Harvard study shows low political activism, high public service by Sara Levin Assistant News Undergraduates around the country overwhelmingly consider the military to be the most trusted public institution in America and support a war in Iraq, according to a new study done by the Harvard Institute of Politics. The study, released on Nov. 22, assessed student attitudes toward political participation and public service, demonstrating that while many students are aware of current events, they refrain from participating in governmental, political or issue-related organizations and rely instead on community service as a vehicle for social change. Many Wesleyan students observe a similar trend despite the University’s strong activist reputation and strong anti-war current. “We have a pretty politically involved campus which means that a lot of students voice their opinions and come out for rallies and marches, but the students who actually organize them belong to a small, extremely involved group,” said Kevin Baker, president of the Wesleyan Democrats. “People who come along for the ride don’t always get around to voting and if students don’t vote, their voice really isn’t heard, no matter how loudly they scream.” According to Baker, even though the Wesleyan Democrats has about 90 names on its email list, only about 5 to 7 students regularly attend meetings, and the group is struggling to generate more interest in the Democratic party. Similarly, few students are involved in the Wesleyan Republicans, which according to last year’s president, Paul Kim ’02, is more symbolic than active. According to the study, only 14 percent of students have participated in a government, political or issues-related organization, and nine percent have volunteered on a political campaign. Sixty-one percent of college students performed community service in the last year and three-quarters of this group volunteer at least once a month. The survey also found that after a spike in the aftermath of September 11, indicators of political engagement and trust in government are receding toward their ’00 levels. The military remains the most trusted public institution—70 percent of those surveyed trust it to do the right thing all or most of the time—and President George W. Bush is a distant second with 58 percent. Only 32 percent of students surveyed were registered to vote and definitely planned to do so in the ’02 midterm election. Doc Kerr ’05 said that he has never voted because his views don’t fit within the American political framework. “College students are rejecting traditional politics and looking for a new way to effect change in the public realm,” said John Della Volpe, president of Boston-based opinion research firm SWR/Della Volpe and the senior advisor on the IOP survey. “They don’t trust government, and they believe political involvement is fraught with barriers. They find community service to be more accessible and more results-oriented. As community servants, they are a force.” Interim Director of the Office of Community Service, Lisa Gates said that students are extremely active in community service, though it is difficult to say how many because the office is so decentralized. “Many students organize their own community service projects with or without our help,” she said. Lan Tieu ’05, organizer of the Ascend Tutoring Program, said that that community service can seem more effective than politics because the effect of teaching children new skills is so immediate. “When you work with kids, you can see improvements each day, and it’s very gratifying. I’m not very involved in politics, but it’s harder because you have to be very dedicated to your issues and make your voice heard,” she said. Tieu said that she used to be involved in Amnesty International for which she wrote a letter to free a Tibetan prisoner, but never found out whether the prisoner was freed and felt that her letter probably didn’t make much of a difference. The Ascend Tutoring Program currently has about 40 regular student tutors. It is one of the many tutoring opportunities offered by the OCS. Interim Coordinator of the OCS Bobbi Berenbaum has been working at the office since September and said she is still uncovering new projects because students are so involved. The OCS has over fifty contacts for community service opportunities in the immediate Middletown area. They plan on trying to compile numbers of how many students are involved next spring according to Gates. Student activist Rachel Wallis ’03 said that the line between activism and community service is less distinct than many people think. “Its certainly true that many people find the experience of sitting through meetings somewhat unappealing. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that everything that gets called ‘community service’ is necessarily apolitical. I would say that [abortion] clinic escorts is probably one of the most popular service organizations on campus, 200 people sign up each semester and we always have more people than we can accommodate,” she said. “Although what escorts do is volunteer work, it comes out of a deep seated political desire to protect women’s right to abortions in this country.” The IOP report concludes that the gap between high levels of community service and low levels of political engagement among students is a cause for concern and a call for solutions. “Our findings suggest that the remedy to this problem may not come in the form of slick packaging or marketing efforts to make students politically aware—they already are. Instead, students are calling for increased access to current leaders,” the report said. The survey is the third in an annual study started in ’00 by the IOP to assess student attitudes about politics. The survey was conducted from Oct. 18 to 27 of this year and is based on 1,200 interviews. It has a +/- 2.8% margin of error. Wallis continued to emphasize the connection between service projects and political action. “There is a saying that gets repeated a lot around here, which is, ‘live the change you wish to see,’” she said. “Service is a way of connecting with our communities and helping combat the effects of injustice, at the same time as we organize on a larger scale to fight the causes of that injustice. I think most activists are involved in community service in one way or another, whether that means labor organizers who also tutor English as a second language, or STARC kids who work with food not bombs. Most of them wouldn’t differentiate between the two.”

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