Looking to make a difference, Yalies volunteer

The city of New Haven is a significant factor in the decision to apply to Yale. Every year, numerous prospective students turn Yale down because of uninformed prejudices about the urban community that surrounds the campus.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH During Youth Day, held twice a year, Yale athletes have a chance to interact with New Haven children, forge bonds with the community, and have some fun in the bargain.

But many of the students who ultimately do choose Yale consider the urban setting to be an advantage. The city is ripe with opportunities for community service and volunteer activities. Nearly 40 percent of the student body participates in some sort of volunteer program or organization—whether it's tutoring in a local school, working in a soup kitchen, or joining the Yale chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) or Amnesty International. Service possibilities are practically endless. It is very likely that you will become involved in some sort of volunteer or community-oriented activity during your four years here in New Haven.

To call the campus polarized would be an exaggeration, but it would also be wrong to deny that certain "crowds" do exist, just as they do in any sizable community. Athletic teams, singing groups, and fraternities are just a few of these social circles.

Community service and volunteering, however, defy this kind of grouping. No matter how dedicated one is to volunteer work, it would be impossible to become acquainted with all of the students who participate. It is even difficult to keep track of all of the service groups on campus, let alone the individuals who staff them.

Students' individual motivations are too numerous to list. Some Yalies are driven to volunteer by the shock of seeing urban poverty up close every day, others have done community service since high school and still others enjoy being able to share a particular skill or talent with others.

The one element which unites all of these segments of the volunteering population is a simple desire to help others, a unique trait that has the potential to match a football player with a Glee Club member in the same community outreach program, working together on the same project.

A large number of student service organizations fall under the auspices of Dwight Hall at Yale. Founded in 1886 and located on Old Campus, Dwight Hall is the nation's only independent collegiate volunteer umbrella organization. Since the group is neither financed nor staffed by the University, Dwight Hall is able to voice its own opinion on various town-gown issues without regard to the administration's feelings. They have ranged from expressing support for Yale's striking unions in 1996 to working for the involvement of Yale voices in shaping city funding policy.

More than 60 groups are members of Dwight Hall, and their services generally fall into headings ranging from "Hunger and Homelessness" to "Literacy" to "Youth Mentorship." One of the largest organizations under Dwight Hall's umbrella organization is the Yale Hunger and Homelessness Action Project (YHHAP). Among other things, YHHAP members help staff local soup kitchens, work with adults in a literacy program at the New Haven Homeless Resource Center, and run their own political action group. Every semester, YHHAP organizes an awareness week packed with activities. One of the main activities is a campus-wide fast, during which students donate their dining hall meals for a day in order to raise money for local, national, and international hunger groups.

YHHAP belongs to a class of Dwight Hall programs associated with campus and city-wide activism. Perhaps the most vocal of these organizations are the Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) and The Yale Student Environmental Coalition (YSEC). Non-Dwight Hall groups Students Against Sweatshops (SAS) and Student Alliance To Reform Corporations (STARC), have similar anti-corporate agendas.

Different from the activist branch of Dwight Hall is a group of programs that allow students to interact with children, one of the more popular forms of community service at Yale. The Ulysses S. Grant Foundation brings motivated and talented students to the University. Children are enrolled in English and math classes led by Yale students who often design their own curriculums. The program gives its teachers a chance to form relationships with New Haven youths and its students the possibility to learn from a new mentor and friend.

Another program targeted at helping young children is Tutoring in Elementary Schools (TIES), which is organized through the residential colleges. TIES allows for the involvement of all interested Yale students who might not participate in community service through more conventional Dwight Hall channels.

Organizations such as Yale Students for Reproductive Rights and Yale Student AIDS Educators have a specific focus but can also be found under the Dwight Hall umbrella.

In an effort to forge a stronger bond between the diverse programs offered by Dwight Hall, the Social Justice Network (SJN) was formed in the fall semester of 1996. The SJN is primarily concerned with coordinating and unifying the efforts of some of Yale's ideologically similar organizations. It is also a step toward creating a coherent "service community" on the Yale campus, something which currently exists only in theory.

Each spring, the University holds an event called the President's Community Service Dinner, an evening that brings together several hundred Yale students—just a fraction of those who do volunteer work during the year—to Commons dining hall for a special meal and a keynote speaker. When one considers the sheer number of people who attend this year-end event, it becomes clear how deeply the volunteer spirit pervades the Yale student body.

There is no exclusive club to join, no central leadership to follow, and scores of opportunities are available. The various possibilities that exist to improve New Haven make Yale the perfect place for energetic students who want to make a difference. Exploring these possibilities could lead to some of the most important lessons of your Yale education. Volunteering is everywhere and is one of the most special and memorable parts of the Yale experience.

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