to Ball State, and to society as a whole, is to regain the sense of civic responsibility that we lost with the encroachment of technology upon our lives. Civic responsibility means becoming more engaged in the life of the community, the state, and nation; volunteering for good causes, being active in politics, voting in elections, working to make our communities better places to live.

In speaking of the public schools, Richard Harwood, president of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, said, "In community after community so many Americans see schools as somewhere ‘over there,’ apart from the community. And school officials often view themselves as being separate from their communities."

We must overcome the notion that educational institutions and the people who inhabit them are separate from their communities—the old Ivory Tower misconception. The best place to instill a personal sense of community and responsibility is on the college campus where young people are being prepared to take their place as contributing members of society.

Several years ago we created the Student Voluntary Services office to encourage and coordinate the effort on the Ball State campus. SVS now oversees more than forty programs involved in everything from Big Brothers and Big Sisters to adult literacy work and leaf raking for the elderly.

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