Goucher's first annual City Forum, a three-day, campus-wide, student-organized examination of Baltimore, successfully drew attention to the issues that our city currently faces. Based on the events attended by this reporter the weekend of April 13 to 15, it appears that students were able to interact with some of Baltimore city's most passionate activists and to discuss their own actions with their peers. The forum was just one example of the growth of campus activism this year.
Oliver Schwab '07 led a group of about fifteen students through the planning process. Beginning with discussions in the Peace Studies department last year and continuing in the fall, Schwab and Michelle Kurta '08 spearheaded the group of students, each of whom focused on a topic relevant in Baltimore today-education, poverty, homelessness, immigration, environmental health, and justice in the state of Maryland. Kurta explained that City Forum was born out of "a desire to engage more with the city, [although] not in a scholarly way."
Schwab became involved in organizing the forum because he "wanted to provide a space for conversation, to bring Baltimore community leadership onto campus and provide the space for the students to get to know these individuals so that they can organize with them. They can be a part of the conversation."
Josh Cohen '07, President of the Goucher chapter of Amnesty International, explained that the City Forum planners brought many guests to campus because "listening is an essential precursor to doing. The posters say 'what's really going on in Baltimore? Do something.' It's not just 'do something,' it's about how you go about doing," he said. This emphasis on listening was evident as 12 of the 16 planned events featured speakers, contributors and panelists from outside the Goucher community.
Schwab cites Loyola College of Maryland's "Year of the City," an entire academic season devoted to learning more about Baltimore, as an impetus to create the City Forum. "Goucher needs to be part of that conversation," Schwab said. "In the past year, I've watched Goucher students go from being on the fringe to being much more engaged. It's important that Goucher students are involved because we have a history of activism and with the city of Baltimore. Unfortunately, I think we abandoned the city." Schwab feels that the school lost most of its connections to the city beginning in the 1930s, when Goucher began moving from the Guilford community downtown to the present Towson campus.
On a more positive note, however, he feels that this attitude can change easily. "Students hold a very important role in creating change," Schwab said. "We aren't going to be able to understand all of the needs of the community. It's very easy to theorize and say [for example] that it's a racial problem. But what does that mean? Eventually it gets down to: are you in the presence of fear or are you looking to create a human connection?"
Derek Ford '07 helped organize City Forum while serving as President of the Goucher Student Labor Action Committee (GSLAC). "It was an effort to bring Baltimore to Goucher so that in turn, we could put Goucher in Baltimore," he said. "If you look at the history of social justice struggles, students have always played an integral role, particularly with worker's movements. A lot of times we focus too much on our privilege, but if you sort of let go and start working with unions, you realize there's no difference [between workers and students]."
The spirit of activism that Ford, Schwab and the other organizers embody can be seen as a growing trend on campus this year. City Forum was the product of students' work only. This is relevant because, according to Schwab, "it shows student leadership. This has been one place where student leadership has come to fruition. Faculty were not involved at any step of the way, and that's something that I think is very important."
Clubs like GSLAC, Amnesty International, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) all advocate social change through the actions of students.
Also popular are service clubs like Community Auxiliary for Service (CAUSE) and the Old Goucher Neighborhood Collaborative Club (OGNCC), both of which connect students with volunteer opportunities in the greater Baltimore area. According to Sally Gordon '09, an officer in both CAUSE and OGNCC, there are about 100 students on each club's email list.
Three new activism groups formed on campus this year: the Goucher Climate Action Group (GCAG), Goucher Suicide Awareness & Prevention (GSAP), and a branch of the mentoring organization Big Brothers, Big Sisters. In addition to these clubs, many students participate in Dallas Nicholas Elementary School's "Read A Story, Write A Story" program and/or volunteer in various classrooms at Yorkwood Elementary. Instead of or as well as participating in these weekly activities, ten students spent their entire spring vacation volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Goldsboro, North Carolina while another ten reconstructed homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina with Rebuild Together New Orleans.
Political activism is another arena in which Goucher students participate, as demonstrated by the success of the College Democrats, College Republicans, and Goucher Libertarians. 15 members of the International Scholars Program protested the "surge" of troops in Iraq by attending a rally in Washington D.C. on January 27 and many Goucher community members attended the March on the Pentagon on March 17.
City Forum planner Andrew Burt '08 encourages activism in any of its forms. He would like to rejuvenate student interest in political and social activism and believes that events like City Forum could be stepping-stones to such a shift. "Students were once a force to be reckoned with on the national scene," he said. "That is certainly lacking these days. Students, as a class within society, are not an active force. That's something that I'd like to see take shape again."
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