Mariah Joyce
Chief Copy Editor
This January, the Wooster Volunteer Network (WVN) held their biannual retreat to discuss the state of community service at the College. Members expressed the view that the prominence of community service in the College’s list of Graduate Qualities did not match the atmosphere surrounding service and volunteerism on campus.
On the College’s website, one can find a list of ‘Graduate Qualities’ that all individuals with a degree from the College of Wooster are expected to exemplify. Among these are the ability to both “Demonstrate ethical citizenship and leadership and embody a concern for social justice” and “Exhibit a commitment to community and serving others.”
“We decided … that we felt the culture surrounding service on campus was lacking,” said WVN Co-Chair Hannah Olson ’15. “We felt that service on this campus is not at the level it could be, and that in comparison to other schools of similar stature we lack in our community service initiatives.”
After the retreat, a small subcommittee of the WVN board formed to try and address the issue, including Olson, Marcus Carano ’16, Abbey Daniel ’15 and John Wu ’15. Initially, the group planned to push for a service requirement, but moved away from that idea for a variety of reasons.
Amongst these, the group decided that a requirement “would take away from the meaning of service and … would be more of something students have to do instead of want to do,” said Olson, adding that a requirement risked ruining the service experience for students.
Instead, the group is focusing on the idea of a long-term service movement or initiative. Wu, the WVN treasurer, said that the group as a whole decided that the problem of how to promote service on campus “is not something that is easily fixed by one solution; this will be something that will occur over the long term.” Therefore, the group decided that their current role was “to put things in motion and pass it on to the next group of students.”
Though the subcommittee is still in planning stages, one key tenet of this initiative would be the creation of a full-time service coordinator position on campus.
In addition to consulting with their advisor, Reverend Linda Morgan-Clement, the four students have reached out to several administrators, including Dean of Students Kurt Holmes and Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement Henry Kreuzman. They also met with the board of Trustees before spring break, at which point they received feedback that changed their idea from a service requirement to a service initiative.
Given that one of the group’s objectives is the introduction of a full-time staff position related to service and volunteerism on campus, Wu reports that the Trustees suggested looking into a variety of possibilities for funding, rather than expecting the College to find room for such a position in their budget.
Though this process is expected to take time, the group reports that responses from faculty, staff and student leaders have been overwhelmingly positive.
“We received a lot of good ideas going forward,” said Olson. “Ultimately we want the Wooster community to embody a culture of service.”