Service learning semesters promote solidarity, community
Kelly Shaw
Senior News Writer
The second consecutive urban service learning semester in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati has proven valuable to Xavier, according to students and faculty currently involved.
As part of the Academic Service Learning Semesters, the urban semester immerses students in a different culture. The students in the program take four classes together: community building, theology, service learning and history.
The students also take two other classes on campus, and 12-15 hours every week are spent doing service at different sites within the OTR area.
This semester students are volunteering at places they have chosen themselves, such as Smart Money Financial Services, Old St. Mary’s Pregnancy Center, the Learning Center and Crossroad Health Center.
Their service varies from administration work to community organizing.
Though the students are not completely separated from life at Xavier, they still believe what they have learned has impacted them as much as an international service learning semester would.
“The issues are very local,” said sophomore Emily TeKolste. “It’s stuff that we can continue to work with every day of our lives. It would be easy to go forward next semester and learn more about [the issues], and educate people about them.”
Site leader Dr. Christine Anderson agrees that the urban semester is vital to the ASLS program.
“The university has a commitment to doing the urban service learning semester; after all, this is our own community,” said Anderson, who teaches the students’ history course, which focuses on the African-American struggle for equality.
Anderson’s hope for the students is that they will better understand the social justice issues of a poor, urban community.
According to “The Scoop from the Stoop,” a newsletter put out monthly by the students, they have encountered such issues of social justice in their service sites, at the neighborhood’s inadequate grocery store and in New Orleans, where the group spent their fall break helping gut houses that were flooded by Hurricane Ike this year.
Xavier forms institute for political leadership
Amy Windhorst
Campus News Editor
Xavier leaders on and off campus are joining together to create the Institute for Politics and the Public Life, an organization that hopes to involve Xavier students and the wider community in political conversation.
An initiative first announced by Father Graham during the 2008-09 Academic Day, the Institute hopes to place Xavier among the nation’s leaders in academic discussions of politics and public life.
“It’s an opportunity for distinction,” says Mike Ford, founding
director. “We have yet to capitalize on some of the talent that Xavier
has produced.”
One of the goals of the foundation is to facilitate political discussion and
broaden students’ understanding of global issues. Ford emphasizes that
the Institute will be “aggressively non-partisan” and that students
are welcome to bring any idea to the table “as long as they defend their
points.” They hope to encourage students to leave behind their talking
points and seriously engage in dialogue on the issues.
As for more immersive student involvement, the Institute plans to provide a variety of ways for interested students to become involved. Current ideas include internships, survey research, seminars and even student-made documentaries.
The founders hope to reach not only Philosophy, Politics, and the Public majors, but also a wide range of students across campus. Ford indicated that they plan to work closely with the business school, whose students would play an integral role in public outreach and project realization. Ultimately, they intend to blend students’ studies with public involvement.
Though the Institute will not be formally established until the 2009-10 academic year, they recently hosted their first official event.
On Monday, Oct. 20, Xavier and the Institute hosted four prominent political experts from both parties. Their purpose was to engage the community in a discussion on the historic nature of the current election. The broad and balanced forum showed what can be expected when the Institute formally establishes itself next academic year.
One of the most exciting initiatives planned for next fall is the Institute’s American Dream Project. Ford briefly described plans for a student-made documentary, where students would submit their own video versions of the American dream. “We want to give students the tools to participate in the new world of digital media,” said Ford. Eventually, the Institute hopes to open the project to the rest of Ohio, and eventually launch it nationally. This is just one example of the creative ways the Institute plans to involve Xavier students with the larger community.
Ford, who is himself a Xavier graduate, recognizes the talent and the public interest that thrives on Xavier’s campus. “For some reason, Xavier produces an inordinate amount of public people,” he said.
“There is something in the water at the school—we keep producing elected officials, campaign people, government people.”
It was this interest, along with 37 years of experience with politics, that spurred Ford and others to begin developing the Institute for Politics and the Public Life. Other Xavier leaders who are involved with the association include Xavier’s Director of Government Relations Dr. Gene Beaupré and Dr. John Fairfield, history department professor.
“The students will have incredible opportunities to do things,” says Ford, “and this will become more evident next academic year.” For now, Ford encourages students to stay involved.
“If they have any interest in public life at all, we need them desperately… We will give them the tools to succeed.”
Police Notes
Oct. 26, 7:50 a.m. — An employee reported a minor accident on Winding Way involving a university vehicle.
Oct. 27, 4:37 p.m. — Campus Police and Cincinnati Fire and Rescue responded to a fire alarm in Brockman Hall. A metal cup placed in a microwave activated the alarm. The system was reset.
Oct. 29, 6:38 a.m. — An employee reported the theft of a computer from the athletic advising lab in Kuhlman Hall.
Nov. 1, 12:28 a.m. — Campus Police and Residence Life assisted an underage intoxicated student with a cut knee in the Husman Hall lobby. Residence Life will handle follow-up.
Nov. 1, 1:32 a.m. — Campus Police and Residence Life conducted a room search in Brockman Hall. A small amount of marijuana and paraphernalia was discovered.
Nov. 1, 9:50 p.m. — Campus Police and Norwood Police received a report from the Xavier shuttle company that unknown subjects had egged a shuttle on Hudson Avenue.
Nov. 2, 1:10 a.m. — Campus Police and Norwood Police investigated a loud party complaint on the 1900 block of Cleneay Avenue. The party was broken up and an old Xavier Bushman Hall sign was discovered and confiscated.
Nov. 3, 3:30 a.m. — Campus Police and Cincinnati Fire and Rescue responded to a fire alarm in the O’Connor Sports Center. Water damage to a smoke detector on the second floor activated the alarm. The system was reset.
Police Note of the Week
Oct. 29, 1:57 p.m. — While conducting a room search in Kuhlman Hall, Campus Police and Residence Life confiscated approximately 10 ounces of marijuana with a street value of approximately $12-$1500.
