Safety Concerns Do Not Concern Administrators

CSUMB is one of the few universities to have a Service Learning program. Designed to increase the student’s understanding of their community and evoke compassion for those in a less fortunate facet of existence, the program has been rightfully lauded for its efforts. However, like many other promisingly beneficial programs, it has an opportunity to be tainted by disembodied and disconnected administrators. My experience with the program thus far has been one of disappointment and disbelief.

I chose to participate in the Monterey County Reads section of the program, excited to aid struggling elementary students in their desire to reach grade-level reading proficiency. When filling out the paper work, we were told that if we have our own transportation, there would be a possibility that we would be assigned to commute to Salinas. While I do not wish – nor have ever wished – to enter the Salinas city limits, the world “possibility” left me hopeful that I would be placed in an elementary school in my current home town of Marina. Surely there are children here who would benefit from my service.

My desire to remain in Marina was re-enforced by recent news reports of the shockingly increased violence occurring on the streets of Salinas. With five homicides in the last eight weeks, the news is claiming a “major spike in violence on the streets of Salinas” after “an unprecedented period…of more than 70 days without a shooting.” It is a sad state when two months without violence is an oddity. Further, “residents have grown accustomed to seeing violence.” When I brought up my concerns regarding my personal safety at the possibility of serving in Salinas, they were met with administrators changing their position from the possibility of me traveling to the gang-ridden area to the inevitability of it.

I was told to simply not wear certain colors; that if they allowed me to request a different area it would open the doors for other students to make similar requests. If other students are making similar requests, isn’t that an indication of a safety issue? In an institution that advocates adaptability in an ever-changing world, it is shocking the steadfastness at which they maintain their position. Why can’t other areas in need be serviced when the previous ones are now unfit to send students into? It is the administrations responsibility to create and maintain a safe learning environment, yet they are disregarding the concerns of the students.

It seems to me that the powers-that-be feel that since this class is a requirement for graduation, they have me backed into a wall. Not so. An animal fights its strongest when cornered. I am not opposed to community service. In fact, I have logged over a hundred hours in the last year with the Seven Stars Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of Big Bear City, California. However, I am opposed to having my life placed in jeopardy. It is easy for those who do not have to go to Salinas to say it will be okay. “We haven’t really had an issue” they claim. Then why must the qualifier “really” be added to the statement? Who are you to decide what constitutes as a “real issue” to the students? Shouldn’t any event that makes a student uncomfortable and afraid be “real?”

I sincerely hope that my disallowance of the normal customs of endangering student welfare allow administrators to rethink their practices as well as heed the concerns of those who pay tuition and ergo their salaries. Life is a string of choices. I choose to extend my string of choices.

KSBW: Shootings And 6 Juvenile Escapees Keep Salinas Cops Busy
The Monterey County Herald: Shooting Sprees Break Pattern of Gang-on-Gang Violence