By Katie Schleiss
In his first State of the Union Address last week, President Obama called on Americans to become a nation of volunteers, a proposal that has particular significance for students, faculty and staff at the University of Portland.
"This trend fits the University because the ethics is already there," Jeromy Koffler, director of Students Activities, said. "I think that it's the kind of leadership we've been looking for."
In his speech before both houses of Congress and to a national television audience, Obama called for the nation to volunteer for service and pledged to expand volunteering opportunities for those accepting his call. The Senate and House are expected to move quickly to adopt legislation to expand the country's service programs.
After calling for increases in federal spending for public service programs, a variety of nonprofit, corporate and military volunteer and service projects have been introduced alongside four bills aiming at establishing a system of comprehensive national service.
Koffler said that Obama's national call to service, particularly from college graduates, validates the work that the University does. He said that this makes the University more relevant nationally and could potentially attract more students to the University because of the University's service mission.
According to Koffler, the call to national service can be beneficial because giving back to the community is "a wonderful thing." He said that students who apply here have more community service experience.
Laura Goble, Director of the Moreau Center, said Obama is encouraging people to reengage in the community. Goble said that Obama goes further than past calls to service made by previous presidents because he is encouraging Americans to create a lifestyle around service, instead of just volunteering for a one-time event. When Kennedy made his call to service, he encouraged Americans to act as global ambassadors with the creation of the Peace Corps. When Clinton made his call to service, he encouraged Americans to connect with the national community through programs like Ameri Corps.
"What differentiates Obama's call to service from that of JFK or Clinton is that he is asking all Americans to engage in service as a lifestyle, as a value, not just as an event or season of life," Goble said. "It's a call to the philosophical principles of democracy infused with the heart of a community organizer."
Goble said Obama wants people to infuse themselves in the communities and establish relationships where neighbors get to know neighbors. According to Goble, we need to provide opportunities to engage in the communities, volunteering in the schools or at least learning the names of the neighborhoods.
"We live in a time where people are really isolated from their communities," Goble said. "Here on The Bluff, how many students really know about what is going on in Northeast Portland?"
On campus, Goble said that there has been an increase in clubs wanting to do service projects, which she calls "really exciting." She said that the University is developing an ethic of post-graduate engagement because the demand in post-graduate service has increased.
She said that it's an option that makes sense because the country is in a place where jobs for graduating students aren't great. "People go to college here to get a job, but the goal of the central tenant of service learning in the University is a creation of a lifestyle centered on the ethics of service," Goble said.
Volunteering allows those who participate to grow emotionally and professionally through making professional connections and has financial benefits, according to Goble. The University is trying harder to develop relationships within the community so students will have access to projects in the community and encourages more people to participate. "It also looks great on a resume," Goble said.
While Goble would recommend college graduates taking a year off to serve the community, some barriers to this goal persist. Freshman Emelia Satterwhite volunteered at the Service Plunge at the beginning of the school year and also volunteered in high school. "I tried to do more hands-on things, because I want to be a nurse," Satterwhite said. "I need to see things as they really are to make it easier for me to help people."
But, she explained, volunteering after graduating might get a bit complicated. Depending on whether she gets the Providence scholarship, which pays for two years of tuition and then requires recipients to work for three years after graduating, she'll be forced to start working right away. However, she said she might consider joining the Mercy Corps or Doctors Without Borders later in life.
Freshman Eika Davis said that she volunteers because she likes to help people and it makes her feel good. She volunteers through her church and at the University.
"I was considering taking a year off after graduating to volunteer through a program at my church," Davis said. "It's a service program where we fundraise for six months and then go to a country like Africa or Indonesia and do service projects for six months."
Freshman Taylor Dinsmore thinks that taking a year following graduation to volunteer sounds good idealistically, but unless there is compensation for volunteering it would be very difficult for graduates to afford to get a place to live and establish themselves financially. Dinsmore said that he doesn't volunteer because he doesn't have time to look hard enough for something to volunteer for that he think would be personally rewarding.
Dinsmore said that he was not sure if he would take a year off to volunteer following graduation. "It would depend on several things," Dinsmore said. "It would depend on what I'm studying or if I would have a place to sleep and eat, but if those things were resolved, I would strongly consider volunteering."
Freshman Kim Waller said that she volunteered under the Burnside Bridge, where she handed out men's underwear to the homeless, and at the Blanchet House, a soup kitchen. She currently volunteers for Relay For Life. "I am strongly considering taking a year off after graduating and joining the Peace Corps to help the AIDS epidemic in Africa," Waller said.
The Rev. John Donato, C.S.C., Associate Vice President for Student Life, said that the University's existing tenets of "teaching, faith and service" and its culture of service, including an annual day of service and a department such as the Moreau Center for Service and Leadership are evidence that the University is already doing enough to fulfill Obama's call. The University stands as a "case in point" of why and how service can change the world, Donato said.
