LAST SEMESTER, we decided to read about and reflect upon our University community -- a community that ideally fosters and appreciates contributions from all its members. At the University, students can challenge themselves academically, while engaging in activities to improve our community. Are we improving our community? Some are content with the practices and traditions carved years ago. Others contend our community has stopped growing. Should a community emphasize its students or its traditions? There should be balance, and we suggest that our presence to one another matters more than tradition.
The theologian Henri Nouwen wrote about community in Reaching Out, and suggested healthy communities move from hostility to hospitality. In our reflections, we noticed several instances when the University has engaged hostility -- instances when faculty have stereotyped students or dismissed their contributions and instances when students have tuned out well-meaning faculty. We also observed many instances when hostile actions motivated hospitable responses. About hospitality and teachers, Nouwen wrote: "When we are teachers it is good to realize that students cannot be molded into one special form of the good life ... Our relationship with our students is a relationship in which we offer ourselves to our searching students, to help them develop some clarity in the many impressions of their mind and heart and discover patterns of thoughts and feelings on which they can build their own lives. By a supportive presence we can offer the space with safe boundaries within which our students can give up their defensive stance and bend over their own life experiences, ... to find the beginnings of a plan worth following. As teachers, we have to encourage our students to reflection which leads to vision -- theirs, not ours."
Henri Nouwen knew about intellectual community. He wrote 35 books and was a professor at Harvard University. In his 50s, Nouwen left Harvard and spent his last dozen years working as a caregiver to individuals with physical and mental disabilities in a L'Arche community in Canada. During this time, Nouwen came to understand that community had more to do with presence than intelligence. Nouwen's last book, Adam, recounts his experiences caring for a man, Adam, who could not walk, speak or dress himself. In this relationship between two individuals, Nouwen learned that community is about presence -- being attentive and available.
When professors are attentive, we notice people like Ed Festa and Winston Gwathmay ("Fantastic Coaches," The Cavalier Daily, Jan. 20). Ed and Winston are fraternity brothers who contribute by coaching youth soccer. Our community members who should be recognized are those who consistently contribute and whose satisfaction comes from their community's growth and knowing they had a part in it.
To bridge the gap between faculty and students, Nouwen wrote that space is key. Creating the space for students and teachers to talk to one another without misconceptions encourages change. Students can look to teachers as strangers with friendly intentions and create a correspondence that is sometimes missing. Nouwen wrote: "To convert hostility into hospitality requires a friendly space where we can reach out to our fellow people and invite them into a new relationship ... You cannot force a plant to grow but you can take away weeds and stones which prevent its development."
The relationship between student and teacher is a two-way street. Remembering students' names, complimenting students' work, or taking an interest in students' extra-curricular activities can have tremendous effects. If faculty recognize this pathway to community, we will move toward hospitality. With teachers "reaching out" students will reciprocate. Although not all students need professors to reach out, many students need their support. Professors can identify these students and help them on their way.
If we are to develop a healthy community, then we must recognize that all our members, from University President John T. Casteen III to faculty and students to the hard working individuals who clean University buildings are valuable resources.
Spending time with students can enhance research. We limit our community if we believe time spent with students is time sacrificed from other professorial activities. Working effectively with students will improve research, provide new ideas and create a healthier community.
The vision we offer for our University community grows with its students and professors. Students and faculty create the core of this community and the students who graduate in the spring are different from the students arriving in the fall. The faculty will guide their students on the right paths; our community will improve and respectful hospitality and cooperation between student and teacher will become a norm. We will help each other before letting go, and our community will find that our obligation is to our brothers and sisters rather than tradition.
Creating a more vibrant community may entail dropping our agendas and being present to one another. We should create an open space where we can challenge each other and contribute through intellectual, social, cultural and athletic pursuits. The University should be a hospitable place where we share endeavors and appreciate all our contributions.
(Glenn Beamer is an assistant professor of government. Chris Chatham is a fourth-year College student.)
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