San Francisco State University

Academic Senate

Passed December 7, 1999

Resolution on the Governor's Request for a
Community Service Graduation Requirement

Whereas, Governor Gray Davis has requested that the CSU and other public higher education segments in California "establish a community service requirement for undergraduate students;" and

Whereas, The Academic Senate CSU has requested that campus senates consider the Governor’s request and assess its potential impact in the CSU; and

Whereas, The Academic Senate CSU in a May 1999 resolution (AS-2455-99) has previously affirmed its commitment to fostering community service and particularly community service learning through the provision of incentives and resources for students and faculty engaging in community service learning activities rather than mandating service through a graduation requirement; and

Whereas, The California State Student Association has also affirmed the importance of community service and community service learning as a voluntary versus mandated activity in its October 1999 resolution on the Governor’s Community Service Graduation Requirement; and

Whereas, The San Francisco State University’s Commission on University Strategic Planning has similarly emphasized the goal of fostering community service learning opportunities for all students before graduation, rather than simply mandating service; and

Whereas, Efforts at San Francisco State University to foster an ethic of community service and meaningful service learning opportunities over the last several decades have been quite successful, and currently as many as three quarters of our students engage in some form of service and more than a hundred courses offer significant service learning components; be it

Resolved: That the San Francisco State University Academic Senate affirm that the appropriate strategy for inculcating an ethic of civic responsibility and for ensuring that meaningful service is offered to the communities of California is to provide adequate incentives and appropriate resources for the careful planning and execution of community service learning opportunities for all CSU students rather than to mandate service as a graduation requirement.