Becoming a Public Citizen: Connecting Community Service and Public Leadership

Course Description
In this seminar, we will explore the links between community service and public leadership, which we define as making a difference in one's community, state, and nation through government and public policymaking. Historically, community service has been the means by which women left the private realm and entered the public world. We will ask whether that connection still exists and how it can be strengthened. Students will participate in a service experience in the community and explore public policymaking and women's leadership in the classroom. Through a research paper and the development of a public advocacy campaign, students will apply academic skills and community experience to the world of public policymaking.

We will begin the course by looking at notions of participatory democracy. What does it mean to be a citizen in the American Polity? What are the expectations of democracy? How have these concepts been challenged by marginalized populations? We will then look at service as a technique for educating young people for citizenship. What are the pedagogical expectations of service? What are the challenges to the concept of service?

Our focus will then shift to the role that service and voluntarism has played in women's history. Denied formal access to the public sphere, how did women exercise authority and power? How did women's service work prompt women's access to public life and how does that reflect in contemporary politics?

We will then turn to ways that students can use their service experience to engage in mainstream political activity by examining the skills necessary for political participation. Finally, we will consider political interest and motivation among the "twenty-something" generation. Studies show that young people have less interest in politics then ever before. Why? How can young people be motivated and galvanized to make a difference?

This course has five objectives:

1)to make a connection between academic and extra-curricular interests and the public arena;
2)to understand the theoretical expectations of democratic citizenship and challenge those concepts;
3)to carefully consider the dynamics of service learning and its consequences;
4)to discover the ways that service has moved women into the public arena;
5)to explore the various roles one can play in the political process and to expand
opportunities for connecting to that process.

Course Requirements
This will be an intense and highly participatory class that will require everyone's involvement. Students will be expected to read each week's selections completely and critically and to be active participants in class discussions.

Community Service
This course has a community service requirement. You will volunteer 4 hours per week for 10 weeks in a community service placement in an issue area of interest to you. The placements will be organized by the CASE program. You will receive one additional credit, but you must register for both this class (790:440:03) and for the community service placement (790:400) and attend all scheduled trainings conducted by the CASE program.

Community service credit will be graded separately from classroom activities. You will be expected to keep a simple log of your activities during your volunteer hours and submit the log to the instructors on December 2nd. Community service hours must be completed by November 25.

Paper
One major paper is required for this class. Students will select a public policy question of concern to them and related to their community service placement. Each student will identify and interview at least two leaders who share an interest in the policy question. One of the leaders must hold a formal leadership position and one must be a community advocate.

The paper should describe the policy question and identify the key advocacy organizations, elected officials, bureaucracies, and boards or commissions which address the issue. The paper should present the varying approaches to addressing the issue. However, in the end the author should take a stand on the issue and advocate for a preferred approach to solving the problem, whether that be through improved implementation of current policies, support for proposed legislation, or a different policy approach. The author's proposed solution will then be the basis of her/his action plan.

To facilitate the writing and research process, the papers will be graded in a 'rolling fashion,' with bibliographies, interview questions, and a rough draft due during the semester. By October 7th, students will submit in writing their paper topics and arrange a meeting with Ms. Walker to discuss the topic and their preliminary ideas. No later than October 21 at, students will submit a bibliography. No later than October 28th, students will submit the names of the two people they wish to interview and a list of interview questions; these must be approved before interviewing can proceed. A rough draft of the paper is due November 18th.

To provide students with more feedback on their papers, as well as provide experience in constructive feedback, students will participate in a group review process. Students will be assigned to groups of three and rough drafts will be exchanged among group members. Reviewers have one week to read the paper and make comments. Reviewers will be provided with a series of questions which will guide their feedback. One copy of the review will be given to the paper writer and a copy should be submitted to the instructors.

All component parts must be submitted on time; lateness will affect the grade. The papers are due December 9th. There are no exceptions to this deadline, for every day the paper is late, the grade will be reduced by one letter.

Action Plan
In order to explore how to relate academic study and research with political practice, students will also develop an action plan for an advocacy campaign around the issue each has researched. Each student will present her/his action plan in class during the last two weeks of class. We will discuss these action plans in more detail later in the semester.

Readings
Readings are available for purchase from Joanne on the second floor of the Sagletan Institute of Politics.

Instructors' Expectations
1 . Utilize the assigned readings, lectures, and discussions for the research papers, action plans, and community service experiences.
2. Bring the community service experiences into the classroom as a basis for questions and discussion.
3. Submit all written assignments on time, typed, and proofread. The instructors will expect students' writing to conform to the rules of grammar, punctuation, and spelling of standard written English.

Breakdown of Seminar Grade
15% Attendance and Participation
15% Bibliography, Interview Questions, & Rough Draft
5% Reviews
40% Paper
25% Action Plan

Dates to Remember
September 9: Course overview, discussion of community service placements, and
Introduction of basic concepts
September 14: CASE Orientation (mandatory)
October 7: Paper Topic Due
October 2l: Bibliography Due October 28
November 18: Interview Names and Questions Due
November 25: Rough Draft Due (3 copies)
November 25: Reviews Due
December 2: Community Service Hours Completed
December 9: Placement Logs Due. Paper Due/Action Plan Presentations
December 18: Action Plan Presentations

Class Schedule
September 15: A Basis for Discussion

Harry C. Boyle and Kathryn Stoff Hogg, Doing Politics: An Owners Manual for Public L&, Minnesota: Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, 1992.

Sara M. Evans, "Women's History and Political Theory: Toward a Feminist Approach to Public Life," in Nancy A. Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock (ads.). Visible Women, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993. pp. 119-140.

Oliver Sacks, 'The Revolution of the Deaf,' in Benjamin R. Barber and Richard M. Battistoni (ads.). Education for Democracy, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1993.

September 23: Citizens, Community, Democracy

John Dewey, 'Search for the Great Community,' excerpted in Benjamin R. Barber and Richard M. Battlstoni (ads.), Education tbr Democracy, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1993.

Thomas Jefferson, 'Letter to Samuel Kerchoval," in Benjamin R. Barber and Richard M. Battistoni (ads.). Education for Democracy. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1993.

Alexis do Tocqueville,"That the Americans Combat the Effacts of Individualism by Free institutions," and "Of the Use which the Americans Make of Public Associations in Civil Life," In Richard D. Heffner (ad.) Democracy in America, New York: Penguin Group, 1956.

September 30: Citizens, Community, Democracy

Martin Luther King, Jr.. 'Give Us the Ballot We Will Transform the South,' in James M. Washington (ed-) A Testament Of Hope, San Francisco: Harper, 1986.

Carol Pateman, "Ferninism and Democracy,- in Benjamin, R Barber and Richard M. Battistoni (oda.), Education for Democracy, '- Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. 1993.

Richard Reeves, 'Canandaigua,' American Journey, New York Simon and Schuster, 1982.

Roger M. Smith, "Beyond Tooqueville, Myrdal and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America,- in American Political Science Review. vol. 87, no. 3, September 1993, pp. 549-566.

Camel West, "Introduction," Race Matters, New York – New York; Vintage Books, 1994, Pp. 3-13.


October 7: Community Service: Educating Future Citizens Paper Topics Due

Bryan Barnett and Grace Losso. 'For Self and Others: Some Reflections on the Value of Community Service" Getting the Most from Community, New Jersey: The Civic Education and Community Service Program, 1991, Pp. 19-24.

Brad Belbas, Kathi Gorak. and Rob Shumer, 'Commonly Used Definitions of Service Learning: A Discussion Piece," October. 1993.

William James, "The Moral Equivalent of War," in John J. McDermott (ed.),. New York: Random House, 1967. 660-671.

Matthew Moseley, 'The Youth Service Movement America's Trump Card In Revitalizing Democracy," National Civic Review, Summer/Fall, 1995.

October 14: Library Session Meet In Douglass Library

October 21: Critiques of Service and "Charity" Bibliography Due

Theresa Funiciello, "Filling the Gap: A Charitable Deduction." and "City Silos and the Pop-Tart Connection, "Tyranny of Kindness, Now York– The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1993.

Eric B. Gorham. 'National Service, Political Socialization, and Citizenship," National Service, Citizenship, and Political Education. Albany: State University of Now York Press, 1992, pp. 5-30.

Paul Rogat Loeb, "Tangible Fruits: The Community Service Movement," in Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1994, pp. 231-247.

Carrie Spector, "Empty the Shelters: Anatomy of a Struggle," WhoCares, Winter, 1995, pp. 40-43.

October 28: Woman's Voluntarism and Moral Authority lnterview Names and Questions Due

Catharine Beecher. 'The Peculiar Responsibilities of American Women,' in Nancy F. Cott (ad.) Roots of Bitterness, New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1972.
Karen J. Blair, 'Sorois and the New England Woman's Club" The Clubwoman as a Feminist, New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers. Inc., 1980.

Paula Giddings. "TO Be a Woman, Sublime: The Ideas of to National Black Women's Club Movement (to 1917)." When and Where I Enter. The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America. New York: William Marrow and Company, 1984, pp. 95-118.

Barbara Welter, "The Cult of True Womanhood, 1820-186O." American Quarterly 18:151-74.

November 4: From Service to Reform: Women Entering the Public Sphere

Paula Baker, 'The Domestication of Politics Women and American Political Society, 1780-1920," American Historical Review 89 (1984) p. 820-647.

Mary Pardo, "Mexican American Women Grassroots Community Activists: 'Mothers of East Los Angeles," Frontiers, vol. xi, no. 1, 1990, pp. 1-7.

Ann Firor Scott. 'Women's Voluntary Associations: From Charity to Reform " in Kathleen D. McCarthy (ad.) Lady Bountiful Revisited, Now Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990.

November 11: Women In Contemporary Politics

Susan J. Carroll, 'Me Politics of Difference: Woman Public Officials as Agents of Change," Stanford Law& Policy Review, 5 (Spring. 1994), pp. 11 -20.

Tamara Jones, 'A Candidate's Uneasy Station in Life,' The Washington Post.

Celinda C. Lake and Vincent J. Bregilo, "Different Voices, Different Views: The Politics of Gender," The American Woman 1992-1993, Now York: W.W. Norton, 1992, pp. 178-201.

Joseph P. Shapiro, 'The Mothers of Invention," U.S. News, January 10, 1994.

November I8: Political Advocacy

Rough Drafts Due
Guest Speaker Christy Davis, state director, U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg
Nancy Amidei. So You Want to Make a Difference: Advocacy is the Key, Washington DC: OMB Watch, no date.
Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, Steve Max, "Direct Action Organizing," in Organizing for Social Change, Washington: Seven Locks Press, 1991, pp. 2-48.

November 25: A Life in Politics
Reviews Due
Community Service Hours Completed
Madeleine Kunin, Living a Political Life, Now York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994, Chapters 2, 3. 4, 7, and 11
December 2: Apathy and Activism in the 20-Something Generation Placement Logs Due
Susan B. Glasser, "Do 20somethings Hate Politics?" WhoCares, Fall, 1994, pp. 20-28.
Harwood Group. College Students Talk Politics, Ohio: Kettering Foundation, pp. 1-30.
Paul Rogat Loeb," The World of Activists: Communities of Concern" in Generation at the Crossroads: Apathy and Action on the American Campus, New Brunswick: Rutger's University Press, 1994, pp, 207-230.
December 9: Oral Presentation Of Action Plans Papers Due
December 18: Final Exam period/ Oral presentation of Action Plans
class meets 8:00 am to 11:00 am.