Marquette is service: Some of the social justice opportunities on campus
It is not everywhere that students are willing to volunteer six months of their year in preparation for one day. But just walk through the doors of room 329 in the Alumni Memorial Union, the epicenter for Hunger Clean-Up, and that is exactly what you will find.
The leadership staff for Hunger Clean-Up, a one day service project scheduled in April, consists of one administrator, one graduate student and 10 undergraduate students.
Starting in October they work anywhere from five hours per week to even spending the night in the office as the “big day” approaches, according to Vincent Howard, a senior in the College of Business Administration and co-coordinator for Hunger Clean-Up.
Even though their efforts are only showcased for one day, they do not mind. For these students, just giving their peers that day to serve their community is exciting enough.
“Students get to take a day out of their busy schedule to serve and interact with the Milwaukee community,” said Emily Lundquist, a junior in the College of Communication and team leader outreach/logistics chair for Hunger Clean-Up.
However, the mission of Hunger Clean-Up is to do much more than volunteer. Since the program started in 1989, it has advocated for the community’s involvement in the end of hunger and homelessness in Milwaukee.
As its mission states, Hunger Clean-Up uses the four pillars of Marquette’s education — excellence, faith, leadership and service — to improve Milwaukee.
More specifically, its 2010 mission aims to increase participants’ knowledge of social justice issues and to create not only short-term solutions, but also lasting effects.
“It is a great way for Marquette to be a part of and give to the community,” Howard said. “Unfortunately, Milwaukee always ranks high in poverty, but we try to get members to feel like they can make change.”
As it near its 21st year of service, Hunger Clean-Up has raised a collective $345,000 for charities —including the $22,000 raised last year by the 1,800 student volunteers.
This year the leaders hope for 2,100 volunteers and to raise $25,000 in donations, Howard said.
To raise this money the team hosts active fundraising on campus, such as collecting money at basketball games and requesting donations from local and large business.
Another way Hunger Clean-Up raises funds is through campaigns.
John Shusterich, senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and fundraising co-chair, said that to start campaigns, the staff seeks out companies that have similar interests in the community. One campaign partner working with Hunger Clean-Up is Stone Creek Coffee, which sells “socially responsible coffee” according to its mission statement.
At last, however, it is important to note the difference between charity and social justice, according to Kimberely Jensen-Bohat, program director of Service Learning, an academic program that incorporates classes and community service. While charity may be a single event, social justice is a call for change.
“There is an old story about service learning,” Jensen-Bohat said. “It is about a student who volunteers at a soup kitchen. When the student is done, (the student) says ‘I really enjoyed this, I hope my children have the chance to work in the soup kitchen like I did.’ ”
Jensen-Bohat said the point is if the student had really understood the concept of social justice and Service Learning, he or she would not want the soup kitchen to exist when his or her children grow up.
This is the difference that Service Learning tries to instill with its reflective sessions. While the classes focus on the academic side of service learning, the student coordinators set up six reflection sessions per semester where students reflect on the importance of social justice issues that arise in the communities they are working with.
“It gives us a chance to steer them toward the social justice aspect as well,” said Jessica Jeruzal, student coordinator and junior in the college of Arts & Sciences.
This also keeps the students looking at the big picture. Jensen-Bohat said that rather than acting as “missionaries,” it is important to note that service learning rewards both involved.
“I love it when the role of teacher and student gets blurred,” Jensen-Bohat said. “The clients become the tutor, and our students learn from them.”
However, Service Learning is not a social justice program, Jensen-Bohat said. It is an academic program with social justice as a natural outcome because it makes students ask themselves where their academic talents can benefit society.
Marquette’s Service Learning program not only makes the community notice, but it also reaches out to other learning institutions as well.
Marquette joins 16 other sponsors and members to form the Southeastern Wisconsin Service Learning Consortium. Jensen-Bohat, a member of SEWSLC, said she works to strengthen Service Learning in grades K-12 as well as higher learning institutions.
The program is also nationally noticed. It is ranked in US News and World Report as an exceptional standard of service learning and among the President’s Honor Roll for Community Service in 2008.
Some professors who teach Service Learning classes also assist in focusing on social justice. Martin Scanlan, assistant professor in the Department of Educational and Policy Leadership, teaches a course called “Introduction to Schooling in a Diverse Society.”
This class offers an option for students to work with tutoring centers around Milwaukee.
“An important aspect of this class is the whole premise of the Ignatius reflection,” Scanlan said.
He said he wants the students to ask themselves: “How am I engaging with colleges and community members? In service to them and in learning with them?”
Students’ dedication to Social Justice goes beyond the classroom.
According to the Office of Student Development’s Web site, “More than 85 percent of students have participated in some service through a wide range of programs.”
Included in those programs are the 23 student organizations dedicated to social justice in the community through service.
Midnight Run is just one of those student organizations.
The program, at its core, is a way for students to get out into the streets and to fight against hunger in Milwaukee. Sunday through Friday, students provide lunch for the homeless in up to 10 different work sites.
Around 180 students volunteer for Midnight Run, and among these students, some say that it is the service that “gets them through the day” according to Gerald Fischer, program director for Midnight Run.
“We have learned it’s not the food, and it’s not the sandwiches,” Fischer said. “It’s really the compassion and providing dignity to people who normally have people say to them ‘No, sorry, I don’t want to talk to you.’”
According to Fischer, it takes about $40 per day to fund Midnight Run. To pay for this, the student-run staff hosts a number of different fundraising opportunities.
Its newest is called “Pay a Day.” Through this, people donate $40 to Midnight Run to fund an entire day of service and food to the homeless.
Through these services, Fischer said Midnight Run acts as a “gateway” into social justice and advocacy.
“It has been an entryway for people to get more involved in social justice,” Fischer said. “It is just opening your eyes to being on the street. We see the problem all around us, then what we desire is to create advocates for social justice. We want people to care.”
There is a also community within the residence halls that dedicates its entire existence to social justice.
According to James McMahon, assistant vice president and dean of Residence Life, the Dorothy Day Social Justice Community grew out of the student’s interest in a sophomore living community and a passion for social justice.
The program, in its first year, acts as an academic, living and service community within the greater Marquette and Milwaukee community.
“People have a great deal of interest,” McMahon said. “It spreads beyond the floors and goes into the building and so on.”
As a requirement for the program, students take specific philosophy and theology classes as well as participate in Service Learning both semesters.
The students advocate their social justice passions just through conversation in the floors.
“There is a time when your beliefs are challenged. You are not going to agree with people,” said Ameilia “Molly” Milota, sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences. “But I think through it you come to a better understanding of yourself and your own beliefs and a greater respect for people in the community. Then you get to apply that to everyday situations.”
Gina Berce, a senior in the College of Business Administration and resident assistant for the women’s floor in the Dorothy Day Living Community, said that was one of her favorite parts of living there.
According to Berce, it is the “small conversations” that are the most inspiring.
Whether it be six months of planning for one day of service or a daily commitment, some passionate Marquette students believe their social causes are worth fighting for.
Tags: charity, Dorothy Day Living Community, homelessness, hunger, Hunger Clean Up, Remove the Blindfold, RHA, Service Learning, social justice, volunteer
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