Friday, February 12, 2010
Building Community on Campus
Katherine brought up a great point during yesterday's discussion of moving beyond the forces that divide us to explore ways we can proactively build a greater sense of community on campus (and as Michael reminded us, with the broader McMinnville Community). Based on the key components of community discussed in the readings, what do you feel we can do to facilitate this process?
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Bruhn mentions the fact that “[m]ost people are connected to numerous networks in different types of personal communities, which, if both virtual and real-life interactions are included, could easily number in the hundreds or more.” (pg. 24). I think it is important to be mindful of the fact that Linfield and McMinnville are composed of countless communities already in existence. The goal is not to create a Linfield community or a McMinnville community from scratch, but to identify commonalities between the smaller communities of Linfield and McMinnville and find ways of making connections across them. Bruhn goes on to explain how many citizens today are members of multiple communities, where “most of the communities are carefully selected, and added and dropped, as they meet the needs of individuals” (pg. 25). We need to focus on building strong connections that extend beyond self-interest and recognize the goals of the community as a whole. As Bruhn talks about this newer trend in multiple communities, individuals are portrayed as fleeting community members, where their association within a community only lasts as long as the community plays into their self-interest. Loewy (1993) explains that, “when a community is no longer a vital part of each person’s interest, solidarity is lost, and community easily falls apart” (p. 16). Keller writes on the fragility of communities; how can we strengthen a community in turmoil?
ReplyDeleteThe key components of community discussed in the Bruhn text and that we identified in class included membership, influence, integration/fulfillment of needs, and shared emotional connection. One thing that I noticed on our first day of class was some of the commonalities among the communities that we each described. Our commonalities were often focused around a central purpose. What does the community seek to achieve? What is the purpose of coming together as a group? I think the most important thing we can do to make connections and build the Linfield/McMinnville community is to identify the needs of the community and brainstorm ways that these needs can be met (see: community needs assessment :) Thursday, 7pm).
More community involvement and service needs to be implemented into course curriculum. I think that educationally applicable community involvement should be a requirement and a priority for all majors as this would provide priceless and relevant real-world experience to students of all disciplines. Linfield academic departments could make a stronger effort to take advantage of already-existing McMinnville institutions and build connections that will be mutually beneficial to the education of students and the well-being of the McMinnville community. I know that the SOAN department has been especially proactive about building these connections but there is always more to be done. I feel like many departments are not taking advantage of what McMinnville has to offer to students. Perhaps our Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Studies departments could take a more active role with Yamhill County Parks & Recreation and the City of McMinnville Sustainability Committee, our language departments, especially the Spanish department, could be beneficial to Habitat for Humanity and the Virginia Garcia Center, Pre-Med students of various majors could gain a lot of valuable work experience at McMinnville health institutions. How about Art, Mass Communication, and Electronic Arts students helping to advertise for local businesses? More collaboration between the Gallery Theater and the Linfield Theater Department? Creative Writing/English students collaborating with newspapers and other media? If service-learning became a higher priority across our disciplines, I think the education of Linfield students could facilitate the creation of a stronger community.