"I believe that the UUA should take advantage of every opportunity that
presents itself to further the cause of generational, as well as ethnic,
diversity. While interest in same is frequently touted as a priority
in
principle, often the reality is that any serious----*serious*---practice
of
addressing this issue is often perplexingly but effectively neutered,
most
generally thru a bureaucaratic war of attrition. There are 2
prominent and
recurring myths regarding outreach in UU-dom: that either the conspicuous
lack of diversity is a mystery, or that all that can be done is being
done--both used to support a massive system of denial. Word on the
street,
related to campus outreach specifically, is that this became the case
in the
sixties when student activism made the old guard uncomfortable,
leading
them to pulling the plug on any *genuine* efforts to sustain inclusion
of
university students or the established successful movement in place.
Don't
know if that's the case or not. But most of the "official" efforts
at
inclusion that I have witnessed or participated in have been embarrassingly
and willfully toothless and patronizing.
At the millennium, when the Pope has
finally seen fit to become so
repentant and progressive as to pardon Galileo [LOL!], it seems only
fitting
that the UU establishment take a hard and honest look at the ways that
their
leadership has been used to be steadily, though unofficially,
counter-progressive. When any project such as the one in question,
HMS,
presents itself "ready-made" with someone at the helm motivated enough
to
have it up and running, it seems irrational and counter-progressive
to not
ACTIVELY take the intitiative to explore ways to graft it onto the
other
campus outreach activities in place [or perhaps the other way around!].
Will it be absolutely successful? Who knows? Will it save
lives? Probably
not. But for the money, it seems like a good start toward catching-up
with
the 90's and using yesterday's, if not tomorrow's, technology to effectively
advance the *stated* goals of UUism. So invest some energy in
trying to
communicate and explore the mutual interests and advantages in this
particular scenario, HMS. See what you come up with before discarding
it
outright. In my opinion it could be a simple start toward developing
more
sophisticated approaches of utilizing the Internet for campus outreach
in
the next millennium. Put this James Parks guy to work WITH you. But
first,
the UUA needs to answer the question: do they REALLY want growth,
diversity, and an empowered contingent of university students?
That's the
honest question."
-A former student, and explorer of UUism and campus outreach.