Today, the Columbia campus plays host to the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum, a program including Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), and New York state Governor David Paterson. It is hard to fathom how the exciting event can take place free of politics as was billed. That said, we must hope for the best in this regard, lest the message of service become lost in the glare as the nation’s spotlight falls upon Columbia this Sept. 11.
Events of the Day
While this day will be relatively free of campaign warfare, politics is not completely avoidable, and the meaning of the term “service” still remains ambiguous. As citizens of the world—and not just of the U.S. or any nation—students and administrators must work together to engage in dialogue about service and take today’s events into Friday and beyond.
Many of the seats in Roone Arledge Auditorium tonight will go to the families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. We must not forget New York’s first responders, nor those who participated in impromptu acts of service such as donating blood. While few students received tickets to the event, many might find the events outside the auditorium just as engaging. Preceding the forum, a series of events organized by student leaders will highlight the importance of community service and show ways to get involved. The coalition-building on display is admirable, and actions such as a food collection and voter-registration drive will have immediate benefits. However, there are always more steps students, faculty, and administrators can take to further the public good while promoting the growth and sustainability of the University itself.
What speaks less to the day’s calling is the premise that a day of solidarity and service is merited only on Sept. 11, and only when high-profile speakers like presidential candidates McCain and Obama visit the school. While this suggestion may have been unintended, it is nonetheless implied—just as Columbia Community Outreach represents only one day of community service when more work is needed. The notion that one day is a more significant day than any other to commit an act of solidarity should and must be dispelled.
Events for the Future
The University’s ties to service of all kinds is well-documented. A number of Columbia programs work directly or indirectly for the public good, both in the neighborhood and around the world. The work of University figures such School of Engineering and Applied Science Associate Dean Jack McGourty speaks to this capacity for service. McGourty designed the Gateway Lab and is director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Community Engagement, two initiatives that encourage engineers to use their skills in projects around New York.
But Columbia must also look inward to fulfill its pledge to service by seeking more funding for organizations such as Community Impact. While many University programs serve the public good, the President’s Office could work to plan more interdisciplinary, service-oriented work. Comprehensively linking the many levels of the school—the organizing ability of undergraduates, for example, to the research scope of institutes under the School for International and Public Affairs—would take today’s message to new levels. In addition to cocurricular service clubs, the University could initiate new courses that cater to students looking to link their academic subjects—from economics to philosophy—to specific public-service sectors. The University has been a leader in such academic projects, but we must not congratulate ourselves too heartily today because more can still be done.
The campus and its many communities—especially students—can take something from this event beyond one day of solidarity, celebrating service beyond the mire of symbolism and politics. Unless we reject the fallacious premise that it must take the seven-year anniversary of an act of terror to organize and promote good, today’s forum threatens to become nothing more than a sanctimonious infomercial.
