Time To Serve

Serving as head of a campus organization for one year taught me something: there is not enough public service at Harvard. That sounds surprising, given the size and professional quality of the programs run by Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), the Housing and Neighborhood Development Program (HAND) and the First-year Urban Program (FUP). Indeed, PBHA is nationally acclaimed as a model university public service organization.

But the spirit of service only shapes the lives of some undergraduates. For although PBHA, HAND, and FUP provide serious service opportunities for those who seek them out, they do not and cannot touch everyone. Unless students choose public service as one of their primary activities, they may not engage in service at all. HAND does organize a few "one-shots"-one-day service projects that attract a less regular group-but these are few and far between.

That something more is needed is, I hope, obvious. Mother Harvard should give all her young a sense of ethical imperative to use their talents to help others. The university is an academic institution, but it also aims to produce good citizens. We all need to develop the mindset of the sophomore who coordinated Hillel's hunger drive on Yom Kippur this past fall. He noted two basic facts: many people would fast on that day, and a lot of hungry people could use the money spent on that uneaten food. Once that kind of thinking took place, the rest was logistics, and 543 people signed up to raise over 1,700 dollars. Every student should leave Cambridge knowing how to ask the question, "How can I use my intellect and my energy to make a difference?"

One important way of increasing public service on Harvard's campus is to link it to interethnic events. This would not only increase public service at Harvard, but would also make cultural exchange more effective. Many events that aim to foster greater understanding only heighten differences between groups. Students often come as representatives of their perspectives, acting as cultural docents for their peers in an impersonal exchange.

The recent Interethnic Public Service Day is an example of what should be. About 40 students gathered on a Sunday afternoon to paint a senior center and help distribute food to the hungry. But the public service was just a means towards a deeper end. Students confronted each other personally, not institutionally. And at the end of the day, a lot of needy people were better off. The key: interethnic events should be less gastronomic and more philanthropic.

Religious groups need to play a role as well. As the bearers of traditions of social justice, religious students are key to establishing an ethic of service on campus. Most religious groups already have social action programs; it's time to get even more students involved, with the Interfaith Forum and Memorial Church leading the way. For many, the chance to do service in a religious context is a powerful draw and religion is particularly effective at casting activities in the light of moral imperative. If we are to be a civic-minded community, public service needs to be more than a fun activity. It needs to be our ethical calling.

With that in mind, President Rudenstine and Dean Lewis should explore the possibility of a public service requirement for students. This university is all about requirements; if we make students take the QRR until they get it right, we should ask them to give a few hours for their community. Students might simply be required to participate in any number of accredited service programs run by students. This would encourage student groups to create innovative opportunities for students to fulfill their requirements. Or alternatively, service-learning courses could be folded into the curriculum. (My vote would be for Moral Reasoning 101r: "Widely Applied Ethics.") Whatever the method, the university should demonstrate its commitment to civic involvement.

Harvard must imbue its students with a spirit of service. The world has innumerable problems and some of the best and brightest are watching from the sidelines. The time to serve is now.

Ethan M. Tucker's column appears on alternate Thursdays.