While this campus seems to place a great deal of importance upon the idea of “unity” in the student body, a different division has largely been ignored: one between the student body and the city at large. Because most students’ exposure to the city is limited to the bars on The Strip and the commercial areas along McFarland, it has always been easy to ignore the city’s culture, people and needs. For the city, I would assume the temporary residence of most students prohibits real relationships from forming and in some cases, such as the Seven Day alcohol sales vote, serves to breed tension.
The recent disaster that overtook Tuscaloosa shattered that barrier; it was quite frankly impossible to ignore the devastation across the city. From UA Greek Relief, which raised more than $100,000 and prepared over 46,000 meals for the Tuscaloosa community, to the Mallet Assembly, which maintained a continued presence in several volunteer outlets across Tuscaloosa, students have strongly asserted their willingness to acknowledge the needs of Tuscaloosa and work towards its recovery.
However, this connection between the campus and city will not be sustained on its own merits. While media attention was crucial in providing national support for relief, its fickle gaze has shifted. And while strong assistance from service groups across the country led to universal praise, they will eventually stop pouring into the city and return home. Unless the desire to serve is maintained, as classes resume, this sense of complacency and normalcy will overtake the student body as well.
After all, the campus was not directly affected and the high value shopping areas frequented most by students will be among the first to rebuild. Retreating into a world that is devoid of the tornado’s effects will naturally occur to many, especially with the incoming freshman class who did not experience the tornado firsthand.
This is where the University itself must play its part. While it possesses the unenviable role of balancing a call to help the city with a need to prevent the perception that the tornado will negatively affect the collegiate experience of its students, the University cannot maintain its limited presence in the relief efforts; it has an obligation to help the community around it.
Many of the people who lost everything they owned are the very same people who run its dining facilities, keep its grounds pristine, and clean its buildings. Their needs have been made crystal clear and while the University’s financial assistance for affected employees is unprecedented, it must not ignore the fact that it alone possesses the ability to channel both an eager student body and its considerable resources into an organized and concentrated effort.
This assistance would not need to come at the cost of positive perception. For example, if the University were to create service-learning courses available to the entire student body that specifically focus on disaster relief, then it would be able to play a role in recovery and provide students with an outlet to serve their community, while also leaving the ability to plan one’s collegiate experience in the hands of students.
This relationship between the University and the City would be mutually beneficial. Beyond simply serving the community, relief efforts present a unique opportunity to expand its educational offerings beyond lectures and classrooms to students through exposure to the city.
Over the past few weeks, I have been able to witness fellow students prove that they are more than simply temporary residents, but dedicated citizens of a city that they love. Both the student body and the University must work to ensure that this desire to serve does not die. Whether we like it or not, we are all are a part of the Tuscaloosa community. The city has been integral in crafting the collegiate experience of each student. Now is the time for us to give back.
John Brinkerhoff is a sophomore majoring in political science and communication studies.
