The soup kitchen analogy

A guest speaker addressing a meeting of university officials made me rethink my role to the community as a college student.

On his visit to Fresno State Oct. 6, Vice President of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities George Mehaffy’s speech challenged me and others in the audience to find permanent solutions to problems affecting the community.

Speaking after listening to several university and community members give presentations about academic and community projects they’re involved in, Mehaffy challenged the officials to come up with ways of teaching students to be better citizens to help solve problems affecting the community before they reach crisis level.

Mehaffy said most university students graduate without knowing their responsibilities as citizens of this country.

He gave examples of low voter turnout in elections as an indicator that students were not taking their civil roles seriously.

Mehaffy said public universities should do more to solve community problems. He said universities such as Fresno State should research on finding permanent solutions to problems like poverty instead of using short-term solutions such as soup kitchens.

“We need to ask ourselves, ‘why do we have soup kitchens?’” Mehaffy asked.

It had never occurred to me before, well, not in such an obvious and important way, that programs helping the poor and the disadvantaged could actually be symptoms of a flaw in our society’s way of dealing with problems.

After the speech, I looked around and saw various forms of soup kitchens around me, such as people who don’t care about the environment and friends who shun civic involvement. I asked myself, what have I done to help solve the problems in my community? Nothing significant came to mind. Despite my financial limitation as a student, I couldn’t help but feel very selfish.

I decided to look around Fresno State to see what other students were doing and I felt redeemed when I saw students and student groups working to build a better community. One such group is the Fresno State Recycling Club.

The group is on a mission to clean up the campus environment by recycling cans and plastic bottles. Last year alone, they recycled more than 1,500 pounds of materials according to an article that appeared in The Collegian Sept. 26.

It is not easy to duplicate what the Fresno State Recycling Club is doing, but it is important to start thinking about finding lasting solutions for the soup kitchens in our areas.

I know I still need to find mine.

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