Work With Homeless : Cal State and Chapman Join Service Effort

To mobilize students and faculties in the fight against illiteracy and homelessness, Cal State Fullerton and Chapman College have joined 40 other California universities and colleges in a new statewide organization called the California Compact.

Under the auspices of the organization, students and faculty members will tutor illiterates, work in shelters for the homeless and participate in other service projects.

Thomas Coley, executive assistant to Cal State Fullerton President Jewel Plummer Cobb, said he hopes to get more students involved in tutoring and counseling of “youth at risk” to persuade troubled youngsters to continue their educations. “I think that will be one of the more prominent themes,” Coley said.

‘Systematic’ Community Service

“More than anything,” Coley said of the organization, “it will provide a systematic approach to community service.”

The organization also plans to raise money for social programs, organizers said.

UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young and Stanford University President Donald Kennedy will serve as co-chairmen of the group.

Young said that although this generation of young people is often portrayed as materialistic, many students are doing volunteer work. Young and other organizers said that more students would become involved in social service if teachers offered more guidance and schools gave more recognition to volunteers.

“We want to make it easier for students to become active in service projects and make it more meaningful for them,” Young said during a press conference Monday at UCLA announcing the formation of the organization.

The California Compact is based on a plan by the Denver-based Education Commission of the States, whose goal is to inspire more of the nation’s 12 million college students to participate in social programs.

The state group is part of a national coalition known as Campus Compact.