A Call for Change

A Call for Change

To my Brothers and Friends Dedicated to Service,

This letter probably comes to you as a surprise. After every stage in life, most people go through a period of reflection. It comes as no shock that in hindsight better choices and decisions could have been made. It’s the “If I only knew then, what I know now” syndrome. For most the reflection ends there, and life moves on. For me it is different, in that my life is continuing very much in the same vein as the last half decade has occurred, but from a totally new orientation. Due to this reorientation as to how I view the world of service and volunteerism, and due to my expanded knowledge that comes with the territory of my job, I felt impelled to share what occurred to me today. Stick with me, and I’ll try to make it as brief as possible.

The freshman class that has just entered universities and colleges across the nation are unique compared to every class that has come before them. Statistically they are more inclined to service, volunteerism, and societal change than any class since the matter has been studied. For years now service—which I will use from now on to include both the concepts of volunteerism and advocacy/activism—has been on the rise, with each new class performing more service than the one before it. About every three years marks a 20% increase in the amount of service being performed in communities by college students. Of course this could mean that every new freshman class is unique to the one before, but this one—this one is special. Part of this expansion in service is due to a generational shift—they were simply brought up with an increased sense of community and civic responsibility that ours’ and the preceding generation lacked. But part of it is due to efforts by our various governments to foster this element of service among the youth.

In 2002, George W. Bush created a White House Council that coordinated, for a short time, Learn and Serve America, the FreedomCorps, and many other federal programs that fostered service-learning; by 2003 they were up and running. This means that the high school freshman class of 2003, which graduate this past May and entered college this past month, is the first class in which many students have had an entire high school career that married, and made indistinguishable, the idea of service and learning. The results of this monumental occurrence are immediately apparent.

In my own office, which promotes community service among students, we have seen more students come to us in the first 3 weeks of school than we saw in the entire first semester last year. Student clubs that promote service, and whose active body number maybe 20, have had double and triple that number show up to their informational sessions. And on a campus of 10,000 that is known for societal apathy among its students, nearly 1,000 (mostly freshmen) have registered to vote in just 5 days, ensuring that their voice is heard in this next election. These data, which eclipse all statistics I can find from similar years, I believe are not a fluke, but represent a fundamental, yet possibly temporary, shift in the attitude of a freshman class.

The point in all of this? This new class represents an opportunity that has never been seen before, and an opportunity for which many universities are unprepared. This generation has wedded service, learning, and social life (high school—perhaps the most social time in anyone’s lives) in their minds. If that marriage does not continue through college, we will lose an opportunity that has never come about before. Further more, this class is entering an experience that represents a most fundamental change in their life during one of the most transformative political landscapes this nation has experienced. This year, this class, is an opportunity like no other for those who care about the culture of service. An opportunity to produce academic citizens that view service to fellow man not as an obligation, or a temporary occurrence, but as a very part of life itself.

My challenge to you is to do what the universities and colleges are unprepared to do. Do what it takes to get this freshman class involved. Lower your dues, spend more on advertising, work with other organizations to get the message out. Before you can do anything with this generation, they have to know that there are opportunities to continue what was started in their lives four years ago. Expanding your ranks, however, does nothing if there is no substance behind your program. More is needed from you and from your colleagues to make a difference, to give this next class the opportunities that you probably didn’t have. One always hear of parents worrying about what they are leaving their children, but one doesn’t have to be a parent to think of how their actions are going to affect those even just a few years younger. You have a chance to lay the groundwork for lasting change.

A large organization will do nothing if your actions are the same as always. To implement lasting change you need to look at how your entire program is run. This, I realize, is no easy task. It is hard enough to plan for the next semester; I’m asking you to plan for the next half decade. Sit down with your organization, form committees, and start an actual discussion as to where you are going on your campus. Actions without a vision and a plan are effectively meaningless. Question your goals. Is service just enough, or do you need to start promoting advocacy? If so how? Is there a way to better teach those below you the importance of what you do? Do you understand the importance of what you do? If you can’t answer these questions, and many others, then you have a lot of work to do, so start now! Don’t wait! Do it tomorrow, or next week at the latest. Talk to your members, bring them together, and lead the conversation. When you have a clear vision from the voice of your colleagues, vote on it, and figure out how to implement it. Perhaps most importantly, elect leadership that will listen to your voice, and follow your decisions. Every day that passes without this conversation occurring, means this opportunity has slipped a little bit further from your grasp. It is not too late to do what needs to be done, but one can not delay. Fortunately every semester marks an opportunity to start anew, and with the right vision that one semester is all you need.

Finally, and this is the hardest, change how you yourself operate. Put aside the differences you have with each other in implementing this goal. I know how hard it is. I failed at this often, but you still have to try, and try earnestly. Realize that sometimes the method to get there is not as important as the goal, so long as the method is upright and honest. This personal change works both ways though. If you have to put aside your differences with the leadership, the leadership needs to always remember that their position is an obligation, and a gift, not a mandate. And that the trust of power does not necessitate a right to power, and a right to do what you want, when you want.

Follow this advice, and I believe you’ll see an improvement not just in the organizations you care so much about, but in yourself as well. That by trying to create an opportunity for this incoming class (and those that will follow), you will improve your own opportunities as well. And by leading others towards leadership, friendship, and service, you and they alike will find that at the heart of it, those principles are one and the same.

Thank you for your time,

Neil Hudelson