social crises (in educa-
tion, health care, poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, and
white collar as well as street crime). These crises are posing
threats of overwhelming proportions in both urban and rural ar-
eas.

     Our nation`s college students represent an important and
largely untapped reservoir of good will and energy. Students en-
tering college today are well aware of the social problems fac-
ing our country and appear highly motivated to become involved
in solutions.  Community service centers can facilitate a life-
long commitment to service by undergraduates, thereby providing
important role models for our next generation of young people.
Such role models will be of particular value to students who are
considered likely to drop out of school for reasons related to
socioeconomic status.

     Many leading American colleges and universities - Spelman
College, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) among them - support well-established community
service centers as a primary means to achieve the goals of stu-
dent involvement in the local community and leadership develop-
ment. Such centers provide a focal point for volunteerism, as
well as a nexus through which an institution and its students,
faculty, and staff interact with organizations and people in the
surrounding community. Through such centers, students, faculty,
and staff not only provide time and services to help underserved
community residents, but often develop deep involvement and a
lifelong commitment to volunteering in such areas as education
and literacy, health and medicine, and environmental and social
issues.

     Community service centers can significantly increase the
efficacy of community and student organizations as well as sig-
nal to the community that educational institutions have commu-
nity service as a priority.  Since a community service center on
a college campus serves as a vital clearinghouse through which
organizations can share information and enlist help, a center
can sponsor and lend support to a whole gamut of organizations
and interest groups. Community organizations can approach the
university for help through the center where staff have the ex-
perience and student contacts.  The center, in effect, acts as a
`marriage broker,` matching up students with community service
opportunities that they otherwise might not find.  Through these
services, centers eliminate duplication of efforts by student
volunteer groups who might offer assistance to the same commu-
nity agencies.  They also improve access to information about
opportunities for volunteers and provide a consistent quality of
leadership that transcends the fluctuations of individual stu-
dents` interests and energy levels from year to year.  And most
importantly, they increase the actual number of student volun-
teers. At MIT, for example, establishing the Public Service
Center as the contact point for Cambridge School Volunteers
helped increase student tutoring volunteers 200 percent Q MIT
students have served as tutors for this organization for 23
years.

The Need For Community Service Centers On Minority Campuses

     The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is seek-
ing to establish a network of community service centers at
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other
Predominantly Minority Institutions (PMIs).  It is essential
that minority students be provided opportunities and experiences
that will prepare them for leadership roles in several arenas
because (1) minority communities are disproportionately affected
by the current crises, including the education crises, facing
the country; (2) changing demographics affect the entire educa-
tional and economic systems of the country; and (3) such respon-
sibilities are integral to strong leadership and good citizen-
ship.

     Establishing a network of community service centers on cam-
puses of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and at in-
stitutions with predominantly Alaska Native, American Indian,
Mexican American, and Puerto Rican student bodies will provide
an important educational incentive that can serve to galvanize
student energy into involvement in public service.  Through
these centers, college and university students, faculty, and
staff will be able to provide enriching and reinforcing educa-
tional support to low-income and minority children and youth in
the local community. In many cases, centers will focus their ef-
forts on public housing in close proximity to the college or
university. In particular, the centers will provide a structured
mechanism through which students attending HBCUs and PMIs can
respond to the call for public service and individual involve-
ment being heard across the country. Community service is an el-
igible activity for college work-study and some community ser-
vice centers are able to offer public service internships and
fellowships, thus making it possible for students who have to
work to also participate. Such centers help mobilize student
commitment to community service while simultaneously helping to
meet their financial needs. This is particularly necessary at
predominantly minority colleges and universities where the over-
whelming majority of students must work or secure loans to help
finance their college education.

Why Establish a Formal Network of College and University
Community Service Centers?

     A formal network of centers can provide the coordination
and the links necessary to bring students, faculty, staff and
community organizations together on campuses throughout the
country. Such a network at predominantly minority institutions
will be a clear, visible demonstration of leadership by these
institutions and their students in directly addressing the needs
of their communities. A formal network of community service cen-
ters will enable the various institutions to share their re-
sources, organization, and successful project models. These cen-
ters can serve as models for other college campuses, minority
and non-minority alike, that may be considering establishing
public service centers.

     Many students are already involved in a number of estab-
lished centers on campuses around the country, as well as in
high schools, churches, and other community-based organizations
that support community service projects. In one such community,
a college varsity basketball player volunteers at a neighborhood
recreation center to coach an elementary school student team
after school, while a varsity tennis player volunteers at a sum-
mer camp for local youngsters. During the same semester, members
of a college fraternity `adopt` a local elementary school where
the college students work individually with students as mentors
and tutors. Other students volunteer with a local organization
that provides food and shelter to homeless men and women.  The
students provide major assistance in cooking, preparing thou-
sands of sandwiches, and helping on the trucks that drive
through the city during the early evening hours to distribute
the food.

     In each case of community service, the benefit is twofold:
the student volunteers learn about their responsibility in the
community and the recipients of service benefit from both the
services given and the relationships established. When the ser-
vice involves undergraduates reaching out to elementary and sec-
ondary students, the impact on education is also twofold: fur-
thering the education of the students giving and the students
receiving service.

     Most colleges and universities have student organizations
that work with community groups and students who are already in-
volved in individual volunteer opportunities. By establishing a
formal community service center, an institution strengthens its
already established relationships between the campus and the
surrounding community, develops new ties, and offers a visible
forum and channel through which many students can become in-
volved in community service for the first time.


     Dr. Shirley M. McBay is President of the Quality Education
for Minorities (QEM) Network. Prior to joining QEM, Dr. McBay
served as Dean for Student Affairs at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) and as a member of the Spelman
College faculty. The QEM Network is a non-profit, national orga-
nization based in Washington, D.C. that works to improve the ed-
ucation of minorities throughout the nation by serving as a fo-
cal point for the implementation of the recommendations outlined
in the 1990 QEM Project Report, Education That Works: An Action
Plan for the Education of Minorities. This Report, issued by the
MIT-based Quality Education for Minorities Project, culminated a
three-year effort to develop a comprehensive plan of effective
strategies for delivering quality education to minorities.
Copies of the Report and more information on the QEM Network can
be obtained by calling 202/659-1818.