Students, faculty and staff are daily making connections with the academic year’s civic engagement theme. Throughout fall semester, students listened to speakers such as Dr. Carl McDaniel and Dr. Lonnie Thompson, who have committed their lives to promoting sustainable living and finding solutions to global climate change problems, respectively. First-year students read McDaniel’s book, Wisdom for a Livable Planet, and Bluffton faculty have incorporated readings from his book within their curriculum.
As a part of Bluffton’s capstone course, Christian Values in a Global Community, seniors choose community task force projects related to civic engagement. The class, required for graduation, is designed to help students develop a framework for practicing global citizenship, informed by the Mennonite values of peacemaking and service. For several weeks, students work on community task forces, simulating the task of civic participation and community organizing.
Fall 2007’s groups focused on broad topics, relating to environmental stewardship and ranging from the August 2007 floods in Northwest Ohio to composting to environmental justice. Each task force formed subgroups to explore in-depth issues. Students who chose to study the effects of the August 2007 floods researched causes of local flooding, flood prevention in Northwest 
Ohio, the impact of socioeconomic status on local flood recovery and response of local villages to flooding. “Bluffton’s capstone course weaves together three inter-related emphases,” says Dr. Perry Bush, professor of history and history and religion department chair, “global environmental challenges, economic inequality and what it means to be a person of faith. As Christians, or individuals of faith, how do we respond to issues of hunger, poverty, environmental crises, materialism and unchecked consumerism?”
During winter break, several members of SOUL (Student Organizations United in Leadership) joined students from around the nation on a service trip to New Orleans, La. Together, they helped build housing within the Musicians’ Village, a community consisting of 72 single family, Habitat for Humanity-constructed homes for displaced New Orleans musicians and other qualifying Habitat-partner families. These Bluffton students encountered firsthand the devastation that remains from the 2005 hurricanes and helped make a difference with their service project.
This year’s residence hall program is engaging students with community development activities that relate to environmental stewardship. This past fall, residence hall advisors discussed with residents the environmental impact of organic produce while cooking entirely organic meals, explored recycling options and cleaned up community streets. More activities are planned for the spring. Additionally, a recycling task force commissioned by the president and consisting of faculty, staff and students is studying recycling issues and developing recommendations for a sustainable campus recycling program.
-Jill A. Duling
