Community Service

What is the Community Service Requirement?
At some point during the Division II program, every student is expected to undertake some form of community service, beyond his or her purely academic work, for the sake of the college, the local community, or the world beyond. These projects are normally expected to be of roughly a semester's duration. This requirement is designed to allow students to contribute in a substantial and sustained manner to the life of the wider community and to pursue the individualized nature of their programs in a larger collective context. Ideally, your community service will dovetail with your concentration. For example, if your Division II focuses on writing and literature, you might consider working for a semester on the campus newspaper or a literary journal. You could organize a reading series or student discussion group. And working as a student member in the School of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies also counts as Community Service. Additionally, you might be interested in working for a semester with a local community group, teaching in a school or after-school program, or offering your services to social action groups. (In some circumstances, students may also satisfy their community service requirement through participation in fellow students' Division III projects. In such cases, your time-commitment to the Division III project should be roughly equivalent to any other form of community service. For ideas, consult with your advisor, chair, or Community Partnerships for Social Change.

Community Engagement &amp; Learning
Attention all students entering Division II after Fall 2011:

Division II students must now complete the more robust Community Engagement &amp; Learning (CEL-2) requirement. For more information, please visit the Division IIand the Community Engagement &amp; Collaborative Learning websites for more information.

** The required CEL-2 forms and student guidelines will be available shortly**

Full Description
In keeping with our educational mission, Hampshire expects every student to contribute something of value to the larger college community as well as to “advance the cause of social justice and the well-being of others” outside Hampshire. A commitment to engaged scholarship also emerges from Hampshire’s distinctive pedagogy, which stresses the importance of critical inquiry and the development of knowledge that enables students to participate responsibly in a complex world. The Community Engagement &amp; Learning Requirement encourages students to design multiple opportunities to build community on campus and seek innovative ways to help address critical needs as defined by communities and organizations outside the college. Off-campus projects are negotiated collaboratively between students and community organizations and should be founded on reciprocity and sustainability. Hampshire encourages students to integrate into their academic work, through documentation and reflection, the knowledge gained from extending their learning venues beyond the classroom. The requirement sets minimum standards for completion, but students are encouraged to engage in socially responsible activities and take advantage of the opportunity to incorporate engaged scholarship and learning throughout their Hampshire education.

Working closely with their academic advisors, Hampshire students will design and fulfill their Community Engagement and Learning requirement before the conclusion of their Division II. Engaging in a sustained semester-long equivalent (~ 40 hours) of community-based learning, students will demonstrate social responsibility by meeting agreed upon goals defined by an organization, person, or community on or, more typically, off campus. To the extent possible, these contributions and the engaged learning that results will complement or in some way further a student’s academic course of study, and may take many forms. Typical examples include:


 * internships (in local, national or international settings) that are arranged through a course, through a Hampshire program, or independently;
 * various forms of mentoring in one’s area of growing expertise (e.g. T.A. positions, ESL or other types of tutoring);
 * other types of applied work that require students to utilize and build upon skills and expertise related to their divisional work (e.g. campus organizations, apprenticeships with NGOs, museums or schools).

While integration of the Community Engagement &amp; Learning Requirement into the student’s area of concentration is desirable, it is not required, and students may elect to fulfill this requirement before beginning Division II. However, in all cases, students must carefully negotiate their proposed form of community engagement with their advisors and/or Division II committee before initiating the activity in order to determine if it meets the criteria and spirit of this requirement.

Students are expected to engage in ongoing reflection on the relationship between their own learning goals and community needs as defined by the individual(s) or organization(s) with whom they are working. A reflective essay that describes the work accomplished, the need(s) being addressed, the learning that took place from this experience, and (where applicable) the integration of this learning with the academic focus of the student’s concentration will be included in the final Division 2 portfolio, along with any documented project work completed for the sponsor. Upon completion of each activity, a supervisor must sign a brief form and evaluate the student’s work. This evaluation, the reflective essay, and accompanying documentation must be included in the Division II portfolio.

What can you do for your CEL?

 * Hampshire College Veterans Administration Volunteer Corps
 * Community Partnerships for Social Change
 * See the Community Engagement &amp; Collaborative Learning "Network Affiliates"
 * Critical Studies of Childhood, Youth and Learning
 * HampLink internship database