Student volunteers deserve official credit

UCLA promotes a three-pronged mission of academics, research and
service. While student transcripts recognize students’
academic work by listing courses and grades, and research work
through the Student Research Program and 199 classes taken for
academic credit, transcripts don’t recognize the time
students put into service.

Academic transcripts are key when applying for jobs, graduate
school and professional school. But unfortunately, there are few
ways students can receive official recognition for the service work
they accomplish. This could be fixed through officially recognizing
student service work on transcripts.

Participating in service takes away from the time students spend
on research and academics, but it also helps these students develop
a well-rounded education and leadership skills. Service transcripts
would allow students to present official recognition of their work
to employers, graduate schools and professional schools, just as
transcripts already show work in academics and research. These
transcripts would also help bring more students into service
programs, as many are dissuaded from doing service work because of
how it will affect their research and academics.

The Community Service Commission alone, which has over 1,000
volunteers, would bring in tens of thousands of dollars a week if
its volunteers were paid ““ and the Community Service
Commission makes up less than half of the total service
participants at UCLA. Just imagine what the numbers would be if
they counted each student’s service in every program for a
year.

I am not advocating paying volunteers ““ those involved in
service are there for the work done in the community and the
development of their own educations. But I am asking the university
to acknowledge that the students who do service do so as
representatives of the university, thus promoting UCLA with their
work. There should at least be efforts to give official recognition
to these students.

Currently, the University of California and the state government
have taken many steps against the promotion of service on campus.
The cuts to outreach represent the destruction of some of the most
organized and influential programs on our campus to serve the
community. Cuts to the youth camp juvenile probation facilities
will not allow other service projects to continue. These cuts do
not correspond with the message promoted by UCLA in LA, one of the
programs created by Chancellor Albert Carnesale, that “UCLA
has a special responsibility to use its teaching, research and
service resources to make life better for those living in the Los
Angeles region and beyond.”

It is time the university again recognizes the importance of
service in its mission and works to stop these cuts and recognize
the dedicated volunteers who participate in these programs through
official UCLA service transcripts.

Service should be about a dedication to being involved in a
community to stimulate change. I also believe students who
participate in service are some of the least recognized,
considering all their hard work. Certainly, if people join service
programs solely because they want a service transcript and have no
investment in the community they are serving, then the purpose of
the transcript is lost to them. But it is time that those students
who are willing to sacrifice some time from academics and research
are given the recognition that is currently so rare.

Schreiber is the Undergraduate Students Association Council
Community Service commissioner.