Given the galvanizing events of Hurricane Katrina and the resultant swell of student support, the importance of societal awareness has certainly been hammered home this past month. The theme continued on Monday night, as Meisel discussed an activist's upbringing, the goals of the Bonner Foundation and the role Amherst students can play in the community.
Meisel began the lecture by preaching the power of the individual in effecting change, using the analogy of a ripple's spread to hammer his point home. His opening summarized the mission statement of the Bonner Foundation, a group dedicated to bridging the gap between institutions and their communities by spurring students into breaking free from their collegiate environments and taking a more proactive role in society. Chief among the foundation's methods is the Bonner Scholars Program, in which altruistically-minded students -about 3,000 of them-are given scholarships with the stipulation that they devote 600 hours a year to community service.
Meisel's involvement in such an organization began at an early age. The son of a preacher who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., Meisel grew up in an environment in which social justice was paramount. "I was never a stranger to mandatory community service because our mother made us do it," he said. For all of his father's history, he portrays his mother as the bedrock for his sense of righteousness.
As an undergraduate at Harvard University, Meisel did not forget the lessons of his childhood. He found, however, that a social conscience among college students was far from the norm. Cut from the Harvard soccer team, Meisel sought to stay involved in the sport by coaching youth within the town of Cambridge. However, he was rebuked by town officials, who found it inconceivable that an 18-year-old would dare to venture beyond the comfort of Harvard's gates. Furthermore, there wasn't even a children's league within the community. "They said, 'Get 30 other people who want to coach, and we'll consider [a league],'" Meisel recalled. He found 150.
After college, Meisel discovered his calling when, funded by a scholarship for a traveling fellowship and inspired by the work of previous activists, he walked from Maine to Washington, D.C., championing social involvement at colleges along the way, including Amherst.
Meisel's impression of Amherst at that initial stop was underwhelming.
"I got there and there was a student protest going on, a hunger strike, and I thought, 'All right, this is a place where things are happening,'" Meisel said. "It turned out the thing they were protesting was the closing of the frats."
Upon his return in 1983, Meisel founded C.O.O.L., the Campus Outreach Opportunity League. In many ways it was a forerunner to his work with the Bonner Foundation, as its goal was the dispelling of apathy among college students. Since departing from C.O.O.L., Meisel has served with the Bonner Foundation for over 15 years.
Meisel's speech was the culmination of 24 hours of working closely with Amherst students and faculty leaders in an endeavor to improve the prominence and effectiveness of community service opportunities. Yet for all the rhetoric about Amherst's fine sense of civic duty, the room was virtually bereft of students who had been uninvolved in the event's coordination.
The only students who heard Meisel's message were those who probably least needed to hear it. "This is the choir," said Karen Lee-Roberts, assistant director of the College's community outreach program.
Meisel seemed well aware of the need for increased pragmatism in Amherst's approach to community service. "I find myself walking into a campus that is poised for action," he said. "I see the convergence of passion, interest and experience. But we need to find a way to bring it all together. … I see courage, but I also see people not quite knowing what to do next." The desire to do great things is there, Meisel reiterated again and again, but the basic infrastructure-the process identifying a community's wants and getting students to the places they're needed most-is lacking.
To that end, after his speech, Meisel divided the audience into groups, assigning them each to Partnership Leaders, students who had helped coordinate the event. Meisel had each group come up with a plan for improving Amherst's service programs.
"Community service has to become part of your identity, in the same way that playing a sport or an instrument is. Once it reaches that point, it ceases to be an obligation or a burden," said Priyanka Jacob '07, one of the student leaders.
Achieving that level is the challenge that students face. Suggestions flew fast and furious. One reform that received strong support was strengthening the Orientation outreach trips. "Only 40 kids do it out of 400, and none of the fall athletes can," said Abby Mantica '07. "I don't think [the trip] is enough of a presence."
Other possibilities included a mandatory one-day seminar, more internships and fellowship opportunities, greater resources for the outreach office, a broader diversity of programs and, perhaps most intriguingly, recruiting accomplished high school activists with all the vehemence traditionally reserved for athletes.
"Service endeavors, in comparison to athletics and music, aren't given as much direct recognition in the admissions and even on campus in general," said Stephanie Gounder '08. "If service is truly a priority of the administration, we need to provide incentive for activism in community groups beyond just theoretical discussion of its importance."
Another stumbling block emphasized during the group meetings was over-extension. For example, a varsity sport can obviously be a substantial drain on a student's schedule. To expect a student to fulfill extra-curricular responsibilities and coursework and still chip in with a service program-often directly conflicting with practice or other obligations-is, perhaps, a bit much to ask. "The leadership in service-centered activities seems to overlap within certain pockets of the student population," said Gounder.
The College is at least cognizant of the need for improved practicality. A number of speeches this year have called for students to make a difference. Rosanne Haggerty '82, a prominent benefactor for the homeless, delivered an inspiring speech during orientation week. President Anthony Mark delivered a Convocation address urging students to rise to the occasion and help those in need. Indeed, the crux of Meisel's presentation was that desire alone is not nearly enough, and to label solely Amherst's implementation as inadequate is unfair. "Where is the campus that has totally, completely succeeded in its implementation?" he asked rhetorically. "It hasn't happened yet."