Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Agent of Democracy
and led a group brainstorming session that resulted in a creative
solution. The group went to the local hardware store, bought a
piece of Styrofoam and placed it in half of the sink, which left no
place for students to dump the dirty dishes. The students did public
work. They worked across difference to solve a problem that had
lasting social value. They also learned that community starts in the
small democratic actions that people take in the everyday.
Brown: And student organizations, what about them?
Weinberg: Our campus is filled with 130+ student organizations
that produced thousands of potential educational moments
for students to learn important civic skills like mobilizing peers,
facilitating a meeting, creating an action plan, working in teams,
and resolving conflicts. We were capturing virtually none of those
moments. If you walked around campus at night, you would see
people involved in student organizations that did not work. Meetings
were poorly planned. Organizations lacked mission statements,
much less action plans for the semester. Minor conflicts led to splintering
of groups. Not surprisingly most groups were fixated on
developing programs that were ill conceived. Tactics never matched
goals, and resources were usually poorly aligned with actions. This
also had negative macrocampus effects, as student organizations
divided students into tiny identity groups. Whereas we wanted
student organizations to become places for students to “walk across
difference” (meet different kinds of people), student organizations
became mechanisms for creating comfort zones.
We created a Center for Leadership and Student Involvement
and hired great mentors who could work with students to transform
campus organizations into civic educational experiences. We
started by changing how students think about student organizations.
Rather than thinking in terms of activities, we have gotten
students to think about themselves as community organizations
that drive campus life. We started focusing heavily on training and
skills development. We run an organizing summit before classes
start. We help student organizations to work as a team to produce
action plans for events, which include goals, strategies, and tactics.
We use alumni, parents, and local community members to teach
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