SPOTLIGHT
"The New Student Politics" A National Teleconference
An opportunity for faculty, students and campuses to contribute to a national dialogue on Student Civic Engagement
Feeback from / Results of 2004 Teleconference:
"I take advantage of any opportunities Vermont Campus Compact sends me for my students. The teleconference helped students realize that their work is too superficial, that they need to be more focused on creating deep, responsible and sustained partnerships with our four main community partners." (Nancy Cathcart, Champlain College, VT)
“The teleconference brought people together who usually do not sit down face-to-face and students shared their views on what they want our Volunteer Center to include. As a result of the teleconference we’ll be doing a forum of students to talk about student voice and service-learning on campus.”
(Debby Carlson, Univ. of Nevada-Reno)
"The teleconference will be used as part of our ongoing efforts to affect change on our campus. We would like to show a taped version of the teleconference to the Advisory Board of our Academic Service-Learning Program and use excerpts of the conference at a civic leadership day that we’re hosting. We hope to spark further dialogue among our students, faculty and community partners about student civic engagement."
(Service-Learning Director after 2004 National Student Teleconference)
"Students from my class thought about revamping a business school course to incorporate some of the ideas proposed in the teleconference."
(Faculty participant in 2004 National Student Teleconference)
OVERVIEW:
On February 19, 2004, students, faculty and campuses around the country engaged in a national teleconference about student service and politics. The Midwest Campus Compact Collaboration (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio Campus Compacts) along with Michigan State University (MSU), hosted the Teleconference, as well as NPR affiliates. Click here for a list of participating schools.
“The New Student Politics”
Robert Greenleaf observed that each generation casts its own version of democracy and develops tools with which it can fashion, activate, and accommodate that democracy. If this is true, it provides a scenario for generational confusion and conflict. Are college students unengaged or could they swing the next election? As politicians scramble to find out what this generation wants, students are deciding if they want to be part of the traditional American politics. Typically, an older generation controls public discourse; that generation then takes a younger generation to task for a lack of interest in politics, for taking paths to political involvement that are unconventional, and for doing politics differently. Many students feel that their volunteering efforts are political.
Greenleaf's description of such generational differences may, in fact, account for much of the critique in recent literature that students are apolitical and lack interest in political engagement. In brief, that critique, concludes, students won't move from service to civic engagement, from service to politics.
Is service a substitute for political action? Some college students feel it is the best way to impact people and public life, while others feel that it falls short of a civically engaged student. Students feel that the public and their own campuses have misunderstood what students gain from their service experiences, how they understand politics, and how they see their service activity as a form of political action. Increasingly students report that they consider service "an alternative politics," not "an alternative to politics.”
For more information, go to:
or contact Allison Treppa, Assistant Director for Student Engagement at Michigan Campus Compact. 517.492.2424 or atreppa@micampuscompact.org.
Schools Participating in the teleconference:
Arkansas:
Pulaski Technical College
California:
California State University – Fresno
California State University – Monterey Bay
Loyola Marymount University
Colorado:
University of Colorado
Florida:
Miami Dade Community College
Georgia:
University of Georgia
Hawaii:
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Iowa:
Iowa Western Community College
Morningside College
Illinois:
Rockford College
University of Illinois – Springfield
Indiana:
Ball State University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana Univ. Purdue Univ. Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Ireland:
National University of Ireland – Galway
Kansas:
Garden City Community College
Fort Hays State University
Independence Community College
University of Kansas
Kansas Volunteer Commission
Massachusetts:
North Shore Community College
Maryland:
Harford Community College
Michigan:
Adrian College
Eastern Michigan University
Ferris State University
Grand Valley State University
Michigan State University (national host)
University of Michigan - Flint
Minnesota:
Concordia College
Missouri:
Ozarks Technical Community College
Southwest Missouri State University
St. Louis Community College at Meramec
University of Missouri – Kansas City
Westminster College
New Hampshire:
University of New Hampshire/CCNH
North Carolina:
Appalachian State University Elon University
Greensboro College
Guilford College
Meredith College
North Carolina Central University
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina – Greensboro
Wake Forest University
Nevada:
University of Nevada – Reno
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton College
New York:
Cornell University
Clarkson University
Dutchess Community College
Oswego State University of New York
Plattsburgh State University
Ohio:
Bowling Green State University
Otterbein College
Sinclair Community College
University of Akron
University of Findlay
Oklahoma:
Oklahoma City Community College
Rose State College
Rhode Island:
Brown University
South Carolina:
Clemson University
Tennessee:
East Tennessee State University
Utah:
University of Utah
Virginia:
Virginia Commonwealth University
Vermont:
Champlain College
Middlebury College
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