Former vice president discusses course plans

  CATHERINE JUN Fulfilling his role as a UCLA visiting
professor, Al Gore met with students and faculty
Thursday to discuss his plans.

By Karen Albrecht
Daily Bruin Reporter

On Thursday, Al Gore asked UCLA students for advice.

The former vice president met with graduate and undergraduate
students to discuss possible changes to a new family-based
community development course.

The two-hour session allowed for evaluation of community
building classes Gore piloted at two universities in Tennessee
earlier this spring.

But the course, which may eventually be taught at UCLA, is still
in the preliminary planning stages.

“We’ve been building this airplane as we’ve
been going down the runway,” Gore said in reference to the
course.

UCLA faculty members have been actively involved throughout the
initial planning process, and have helped piece together the new
course at Fisk and Middle Tennessee State Universities, according
to Neal Halfon, director of UCLA’s Institute for Children,
Families and Communities and professor of pediatrics and public
health.

“Faculty, graduate students and community partners have
been meeting and working and trying to understand how UCLA can play
a bigger role in the community,” Halfon said.

Eventually, planners intend to develop a strong national
curriculum for universities to promote healthier families and
communities.

Gore’s meeting with UCLA students was the next step toward
further refining the curriculum, according to Bill Parent assistant
dean of the School of Public Policy and Social Research.

“This is your course,” Gore said at the beginning of
the discussion. “It was planned here and I hope you will
actively participate in shaping it.”

At Fisk and Middle Tennessee State Universities, the course
consisted of 10 two-hour sessions, each addressing broad issues
from defining “community” to public safety and youth
development

Fall courses tentatively scheduled at several universities are
planned to consist of 14 sessions, leaving some room for expansion,
Gore said.

But students and faculty provided a list of almost 30 new
suggestions for curriculum and teaching method changes. When the
session was drawn to a close due to time restraints, students
swarmed to the front to voice additional ideas.

“I am really excited about this new course, and that
students have input in the planning,” said Genna Jones,
fourth-year political science student.

Among recommended course changes, cultural diversity was
mentioned frequently.

Diversity issues should be incorporated into the course
material, both as a cross cutting theme and as an individual class,
according to Rafael Travis, a graduate student in public
health.

Among them, immigration, interracial marriages and the concept
of a “melting pot” society were taken into
consideration.

“We are vulnerable to seizing success stories from one
culture and thinking we have solved the problem,” Gore
said.

Little emphasis was placed on relationships and marriage in the
initial class topic list, but some was suggested that this issue be
addressed. Of particular concern were fathers who permanently
abandon their families, leaving fatherless children behind.

Addressing recent changes in age distribution and the
corresponding major health problems was suggested as well.

Obesity is the number two cause of depression in the nation, the
consequences of which should be addressed because they are felt by
both family and community, according to Antronette Yancey, Director
of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the L.A.
County Department of Public Health.

Many students recommended that hands-on experience be an
integral part of the community building curriculum. Aaron Novack, a
graduate student, suggested service learning in which students work
in the field and bring their experiences back to the classroom for
discussion.

Gore met with faculty in the afternoon to continue the planning
process.

The idea of a new national university curriculum geared toward
family centered community development was born at the 1999 Family
Re-Union Conference.

Family Re-Union, founded in 1992 by Gore and his wife, Tipper,
is designed to bring families and community leaders together to
discuss ways to strengthen family life. The annual conference
allows researchers, experts and average citizens to exchange
ideas.

While sitting at dinner during the conference, Gore, Halfon and
others discussed the possibility of incorporating family and
community development into academia.

“The university community has done more than any other
institution to make this country what it is today,” Gore
said.

Gore, who contacted Halfon at the UCLA School of Social Research
and Public Policy in January, said he wanted to start teaching the
course three weeks later.

Because of the short notice, the course taught in Tennessee
required planning along the way, and UCLA faculty flew out to help
with the planning almost every week, Gore said.