Student voluntarism in transition

Abstract

The university student volunteer as a social change agent is in a period of transition. There is no returning to the idealism and activism of the 1960s if this and future generations of students continue to see self‐preservation and individual advancement as their only viable option here in America. In view of the changing nature of today's students, the conventional definitions of volunteers, such as Shultz's (1972) altruist, average, and pseudo‐volunteer, must be reconsidered. Does the acceptance of minimal pay or demand for academic credit preclude one's being a true altruist? Further, is altruism a necessary or sufficient condition of voluntarism? While we must attempt to answer these questions, the purpose here was to suggest viable first steps in reviving and enhancing student voluntarism. Some of the most salient points are: (1) Student volunteers provide critically needed services to the community, (2) Students are increasingly demanding tangible personal and educational gains for services through voluntarism, (3) Faculty support is vital to student voluntarism and they should be encouraged to actively design their classes to integrate classroom theory and practice through volunteering, and (4) The community agencies served should be active participants in the faculty, student, agency triad, and not merely passive recipients of services. The future of student voluntarism must be viewed in the larger context of changes occurring in the society‐at‐large, such as cynicism, mistrust of authority figures and leaders, and a move away from altruism and toward symbiosis and/or individualism. There is widespread disillusionment with “band‐aid” approaches to solving enormous social problems, i.e., trying to help the few while some of society's most fundamental structures guarantee the perpetuation of poverty, crime, and general anomie. The rekindling of the ideology of cooperative altruism will take ingenuity and tireless effort. Meanwhile, if community psychology and related disciplines are to continue to utilize student volunteers, programs must be oriented toward new trends in student and faculty values and interests, and evolving community needs.