For a generation of college students whose formative years were influenced by tragic national and international events, volunteerism has been on the rise, according to a recent study.
A report released early last week by the Corporation for National and Community Service says that 3.3 million American college students reported that they were committed to some sort of volunteering and community service in the year 2005.
This figure represented a 30 percent increase from the year 2002, when 2.7 million students reported volunteering.
This rise has come in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and more recently Hurricane Katrina.
"Remember that hurricane Katrina occurred in 2005, and that definitely contributed to the increase in voluntarism," Nancy Wilson, Director and Associate Dean at the Tisch College for Citizenship and Public Service, said. "We only hope this sense of duty will continue."
At Tufts, which has always been known for its high level of student volunteerism, the impacts of this finding are unclear.
"Tufts is the kind of school that attracts students that volunteer," sophomore Sarah Hellerstein, who tutors through the Leonard Carmichael Society, said. "I think kids here are, and always have been, really into giving back," she said.
Corey Briskin, a freshman senator in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, agreed. "I always thought I'd want to continue to volunteer in college," he said.
Empirically, volunteerism trends have differed depending on the group. Wilson said she has seen an increase in the number of applications for the Tisch Scholars active citizenship program, from about 60 most years to 90 this year.
Also, the number of participants in the Tisch College's Community Health Program has doubled, she said.
Still, the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS), Tufts' umbrella organization for community service programs, has not experienced any significant membership increases over the past few years, according to Garon Nigon, one of the group's co-presidents.
"I think, in terms of LCS, that the level of voluntarism hasn't really changed - it's always been really big," he said.
While "some programs have been dropped and others have been added or changed," he stressed a constant energy surrounding volunteering.
According to the LCS website, for example, the group currently has over 1,500 members involved in 36 programs.
This figure underscores the plethora of service opportunities available to Tufts students.
"Speaking as an overcommitted freshman, there are a lot of opportunities," Sabina Carlson, a freshman involved with Pangea, a global activism group on campus, said.
The Oxfam Cafe, an on-campus, non-profit restaurant, is run entirely by student volunteers, and as the figures in the report would suggest, membership has grown this year.
"We find that freshmen do make up a large portion of our volunteers," senior Neil Sood, who is in charge of organizing volunteers for the caf?©, said. "However, this year, there were more freshmen than usual."
Oxfam currently has about 55 volunteers. The increase, though, came as part of an active effort to boost the number of volunteers.
Ultimately, the source of volunteerism at Tufts may remain unclear, but Wilson offered some alternatives to disaster-prompted service.
Many students entering college have volunteered in high school, either to supplement their college resumes or to fulfill requirements.
"Say eighty percent of kids in a high school class, in which volunteering has been required, actually volunteer," Wilson said. "Even if just half of those kids-forty percent-continue to volunteer in college, we're happy."
Wilson also made it clear that Tufts has a more holistic view about service that goes beyond volunteering for the sake of volunteering.
"Tisch thinks being politically and socially responsible is just as important as volunteering," she said.
"We define civic engagement much more broadly. It's not just about volunteering."
