Download - ILR School - Cornell University

STUDENT NEWS
the loss, the union campaign has delivered
tangible benefits to graduate employees.
Three months after the count, Cornell Trustees
voted to increase minimum stipend levels
by 7 percent, the largest increase in over
a decade.
Cornell has shown that it responds to
collective action. CASE/UAW remains active
on campus, organizing to improve the
working lives of graduate students. For more
information about the graduate employee
union at Cornell or other current initiatives,
visit our website http://www.caseuaw.org.
ILR Student Wins National
Humanitarian Award
By Franklin Crawford
Gary Schueller, a senior, has received
a $1,500 Howard R. Swearer Humanitarian
Award for Outstanding Public
Service. Schueller is one of five student
recipients throughout the United States.
Schueller, also a Cornell Bartels Undergraduate
Action Research Fellow, was recognized
for helping to create Touchstones, a
neighborhood after-school music program
for youths living in housing units supported
by the city of Ithaca. Schueller applied his
knowledge of public policy issues by networking
with local agencies, community organizations
and government offices. Cornell
President Hunter Rawlings commended
Schueller’s “dedication to empowering youth
and developing sustainable university-community
partnerships.”
About 10 steel drums were purchased
for Touchstones through a cooperative intra-agency
effort that included the Cornell
Tradition, the Community School of Music
and Arts (CSMA), the Ithaca Housing Authority
and the Ithaca Youth Bureau. The drums
serve as a culturally accessible vehicle for
creative expression and learning about the
arts, said John Bailey, program coordinator
for the youth bureau, who assisted with the
project. However, Touchstones also includes
lessons from music instructors, visits from
prominent area musicians as well as public
performances. The idea for the drums came
from former CSMA director Sam Velasquez,
but it was Schueller’s footwork and energy
that led to the creation of Touchstones.
“I know Gary mainly through his work
here in the Big Brother program,” said Bailey,
noting that Schueller joined the one-onone
program as a freshman. “Touchstones
was a great idea—and one that kids can
14
relate to because it brings the arts right into
the neighborhood. It shows kids that the
arts don’t only have to happen at school,
they happen right in your community and
are part of the neighborhood culture.”
Schueller, a native of Westchester County,
N.Y., studied piano throughout secondary
school and also spent his summers as a
volunteer in a local library reading program.
At Cornell, his academic focus is on public
policy and issues relating to the disenfranchised,
particularly issues facing young poor
people. He said he was disturbed by the
high percentage of troubled youth in Ithaca’s
public housing facilities—percentages he
learned about while studying demographics
at Cornell.
“This type of public service work is inextricably
linked with my academic work,”
said Schueller. “It has allowed me to apply
my academic knowledge of demographics,
public policy and psychology, for example.
And one of the things I’ve regretted is that
I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to play
music.”
The Swearer Award is sponsored by the
Sallie Mae Community Fund and honors
the life and work of Howard R. Swearer,
15th President of Brown University and one
of three college presidents who founded
Campus Compact in 1985. The award is presented
annually by Campus Compact, a national
coalition of more than 850 college and
university presidents who are committed to
making community service an integral part
of undergraduate education.
While Schueller’s project has resonated
in Ithaca, he’d like to see more Cornell student
involvement in the local community.
For the remainder of his student career at
Cornell he hopes to help make community
outreach partnerships more visible and to
increase Cornell student participation in
public service.
“The crisis our communities face today is
one of disconnect,” Schueller said. “With the
current political climate, the commitment
to local engagement in public service programs
is paramount. Cornell students can
make a big difference in this community and
broaden their perspective on the world as
well. And the Cornell administration should
encourage and support that engagement.
After all, it’s an integral part of our mission
as a land-grant university.”
This story was adapted from one by Franklin
Crawford that was originally published in the
November 14, 2002 issue of the Cornell Chronicle,
and is reprinted here with permission.