From: Student Pugwash USA <uspugwash@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: alt.org.pugwash
Date: 23 Dec 92 13:54 PST
Subject: Re: *Tough Questions-Winter 93 News
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1758700047:cdp:1758700050:000:10379
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!uspugwash    Dec 23 13:54:00 1992


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.