The Issue: Leaders propose fund to finance service trips
What we think: Money would help emphasize formation
With almost 600 students returning from service trip placements that span the Western Hemisphere, it is hard to deny that Boston College has a culture of service. Issues of ethics, social justice, and solidarity are part of the common parlance on campus, and organizations like the Appalachia Volunteers and Arrupe International Program enjoy wide name recognition and large numbers of participants.
The success of these programs, as told through statistics, is staggering. According to a report from last year, 95 percent of students who participated in immersion trips found the experience to be important to their formation.
Well attuned to this type of feedback, administrators have seized on the successes of these programs to help differentiate BC from comparable universities. At BC, formation has become the thing - enough to make "point No. 2" of the Master Plan's seven points - and this emphasis is entirely warranted. In his message introducing the Master Plan, University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. called for a plan that "builds on BC's nationally recognized strength" in formation. But are we doing enough to foster the service programs that are so central to that goal?
At BC, the spirit of support for service trips is overwhelming. Verbally, emphasis is placed on encouraging service activity from the moment students first enter Devlin Hall as prospective Eagles to their final walk down Linden Lane. Yet the financial support available to these trips has not kept pace with their growing importance or their burgeoning numbers of participants. In fact, many alumni donations to these programs merely decrease the school's share of funding rather than augment the funding levels overall.
While BC's service programs and their resources have grown immensely in the past decade, students are still often left begging at point-drive tables. By offering a way to more adequately finance service trips, BC's leaders could help open up the programs to all interested students and ensure their focus on the issues that count.
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