United, We Must Serve Our Nation
President Obama kicked off United We Serve, a 12-week summer service initiative, in June by calling on all Americans to "make volunteerism and community service part of your daily life and the life of this nation."
This call to service is particularly relevant to those of us who came of age in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, eight years ago this week. The memory of 9/11 inspired us to become involved in our communities and give back in order to build a stronger country. National challenges like Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing economic recession have only affirmed this belief among members of our generation.
Young people are responding to this new era of service in record numbers. The volunteer rate for Millennials has doubled over the last five years and applications to AmeriCorps are up over 300 percent.
At AU, the ideals embodied within the national service movement are present in the motto of our Community Service Center, "Ideas into Action. Action into Service." At its core, this statement promotes the exchange of ideas and problem-solving strategies developed by engaged citizens in response to problems they identify within their communities.
AU is right to understand the critical distinction between what service was formerly considered to be: charity, and what it is: a civic responsibility. David Eisner, who served as CEO of the Corporation for National & Community Service during the Bush Administration, said before his departure, "it's time for American political, policy, business and education leaders to stop thinking of volunteering as a nice way to engage people to help others, and instead place a crucial bet on the ability of American citizens to tackle and make progress against some of our really difficult challenges."
There remains much work to do to advance this principle understanding. Last month, the 19th annual Freshman Service Experience introduced 650 AU freshmen to Washington, DC through three intense days of community service. FSE partnered with my start-up organization, myImpact.org to share stories of the participant's service using multimedia and Web 2.0. Proving that demonstrating the impact of service and showing it in a greater context is a critical need, we found students at their service sites indicating during interviews a general lack of understanding of how their work, often involving mundane and clerical tasks, was actually making a difference.
The United We Serve initiative and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, passed by Congress earlier this year, provide new volunteer opportunities and a renewed commitment to engage all Americans, especially young people, in service. The Act also designated that this year, for the first time, Sept. 11 be a National Day of Service and Remembrance.
There could not be a more appropriate moment to remember the tragedy of 9/11 by reflecting on the challenges facing our generation and how we can unite to overcome them through service.
Chris Golden Junior, School of Public Affairs
AUSC responds to sex column
The "Sex-perimentation" article that has raised so much controversy and debate on this campus was deeply concerning to some members of AU Students for Choice's E-Board. As sexual and reproductive health advocates, we celebrate the existence of a sex column in our student newspaper due to the educational and sexually empowering discussions it can facilitate. Columns that misrepresent sexual assault and responsible sexual choices can be much more harmful than helpful.
The opening scenario presented in your Aug. 31 column did in fact constitute sexual assault. It was especially troubling since this kind of ambiguous assault is experienced by many AU students. Sexual assault is not always about force; it is about consent. Consent cannot be given for sexual activities when any person involved is under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs, such as a "drunken haze."
We realize that the intended topics of this column were "hooking-up" and providing advice for building heterosexual relationships in college, but these were also presented in highly problematic ways. While drunken sexual activity is a common occurrence and part of campus culture, it is one that is not necessarily responsible, healthy, empowering or safe.
What is positive about this column is that it has started important conversations on our campus about sex, sexual assault, sexism, heterosexism, dating and relationships that unfortunately do not happen enough. We hope that sex columns in the future further explore these and other issues with an increased level of sensitivity, factual research, and explanations of sexual health resources (or the lack thereof) on this campus and D.C.
AUSC E-Board Members including Jenny Burke (2010 CAS), K. Travis Ballie (2010 Kogod, SIS), Amanda Pelletier (2012 CAS), Kathleen McKenna (2012 CAS), Sophia Bernstein (2012 CAS), Alexandra Morgan (2010 CAS)
