Princeton Review names URI a ‘college with a conscience’
The Princeton Review named the University of Rhode Island the number one party school in the nation in 1993, 1994 and 1995. A decade later that same organization has named the University a “college with a conscience.”
“There’s been a change of culture during the past decade that connects learning in the classroom with the community,” said Merith Weisman-Ross, who heads the Feinstein Center for Service Learning at URI.
URI is featured in The Princeton Review’s Colleges With A Conscience: 81 Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement.
To select colleges and universities for the new book, The Princeton Review partnered with Campus Compact, a national coalition of presidents from more than 950 colleges and universities committed to the civic purposes of higher education. Selection criteria included admissions practices and scholarships that reward community service, support for service-learning programs, student activism, student voice in school governance, and the level of social engagement of the student body.
“While collecting information from other areas of the University, it was exciting for me to discover URI’s depth and commitment to civic engagement and service learning programs,” Weisman-Ross noted.
Since 1995, all 2,000-plus incoming freshmen have been required to participate in a one-credit URI 101 course with a service-learning component called The Feinstein Enriching America Program. The course allows students not only a chance to provide help to the larger community, but also a chance to relate it to their studies, and an opportunity to reflect upon it.
URI works with more than 70 community partners in Rhode Island, providing a range of services to the underprivileged, sick and disabled. For instance, students regularly volunteer, serve food, and visit with clients of St. Patrick’s Meal Kitchen.
URI offers 48 classes in 17 programs that incorporate service learning. Local schools receive a windfall of URI services. For example, URI’s Mentor-Tutor Internship began with a handful of students seven years ago. This year, 250 mentor/tutors from all disciplines became “wise friends” to disengaged K-12 students in 27 schools from Westerly through Providence.
Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences (SMILE), a pre-college science and math enrichment program for minority and economically disadvantaged students, is a partnership between URI and school districts. With 60 URI students and 20 URI faculty per year members, the program serves 240 elementary, middle and high school students and 22 teachers in 12 schools throughout the state.
URI’s College of Human Science and Services takes outreach seriously. With the help of the South County Habitat for Humanity chapter, the college’s students, faculty, and staff took the lead raising funds and providing the person-power to build a home in Westerly, which is now occupied by a family with four children.
While some projects are college driven, others are student driven. For example, URI students in Raise Your Voice, a national civic engagement campaign, funded in part by a Pew Charitable Trust grant, created an exhibit called “Boxes & Walls—The Oppression Experiment” in 2004 and 2005 which attracted hundreds of students.
“URI is a small universe of service-related programs and offerings both on and off the campus. Any student looking for a college who is interested in learning and service would feel right at home here,” says Weisman-Ross.
By Jan Wenzel
