10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS COMMUNITY SERVICE NOVEMBER 14, 2025 Michigan Community Scholars Program: Making positive impacts on U-M, homeless community November is a month when we try to highlight the issues and challenges facing the homeless community of Washtenaw County. November 16-22 is Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. I would like to present the positive impacts which the University of Michigan Community Scholars Program has had in the homeless community and the University of Michigan Campus. The Michigan Community Scholars Program is a social justice-oriented residential learning community made up of undergraduate students, faculty and staff from varied backgrounds and identities. The community helps students navigate their transition to college, develops their intercultural competence, supports their wellbeing, connects them with meaningful community engagement opportunities and equips them for lives of service to the common good in a diverse democracy. (See lsa/umich.edu/mcsp) “The Michigan Community Scholars Program opened its doors to students in fall 1999 under the sponsorship of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts and University Housing. LSA Interim Dean Patricia Gurin met with students during the prior winter semester and responded to requests that a living-learning program be established with an emphasis on community. David Schoem, Faculty Director, and Penny A. Pasque, Program Director, were the founding directors of MCSP, together with Rosa Maria Cabello, Administrative Assistant.” (See lsa.umich.edu/mcsp/about-us/ mission-history-goals-highlights) The program has been recognized by the U-M Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Service Learning as the Outstanding Program of the Year. Nationally, MCSP and its faculty and WILL SHAKESPEARE Groundcover vendor No. 258 students have been recognized by CNN, Newsweek and in many scholarly and public newspapers. MCSP has been highlighted at numerous academic conferences with presentations by faculty, staff and students alike. MCSP faculty, staff, students, community partners and national colleagues participated together in authoring the book, “Engaging the Whole of Service-Learning, Diversity, and Learning Communities,” edited by Joseph Galura, Penny A. Pasque, David Schoem, and Jeffrey Howard, published by OCSL Press. Why U-M students demanded MCSP On the steps of the Michigan Union, Democratic Presidential Candidate John F. Kennedy announced that if elected in the 1960 election, he would establish a national peace corps program. American college graduates would be selected to live in poor communities around the world, serve the people, learn about these communities, and bring home the knowledge gained in order to enrich American society and public policy. Kennedy’s successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, spoke at the University of Michigan’s 1964 Michigan Community Scholars volunteering at D-Town Farm. commencement on a topic described as “The Society Programs” or “The War on Poverty.” Johnson also created VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America). A U-M social work professor, who was the founding director of the Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Service Learning, worked in the Clinton Administration of the 1990s to reorganize the concepts of VISTA. Some of the program fragments included modern programs such as Americorps and Americare. U-M’s official version of the MCSP’s founding history is that the students wanted it. However, the origin story likely points to that want stemming from the Black Action Movement. Protests organized by BAM occurred in 1970, 1975 and 1987. The campus climate in the 1980s and 1990s was not ideal or comforting for everyone. Many students of color did not feel a sense of belonging, welcoming, and community after they arrived on campus. Former College of Engineering Dean, Provost, and University President, Dr. James Duderstadt, commissioned a study in 1987. The commission's report came out in 1988 with the title “The Michigan Mandate for a Multicultural University: Achieving Excellence with Diversity.” The Michigan Mandate report has served as a “lighthouse” which has helped the campus and the community heal and navigate the cross-currents of divisive issues such as racism, pluralism, difference and conflict. - MCSP impacts on U-M campus Within the past ten or more years, I MCSP students attended Groundcover's 15th anniversary party on September 4, 2025. have spoken to professionals who were students on U-M campus in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of them are now faculty members and staff of the university. Some of them are professionals in Washtenaw County and Metro Detroit. There is a near consensus that the campus climate has dramatically improved. During the 2019 dedication of the William Monroe Trotter Multicultural Center on State Street, most of the students, faculty members and alumni said that change had come to the U-M campus and most students do feel welcomed. They feel a sense of belonging and a sense of community. MCSP, Program on Intergroup Relations and Conflict, and the establishment of centers such as Ella Baker/ Mendels Center have gone a long way to inculcating the student body with the concept that difference is good, that “different is beautiful.” In the early 21st century, the U-M Law School successfully made a case for diversity by the assemblage of a “critical mass” of intelligent students who bring to their classroom diverse perspectives, outlooks and innovative thinking which would enrich the law school community. It is against these backgrounds that the MCSP shines. The students communicate with each other with respect, cooperation and an attitude of empathy. There seems to be no tension in their voices and the way they gravitate to one another. This is tantamount to the ideas of pluralism and democracy. Community engagement is the pillar and fulcrum of MCSP connections to Washtenaw and Wayne County. When asked about his experiences with MCSP, Micah Johnson stated, "Outside of service, MCSP has proven to be one of the most close-knit communities on U-M's campus and it is consistently growing; it is known for the many friend groups it makes from people doing service together, taking classes together, and living together." Since 2017, MCSP Coordinator William Alt has arranged for his students to visit Mercy House and volunteer. The student volunteers talked with see MCSP page 14
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