What is (are) the role(s) of the University in Community?

Drew Stelljes - The goals of American higher education have included the preparation of citizens for active involvement in community life since the founding of Harvard College in 1636. In The American College and University: a History, Rudolph (1962) reports that the public purpose of the American college includes a responsibility to the past, the present and the future. Rudolph and others reported that This responsibility requires colleges and universities to substantially address the embedded and emerging social problems of our communities. Do you agree?

Since the early 1980s an increasing interest in service has reflected a concern that institutions of higher education should be more responsive to society and that higher learning in general ought to have greater relevance to public life (Boyer, 1987, 1994; Rhoads, 1998; Wingspread Group, 2004). Derek Bok (1982) challenged administrators and faculty when he wrote, “there is no reason for universities to feel uncomfortable in taking account of society’s needs; they have a clear obligation to do so” (p.11). A report sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation, written by Frank Newman (1985), made the case explicit. Newman wrote, “If there is a crisis in education in the United States today, it is less that test scores have declined than it is that we have failed to provide the education for citizenship that is still the most important responsibility of the nation’s schools and colleges”(p.31).

Over the past twenty years, service and service-learning have established a foothold on college campuses. Volunteer centers have formed and faculty members in various disciplines have initiated service-learning, a wave of experiential education wrapped in service activity, reciprocal learning and purposeful reflection. It has been predicted that service-learning may accomplish both the academic aims of the academy and positively contribute to the vitality of the community. Volunteer centers opened their doors across the country in an effort to: support a culture of service, infuse that culture of service into the academy and more recently to respond to students’ interest in local and global social concerns. Many would argue that colleges and universities have been responsive to student interest and activism rather than being proactive about trying to stimulate a culture of service. When volunteer centers opened their doors they opened themselves up to the larger community and suggested they might serve as a social service agency, in some cases a surrogate, to what was missing in the community. But does higher education have the capacity to be a social service agency? Is that part of the role of higher education? Is the role of higher education to teach students, to transform community? Both? Is that possible?

Impact studies have demonstrated a wide range of student development or interpersonal outcomes including a sense of efficacy, connection to community, appreciation for diverse populations and interest in course work to name a few. A casual observer may attribute this effort to be successful, however a closer examination of service-learning brings about a variety of questions:

· Have we ever transformed community so that student service is no longer needed?
· Is it the role of higher education to transform students? Or communities? Both? Neither?

I have offered a variety of nuggets for you to chew on. Wrestle with them now, together. What is the role of the university in community?