OHIO STATE PRESIDENT: BUILDING COMMUNITY IS KEY TO ENDING SCHOOL VIOLENCE

Metal detectors, searches, surveillance make students feel stressed, not safe, Kirwan says

STONY BROOK, N.Y. - Lack of community - not hate, intolerance or guns - is the root problem schools must address if they are to end school violence, Ohio State University President William E. Kirwan told educators at a speech Tuesday at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

"Students are crying out for community in our schools today," Kirwan said. "Building that community is difficult, time-intensive work in this age of isolation and cynicism. But at Ohio State we have seen that if we build positive, supportive structures for community, our students will join in wholeheartedly."

Kirwan said studies have shown that such control tactics as installing metal detectors and surveillance cameras to deter school violence does not make people feel safe, just stressed.

"Building community within the campus takes a lot of resources, and it's a tough sell at budget time," he said. "If I spend a half-million dollars on surveillance cameras, I can see what I bought in a concrete way. If I spend that money on programs to build community, what do I have to show the school board or board of trustees? Building community is not an outcome - it's a process."

Kirwan used two Ohio State programs - a living-learning center and community redevelopment - to illustrate his point.

Ohio State is home to two of the country's top experts on violence. One of them, Fred Bemak, professor of physical activities and educational services in the College of Education, has organized several successful programs for at-risk youth at several high schools across the country. Last fall, Bemak started working with some of a Columbus inner-city high school's most marginalized, isolated students. He sat down with them in a group just to talk about what's going on in their lives - just to give them a safe and supportive place to hang out. "Today, these kids - who were the most isolated - now feel like they're part of the school community. Their grades are even on the rise," Kirwan said.

Translating such a program of personal attention to the population of a "good-sized city" of about 50,000 students on an urban campus can be difficult, but not impossible, he said. "Our challenge has been to make the university seem smaller while keeping all of its resources and its great diversity open to all students," Kirwan said.

For several years, Ohio State has sought to build community living-learning environments, where students who have similar academic or cultural interests live in the same residence hall. "It's easier for them to feel part of this smaller community," Kirwan said.

The Mount Leadership Society, currently in its first year, is the first of four Scholars Programs expected to be active next academic year. A pilot program, it serves a highly diverse mixture of 52 freshmen from a variety of majors. Thirty-three percent are ethnic minorities. Students are from both urban and rural areas, and include commuters as well. The one trait they all have in common is an interest in leadership.

"Since September, this group has been living together, participating in special programs together, taking special classes together, and even doing community projects together," Kirwan said. "The results have been stunning. We've just been overwhelmed at how well the program has created a powerful sense of community. This is just the kind of environment where students can thrive, and where the seeds of isolation, alienation and violence will not sprout."

But building community among students alone only solves half the problem, Kirwan said. "There's no pretending we can be an island of peace and tranquility rising above the outside sea of violence and moral corruption. We can succeed completely only when we also forge a partnership with the community at large," he said.

With this type of partnership, communities could build what might be called "full-service" schools, Kirwan said. In these schools, community groups, educators and social service agencies would work together to provide health and counseling services, adult education and parenting classes, and parent and community resource centers.

Ohio State's answer to forging stronger ties between the university and its surrounding neighbors is Campus Partners. Campus Partners is a multi-pronged, multi-year, multi-million-dollar effort that involves city officials, business leaders and neighborhood residents. To date, the program has secured tax incentives that protect education and can attract new businesses to the neighborhoods, and is investing $30 million in university funds to attract new businesses and increase employment in the community, Kirwan said.

"From these efforts, we'll build a safer, more attractive environment for Ohio State, and more important, we'll signal a new sense of enlightened engagement with the larger community. Our goal for Campus Partners is nothing short of having it seen as the model for how a university can draw upon its considerable expertise and resources, work in partnership with the larger community, revitalize a decaying urban district and build a stronger, more caring community," he said. "And when we as individuals pool together in caring communities, that power can be limitless."