Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994 TAG: 9403300135
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LIZ BAUMGARTEN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So said former President George Bush, and so say many other prominent Americans who are promoting the idea of community service. Underscored by the recent enactment of national service legislation, community service is an idea whose time finally has come.
Virginia colleges and universities are taking up this noble, national ideal and putting it into action. These institutions and their students are rising to the challenge of making a better future for us all.
The goals of higher education are greatly enhanced by the inclusion of community service as an established part of university life. Some may question whether college is the appropriate place for responding to the call of community service. The proper place is wherever one is: The notion of serving others should begin in one's earliest years and continue throughout one's life. The college and university campus is but one place where the call to service can be met, but in many ways it is uniquely suited to the task.
Often during one's college years, the most dramatic changes take place. College is exposure to ideas, to learning, to a world of possibilities. Intense personal transformation can take place. In such an atmosphere, one that is intended to prepare leaders, it is imperative that each student internalize the concept of community and the meaning of service.
In his recent book, "Turning Point," former President Jimmy Carter underscores the importance of this campus call to service:
"All too often our universities are teaching in a vacuum about the vital characteristics of human existence. Professors and students rarely have any direct involvement in the valuable case studies that are on their college doorsteps. It is obvious that the total community can benefit from a sharing of responsibilities and opportunities."
Already in evidence around the state are exciting examples of such service learning: the work of Marymount University paralegal and business law students in Arlington who volunteer research assistance and teaching at a local detention center; the efforts at Radford University where students and faculty are collaborating in the redesign and renovation of a deteriorated 35-acre park in the city's center.
This idea of linking community service and learning has taken firm hold in more than 25 of Virginia's colleges and universities, with at least 15,000 students participating. But it should be extended to all Virginia's public and private campuses. To do this, Virginia must respond soon to several opportunities.
First, existing service-learning programs must be expanded by incorporating volunteerism into the campus' mission and goals, and by offering credit-bearing community service options to all students.
Virginia must also expand its representation in Campus Compact, a national network of college and university presidents who commit to furthering service efforts on their campuses, and the Bonner Foundation, which provides financial assistance to students who could not otherwise afford to attend college in exchange for long-term volunteer service. The Virginia Campus Outreach Opportunity League and Serve-America must continue their efforts to coordinate and train Virginia's service-learning networks in kindergarten through high school and beyond.
Second, new steps must be taken. College work-study programs have been mandated to return to their origins and place students in community-serving positions. Such placements must constitute at least 5 percent of a college's work-study budget by academic year 1994-95 - but the numbers should climb higher.
The Virginia Office of Volunteerism should continue its efforts to establish a Commission on Volunteer Service - to provide financial support and technical assistance to volunteer programs that directly address the needs of citizens. This office also will take responsibility for handling the money and placements of national service participants. This recent federal legislation makes any student over 17 eligible to serve his or her community in a full-time, minimum-wage capacity for up to two years. After serving, students are eligible for $4,725 per year of service toward education.
Simply stated, community service and service-learning should expand throughout the commonwealth - to all college and university campuses, and in communities throughout the state from such an expansion, and all efforts should be made to see that this ideal of service becomes a permanent part of the goals and purposes of higher education.
Liz Baumgarten is executive director of Virginia Campus Outreach Opportunity League.
Virginia Forum
by CNB