LGR is COOL

I attended the COOL Idealist Conference this past weekend at the University of California, Berkeley. (COOL, the Campus Opportunity Organizing League, merged with Idealist, the non-profit careers website, in 2004.) LGR presented a workshop entitled “Why Jane and Johnny Aren’t Going to College: Inequalities in Access to Higher Education” at the conference. Lest it not be said, the conference was very cool.

The mantra of the conference is: “Take what you learn and bring it back to your campus.” You guys are like my campus, so here’s what I learned from a couple of the workshops:

• • “Opportunities Abound: Setting a Place for Everyone at the Higher Education Table” – Campus visits by under-resourced high school students to elite campuses need to well-planned in order to be successful at improving higher education access rather than discouraging the students involved. At Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, 43 Macalester students, 5 university offices, and a not-for-profit called Admission Possible have worked together to make it possible for 550 students from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to visit Macalaster and learn about higher education options.
  • “Students as Colleagues: How Students are Leading Service-Learning Initiatives and Transforming Education” – Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. At many campuses, students are organizing to expand credit-bearing service-learning opportunities for undergraduate students. The presenters were a staff member from Campus Compact and a Princeton undergrad studying service-learning in university curricula.

  The COOL Idealist Conference is an amazing place to get motivated about social justice. It’s a great conference, and if you can arrange to go in the future, then go.