Creating a culture of civic responsibility on a college campus

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Abstract

An underlying goal of community colleges is to serve the community, and service-learning can be an ideal vehicle for this to occur. This effective practice offers ideas for service-learning activities with the aim of creating a campus-wide climate of civic responsibility and was adapted from the resource A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum, edited by Karla Gottlieb and Gail Robinson, 2002.

Issue

Creating a climate of service-learning at a community college or university campus is up to educators who embrace service-learning principles.

Action

According to the guide, Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum (Gottlieb and Robinson, 2002), educators might want to consider organizing one or more of the following activities on campus to reach more students — as well as faculty, administrators, staff and the surrounding community — and to increase the effectiveness and scope of civic engagement. Include pre- and post-reflection exercises for each activity.

Offer a "taste of service" event on campus. Students, faculty, staff, administrators, and sometimes families spend a day serving at different agencies. Projects that provide opportunities for teamwork (e.g. environmental cleanups, tree plantings, construction, house painting) are especially good.
Host an environmental fair. Invite elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, agencies, and college students to learn about what different environmental agencies do and how people can get involved.
Plan issue-specific, campus-wide forums. Students, faculty, community members, and agency partners can share information about such topics as breast cancer, substance abuse, domestic violence, homeland security, gangs, teen pregnancy, family planning, AIDS awareness, women's history, civil rights, homelessness, human rights, teen suicide, and gay rights issues. The event could be followed by service at a related agency.
Organize a Hunger Banquet on campus. The Oxfam America Hunger Banquet engages participants in a dramatization of the unequal distribution of resources and wealth in the world. It challenges students to realize how their decisions affect others.
Coordinate blood, food, clothing, or toy drives on campus, and follow up with service at an appropriate agency.
Plan an off-campus project that involves technical or trades disciplines (e.g., electrical, carpentry, engineering, architecture, plumbing) where students, faculty, and staff work with groups like Habitat for Humanity or Rebuilding Together with Christmas in April to build or renovate houses for low-income individuals.
Organize a forum on civic responsibility or a town hall meeting.

Context

A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility Into the Curriculum evolved from a national service-learning project of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Association's project,Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, has strived to integrate service-learning in community colleges since 1994.

Recognizing that an intentional civic responsibility component was missing from many service-learning initiatives, AACC selected six colleges from around the country to participate in a pilot project whose purpose was to identify service-learning strategies to boost civic engagement and foster civic responsibility among community college students.

The six participating colleges are Albuquerque TVI Community College, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Glendale Community College, Glendale, California; Hocking College, Nelsonville, Ohio; Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona; Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida; and Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois.

The guide is the result of two years of work by faculty, staff, and administrators at these colleges, with Karla Gottlieb and Gail Robinson serving as editors.

Citation

Gottlieb, Karla, and Robinson, Gail. A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum. Washington, D.C.: Community College Press, 2002.

Outcome

Creating a climate of service-learning on a college campus impacts students, faculty, administrators, staff and the community, and increases the effectiveness and scope of civic engagement.