| An
Executive Summary from the Academic Affairs
Committee On Community Service and Service
Learning In The California State University
- State of Community Service and Service Learning in the CSU
On May 6-7, 1999, the Academic Senate of the California State
University passed a resolution (AS-2455-99/AA) which called for
a determination of "the appropriate resources and mechanisms
to provide the opportunities and incentives necessary to engage
CSU students in meaningful service activities," noting that
incentives and opportunities are more appropriate ways of fostering
an ethic of service than would mandating community service for
all CSU students, and that such mandatory service would raise
resources, liability, and public relations issues.
On July 15, 1999, Governor Gray Davis requested that the CSU and
the other public higher education segments in California to "establish
a community service requirement for undergraduate students."
He asked that such a requirement be approached thoughtfully, and
that the Chancellor "develop a plan for adoption by the Trustees
that would establish a graduation requirement for community service."
The Governor requested that faculty work together "to create
a proposal implementing a community service graduation requirement"
and that this process begin with the Intersegmental Committee
of Academic Senates.
In August 1999, representatives of the Senates to the Intersegmental
Committee of Academic Senates agreed that response to the community
service graduation proposal should be deferred to each of the
System senates, and from them to the faculty on the campuses.
On August 12, 1999, a Review of Information and Issues to Consider
in Developing a Plan to Require Community Service of Public University
Students was prepared by Erika Freihage, Coordinator of Community
Service Learning, CSU Chancellor’s Office. This review contained
questions to address in the development of a community service
requirement; theoretical underpinnings in defining outcomes that
such requirement would have on students; input from involved faculty,
students, community service and service learning practitioners,
community agencies and members; types of service activities that
students can participate in; challenges such as philosophical
concerns about mandating community service, placements, coordination
of placements, infrastructure support, risk management issues,
monitoring the requirement, transportation to community, and logistics;
and models of effective community service and service learning
programs and initiatives.
On September 9-10, 1999, the Academic Senate of the California
State University passed a resolution (AS-2471-99/AA/FGA) which
requested that the CSU campus senates consider the Governor’s
request for a community service graduation requirement and respond
to the Academic Senate CSU by February 1, 2000. In so doing, the
Academic Senate CSU requested that the local senates assess the
impact of a community service graduation requirement. Their assessment
was to focus on such issues as resource allocation, time to degree,
liability issues, faculty/staff workload issues and other aspects
of implementing such a change.
It is important to reiterate that the California State University
has long accepted that part of our mission as a state-supported
system of higher education is the promotion of appropriate forms
of service to the communities–local, regional and statewide–within
which our campuses are located. The desirability of civic engagement
on the part of our students is spelled out in the recent Study
of the Baccalaureate conducted by the Academic Senate of the
California State University.
- Need for Oversight by CSU Local Campuses and Their Faculties
It is important to note both the responsibility of the faculty
in defining curricula and the manner in which core principles
of academic freedom grant to the faculty autonomy and rights in
the design and execution of their instructional efforts. In response
to AS-2471-99/AA/FGA, concerns and input from some CSU campuses
include:
- CSU Fullerton: it is the historic responsibility of the
faculty to determine curriculum and graduation requirements
- CSU Northridge: it is the responsibility of faculty to determine
degree requirements
- SSU: control of the curriculum must reside with the faculty
The CSU as a whole, individual campuses of the CSU, campus administrators,
faculty and staff, all could be exposed to potential civil liability
should an individual student’s conduct, while engaged in mandatory
community service, fall short of that deemed legally acceptable.
Although they do not comprise an exhaustive list, issues above related
to control of the curriculum, academic freedom, and civil liability
compel the Academic Senate of the California State University to
agree with other campus constituencies that have declared that community
service and service learning must not be mandatory for our students,
but rather should be made available to our students, through opportunities
to serve, on a voluntary basis.
The terms and conditions of employment for CSU faculty are subject
to collective bargaining. As community service and service learning
become increasingly integrated into both the curriculum and co-curriculum
of individual CSU campuses, impacts on the workload (i.e. terms
and conditions of employment) of Unit-3 employees must be assessed.
To the extent faculty involvement in community service and service
learning programs requires the dedication of time and effort to
either program supervision or assigned time loads, the bargaining
agent for Unit-3 personnel must be consulted.
- Community Service and Service Learning as Opportunities
Fostering an ethic of volunteerism and service to one’s community
is considered, by most, to be intrinsically good. However, an ethic
of volunteerism and community service cannot truly be fostered by
mandated community service.
In response to AS-2471-99/AA/FGA, concerns and input from many CSU
campuses include:
- Bakersfield: the potential benefits and burdens of community
service as a requirement may not be shared equally among all members
of the diverse CSUB population
- Fresno: there are philosophical and legal implications of mandating
"volunteer" service
- Fullerton: required community service may present hardships
for some students, most notably those with family or work obligations;
believe that a service requirement would be inconsistent with
the spirit of service
- Hayward: the idea of requiring community service violates the
very spirit of community service
- Los Angeles: we recognize that there are considerable difficulties,
both physical and philosophical, with making such service a graduation
requirement; we oppose such service being made mandatory
- Maritime: feels that the imposition of a mandatory community
service component to the graduation requirements of our public
colleges and universities should be refuted
- Monterey Bay: has adopted a service learning graduation requirement
through which all CSUMB students engage in community service activities
as part of their academic coursework
- Northridge: the efficacy of mandating volunteerism
- Sacramento: promotion of service would best be accomplished
through incentives
- San Diego: most community partners did not support a mandatory
service requirement because of overwhelming numbers of students,
a lack of resources to properly handle a significant increase
in volunteers, and a sense that they are not interested in working
with volunteers that "don’t want to be there"
- San Francisco: provide adequate incentives and appropriate resources
for the careful planning and execution of community service learning
opportunities for all CSU students than to mandate service as
a graduation requirement
- San Jose: although we recognize the tremendous importance of
a community service ethic, we believe that ethic is better instilled
through developing incentives and opportunities than in imposing
a requirement
- San Luis Obispo: a service ethic is better fostered by providing
incentives and opportunities than by mandating service
- Sonoma: has not demonstrated any support for requiring community
service learning courses as either a part of all majors, or as
a graduation requirement
- Stanislaus: while our commitment to service is visible in both
words and action, we are strongly opposed to a graduation requirement
of service for students in public institutions of higher education
- CSU Support for Community Service and Service Learning
It is important to state unequivocally that in our response to
the Governor’s request for a community service graduation requirement
we:
- affirm the ethics associated with both community service and
volunteerism
- recognize the considerable value of a vast array of service
learning options currently available to students throughout the
CSU
- support and celebrate ongoing community service efforts on the
part of both students and their mentors within the CSU
- recognize the desirability of conducting a needs assessment
to identify areas for development and/or expansion of service
learning opportunities
- express a system-wide commitment to encourage, and, whenever
possible, provide the resources for expansion of the already impressive
efforts in service that take place
- applaud and support the efforts of our faculty as they work
to augment the service learning opportunities available on all
campuses of the CSU
In essence, the Academic Senate of the California State University’s
position urges support of campus-community efforts in identifying
and promoting opportunities and incentives for meaningful service
rather than mandating such service. Furthermore, we wish to urge
the Governor to carefully examine and ultimately acknowledge the
commitment and dedication to service that the faculty and students
of the CSU have already shown through the years.
- Need for Infrastructure Support for CS and SL in the CSU
In response to AS-2471-99/AA/FGA, concerns and input from many
CSU campuses indicated the need for infrastructure support for community
service and service learning:
- Bakersfield: the additional budgetary implications of such a
proposal will be substantial
- Fresno: over 107,000 hours of service provided to the community
each year by over 3,000 students; estimated 8,000 annual placement
opportunities and nearly $500,000 in new funding needed to satisfy
mandate
- Fullerton: urge Governor Davis to support additional funding
to provide for further service learning opportunities
- Hayward: a very large percentage of our students work 20, 30
or more hours a week at paid jobs; a requirement to do community
service work would impose a substantial hardship on such students
- Los Angeles: over 1,200 of our students participate in service
programs
- Monterey Bay: general fund provides approximately $400,000 in
annual support for the Service Learning Institute
- Northridge: requires a significant commitment of additional
resources
- Sacramento: it will require significant infrastructure in both
the university and community organizations to handle 2,000-2,500
students per semester; significant new resources will be needed
to build this infrastructure
- San Diego: students, faculty and staff contribute more than
1.2 million hours per year to a wide variety of community endeavors;
the implementation costs of establishing and policing such a requirement
would be very high in both infrastructure and in personnel
- San Francisco: 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
- San Jose: thousands of students already engage in community
service, but many are disadvantaged and do not have the time or
other resources to devote themselves to community service at this
point in their lives; imposition of a community service requirement
would impose significant fiscal and other costs on SJSU (e.g.
implementation of a community service requirement could cost up
to $1.5 million annually); it is unclear whether the State is
prepared to provide the funds necessary to successfully implement
a community service requirement
- San Luis Obispo: more than 3000 students annually engaged in
community service and service learning projects
- San Marcos: more than $500,000 would be needed to meet the mandate
for community service and service learning as a graduation requirement
- Stanislaus: the likelihood is that the 1500-2000 annual placement
opportunities needed to satisfy such a mandate are not available;
there are significant infrastructure and budgetary implications
for the campus; it is estimated that providing the university
and the community the services needed to support such a mandate
may require form $250,000 to $500,000 annually in new funding
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