Lack of studewnt involvement at SLCC 1.26.09

The rates of student participation with SLCC’s Thayne Center for Service and Learning are continually increasing. Records show in 2005, there were 1,402 student volunteers. Following, in 2006, the number climbed to 2,400. The pattern carried to 2007, landing at 3,316 student volunteers, and in 2008, the number rose to 4,431.

4,000 seems quite the striking number. It’s when 4,000 is compared directly to the entire student body of 60,000 that the small fraction of students at SLCC who are involved with more than just their classes is put pathetically into perspective.

“College is not only a place of learning, but it’s widely supposed to be a place of social networking, a place to branch out and meet new people frequently,” says Spencer Blake, a popular Sociology professor at Salt Lake Community College. Blake Continues, “The problem here at SLCC is that everyone treats it like a truck stop restroom- you come and go and try not to touch anything in between.”

“I think most students like to hide under the radar,” says Brian Moore, a current student at SLCC when asked about student involvement. Moore goes on to add that he knows a member of the volleyball team, and tries to support him as much as possible, but aside from that, his life is already too hectic for much morre participation than that. The idea of joining a club on campus is completely out of the question for him when he has classes and is working full time.

Lack of extra involvement from students at SLCC is a common happenstance for community colleges. Commuter instistutions like SLCC cater to single parents trying to further their education and younger students using this less expensive college as a stepping stone toward a more “prestigious” four year institution. The average SLCC student has a full time job and/or a family to tend to. As a result, they’re not as emotionally devoted to their life at school as a university student.

Where a community college student already has a full plate with work and family, a university student’s experience is entirely separate. The full time obligations of a university student living on campus with many others just like them is to focus on school, thus making school related involvement percentages much higher.

“The university community is completely separate. Everything’s on campus. Students have their own stores right there on campus, so even grocery shopping feels school related. Living in the student dorms at the U is like one big slumber party,” says Megan Miller, a student attending the University of Utah for her second semester. Everything about life on campus for Miller is tied to school. “We live here- our school is our community,” Miller adds, “that makes even clubs and sporting events feel like attending family gatherings.”

There are undeniably many differences between universities and community colleges. It’s these differences that make the U feel like family and home for Megan Miller and SLCC just another daily task for Brian Moore to get over with before heading to his full time job and other obligations. The truth is simply that SLCC students and other community college students like them rarely have the time of day or energy left over to do more at school than attend their main classes.

“If students can, I very much encourage them to belong to clubs, etc., on campus,” says Dwight Adams, a Sociology/Psychology professor at both SLCC and the U. Adams also wanted to tell SLCC students, “I believe that [extra involvement] adds to their educational opportunities and definitely adds to great memories,”