Higher Education, Community Service, and Service Learning – The Montana Campus Compact

Colleges and universities have responded strategically to increased competition for the best and brightest students by developing their distinctive institutional brands. More and more campuses have relied on the provision of opportunities for community service and service learning to attract students, as evidenced by the growth in the membership of Campus Compact, an organization of presidents and chancellors of postsecondary institutions. The group has grown from four institutions in the early 1980s to more than 1,100. According to its mission statement, Campus Compact http://www.compact.org/ "advances the public purposes of colleges and universities by deepening their ability to serve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility."

By:

George M. Dennison

President The University of Montana

Chairman – The Montana Campus Compact (MTCC) http://mtcompact.org/

In 1999, in pursuance of that mission, a group of Compact member presidents and chancellors met at the Aspen Institute in Colorado and adopted the Declaration on the Civic Responsibility of Higher Education. Without question, the member presidents and chancellors guide their institutions to fulfill these commitments while simultaneously responding to the rising demands of succeeding generations of students for service and engagement.

A number of commentators have noted the surge of community-mindedness among all sectors of the nation that came in the wake of the tragedies of September 11, 2001. As potential students have demanded opportunities for community service and engagement, and faculty members have sought innovative ways to make instruction relevant and meaningful, the service learning movement has spread to campuses across the country.

The 1,100 member presidents and chancellors, in recognition of this movement, have committed their institutions to community service and service learning, and together their institutions account for more than 6.5 million students contributing service valued at more than $7 billion annually. Simultaneously, the institutions vie for listing in the Princeton Review’s "Colleges with a Conscience"; for inclusion on the "President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll" issued by the Corporation for National and Community Service; or for elective classification by the Carnegie Commission for "Community Engagement."

Numerous research studies affirm that related educational benefits accrue to students from involvement in community service and service learning. According to these studies, the participating students persist to graduation at higher rates and show greater improvement in their critical thinking and communication skills; their tolerance for, acceptance of, and comfort with difference; and their competency to work collaboratively with others as members of focused teams. Gallini and Moely (Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2003) cited student comments that service learning courses promote interpersonal, community, and academic engagement, offer more academic challenge than traditional courses, and encourage continued matriculation at the host institution.

In addition, the participating students become much more articulate about their ethical values and their sense of engagement with and responsibility for the quality of life in their communities. Student interest in, knowledge of, and involvement in local civic and governmental activities also increase markedly. In brief, institutionally provided opportunities for community service and service learning benefit the participating students and assist the host institutions in the fulfillment of missions.

Finally, such involvement often offers financial assistance to the participating students to pay for the costs of college attendance, an important consideration as costs continue to rise. By becoming involved in service projects sponsored by state affiliates of Campus Compact through the auspices of the Corporation for National and Community Service and the State Commissions for Community Service, the students can earn up to $9,000 in education awards, which are held in trust to pay for tuition and fees or to repay student loans.

Campus Compact provides State Compacts—34 in existence as of March 2008—that help the member institutions in each participating state compete as organized coalitions for funds from the Corporation for National and Community Service to support community service projects. In addition, close collaboration with the State Commissions on Community Service affords opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to enhance the services provided across that state and to raise the level of civic engagement through partnerships with the public schools, other state agencies, and nonprofit organizations.

Our experience in the state of Montana has proven the value of this approach. Nearly all of the chief executives of the public, private, and Tribal colleges and universities have accepted membership in the Compact, and they encourage their faculty, staff, and students to participate. Funded projects have engaged students and faculty in math and reading tutoring; public trail maintenance; energy conservation efforts; public policy research and development; blood and bone marrow donation; low-income financial counseling; local food dispensing entity enhancement; after-school youth programs; technology assistance for public schools; and community development. In the process, these projects have stimulated widespread public involvement by attracting still more volunteers.

As a result, Montana boasts one of the highest ratings for civic engagement and community service per capita in the country, perhaps the best indicator of the quality of life in communities across the state. It seems clear, then, that institutional promotion of and support for community service and service learning contributes significantly to providing solutions for our future by engaging the human and intellectual resources of higher education to address community needs, by helping improve the quality of life in communities, and by preparing students to be the next generation of community leaders and engaged citizens.

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