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Community service programs expand at `U'

About 4,500 undergraduate students participate in community service programs each academic year.

But new initiatives in community service learning -- including an additional $3 million allocated by the University to fund these programs -- may mean more opportunities for student participation.

"We have as many, or perhaps more, undergrads and grads involved in learning through service than almost any other university in the country," said Barry Checkoway, director of community service and service learning.

In line with the University's position as a frontrunner in community service, Provost J. Bernard Machen plans to distribute the state funds to University programs that support community service activities.

"I will fund $3 million in an effort to fulfill our commitment to service learning in the state," Machen said.

He said the funding will allow the University to expand its outreach efforts to communities across Michigan.

"This University does a lot of things in support of the state of Michigan," Machen said. "There are more things we could do if we had the funding."

Machen said individuals must submit program proposals, which either can outline a new program or expand an existing activity, by May 15 to receive a portion of the funds.

Psychology and social work Prof. Lorraine Gutierrez, who co-directs the Detroit Initiative in Psychology, said the funding may create community service programs that previously could not exist.

"It has the potential to greatly expand different ways we might do these kinds of things," Gutierrez said. "There could be service learning that takes place in different cities. That kind of funding will make it easier for students to get to those locations."

Students in the Detroit project travel to neighborhoods in the city to perform demographic and social research on various issues. The participants then present their findings to related organizations.

Machen said programs, such as the Detroit psychology project, serve as examples of the University's commitment to community service projects in Michigan.

"I think the University has done a lot more community service than we are given credit for," Machen said. "But I think we should be doing more."

Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Lincoln Faller said it is difficult to estimate the number of classes that currently include community service. The grant may make it easier to keep track, he said.

"This will be the first chance we will have to have something of an inventory of what, in fact, is going on," Faller said.

There are other projects currently underway to coordinate the University's many community service learning programs. The Center for Learning Through Community Service, to be located at 1024 Hill St., will be the central location for service projects.

"The new center should be a meeting place and an activity center for service and learning," Checkoway said. He did not know when the center will open.

Faller said community service projects prepare students for work after college. "If they can find ways that the skills have real-world applications, they are in a better position to learn the best way to work in the world," he said.

LSA senior Mona Kumar, who has participated in many community service projects, agreed that students receive invaluable experiences from these opportunities.

Among her many activities, Kumar goes to a juvenile detention center every Thursday.

Kumar, along with other students in the English 319 class on theater and social change, spends time there each week working with the inmates to develop a theater production. The goal is, she said, to help them learn ways to express their feelings.

"We do theater workshops with them," Kumar said. "We want them to have an empowering experience while they are in these institutions. One way to do that is to get people to express themselves in ways they might not usually do."

She said the workshops, which give inmates a forum to talk about their experiences, also build relationships between the two groups. The plays focus on a variety of issues, including the inmates' lives, their families and the reasons they are detained at the center.

"The relationships are really powerful and really unique," Kumar said. "For me, this is about creating change and really making a difference in terms of striving toward justice for marginalized people."

She said community service learning is not only a valuable experience in itself, but also makes class discussions on issues such as racism more poignant.

David Schoem, assistant dean for undergraduate education, said that each semester a greater number of students receive credit for participating in community service activities.

"There is continuing to be an increase in courses integrating the two," Schoem said.

Political Science 300, a course on contemporary issues in American politics, gives students the option to participate in community service.

"Students learn about many of those topics by being involved in some kind of community-based organization," said political science Prof. Gregory Markus, who teaches the course. "It supplements the abstract, theoretical stuff they hear about in the classroom with concrete, practical experience."

Markus said the students who performed community service did better academically. "Community service has a definite academic benefit to it," Markus added. "Students learn more about the subject matter and it seems to motivate them more."

Faller said some LSA programs, like the Latino Studies Program in the American culture department, require students to participate in community service before graduating.

Although Faller said community service programs are growing, he does not expect them to become a general LSA requirement.

"I don't see it as a general requirement, but I see it as something everyone will want to do," Faller said. "It is the college's goal to develop a situation where every student will have a chance to have a significant learning experience outside the classroom."