The Graduation Pledge Alliance
Dear
Pledge organizer or
friend,
Welcome to a new school year,
and a beginning or continuing
effort for the
Graduation Pledge at your school.
As always, we hope you can take things up
a notch (or two!) this year.
Though
it may seem early to think about
graduation, the best efforts begin
with fall
planning.
Here are some helpful items.
I.
Below is our popular
"steps" piece
that lists possible activities to engage in
surrounding the
Pledge (and
notes folks from the college community who might
get involved).
II.
In addition, a
visit to the
website (www.graduationpledge.org)
has been most helpful for
both Pledge organizers and
signers. For example,
there is a fuller description of
the project and a list of schools
involved, along with links to
local Pledge school web pages. (Please let us
know about changes in the schools
listed or links to them.)
III.
Our local organizers have taught us that things
work best when a
committee
works on the project. The ideal committee
includes not only seniors, but juniors,
sophomores, and faculty/staff. A group effort
assures that the project won’t fall through the
cracks if one person (perhaps you!) suddenly
gets sick or overburdened. Possibilities for
such a committee include the following, among
others:
-a permanent GPA student organization
-a permanent committee or project of an existing
organization
-an ongoing project of an academic
department/program/center
Building in such continuity means a strong
effort this year and progress toward getting the
Pledge institutionalized--a
regular part of graduation, recognized by
campus publications, promoted by
Career and Alumni Services Offices,
incorporated into first-year orientation or
academic programs, and the like.
IV.
We strongly suggest that you develop a
tentative
timeline for Pledge activities for
the current year, which includes fall planning
efforts for spring activities. We guarantee it
will help you get more done. Please send your
timeline and committee information to us—-this
helps us keep track of what’s going on, and
builds in some accountability for you. THANKS.
V.
Sign up for the
Grad Pledge
listserv, if you have not already, by
contacting us. It is a forum for Pledge
organizers to share good ideas and ask questions
of each other. The traffic is light and you
automatically receive the digest version, so
it’s never more than one message daily and most
days it is quiet. (We’d like to see more
activity.)
VI. Finally, it isn't too late to send us a
report on what happened Pledge-wise at
your 2004 graduation, and to send
an email contact for the 2004-2005 school year.
Thanks!
Keep in touch, and good luck for the year.
Neil
Neil Wollman, National Coordinator
Graduation Pledge Alliance
MC Box 135
Manchester College
North Manchester, IN 46962
njwollman@manchester.edu
(260) 982-5346
======================================================
Steps for Building Support for and Participation
in the Pledge Campaign
"I pledge to explore and take into account the
social and environmental
consequences of any job I consider
and will try to improve these aspects of
any organizations for which I work."
At small schools in which high-level
administrators can be brought on board
quickly, it may be possible to
start the pledge the first year it is
attempted--and at the "whole-school" level. In
most cases, however, things
will move more slowly, going from
having smaller groups being involved and
informally, to when the Pledge, hopefully,
becomes "institutionalized" and
fully a part of the school
officially as part of commencement and
otherwise. Experiences at various schools
suggest certain steps that will
make it more likely that the
school, as whole, will formally adopt the
Pledge:
1. IF ONLY ONE PERSON IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OR
ALL OF THE WORK, THE WHOLE
PROJECT MAY COME TO A HALT IF S/HE
FALTERS. While a highly motivated leader
may be helpful in making the
Pledge happen, a committee allows work to be
distributed and enables people to
pick up the slack when different members
of the group have other
obligations.
2. A PERMANENT GROUP IS BEST (campus
organization, graduation pledge
committee, official college
administrative or student office) that makes
sure the Pledge happens each year, as individual
students who work on the
Pledge will graduate. Find what
makes most sense for your school and
circumstances. Our ideal is the Pledge as a
community effort, with
students, staff, and faculty
involved in planning. Earlier in its history,
the Pledge was on a number of campuses, but
disappeared in all but a few
due to lack of
institutionalization.
3. GET SOPHOMORES/JUNIORS/FACULTY INVOLVED TOO,
as it helps insure that the
Pledge continues. It also means
that those involved in subsequent years
aren't reinventing the wheel and
can try to institutionalize the Pledge a
bit more each year. One school
gets non-seniors on campus to sign up, as
well, in a show of support; while
another school allows alumni to sign the
pledge.
4. GET ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES that have sway
over the commencement
activities to come on board. If
that doesn't happen the first year, it may
in the future if there is enough grassroots
support on campus.
5. GET CAMPUS GROUPS TO ENDORSE, participate,
and get out word to their
constituencies: (a) student
groups--e.g., social service, community
service, environmental, peace, human rights; (b)
programs/departments/
schools within the
university--social work,, sociology,
environmental
studies, women's studies--or any socially
concerned active ones on campus;
and (c)
offices/councils/centers--career services,
community services,
women's centers, Student Government. Another
approach is to get senior
class officers or reps involved,
as they often have good channels of
communication with other seniors.
6. GET AS MUCH PUBLICITY AS YOU CAN both on and
off campus (local
newspapers and TV often take an
interest), as this will get people's
attention and more students will get involved
and participate. It will also
help spread the idea to the
general public and to other schools. There
could be posters, displays in glass cases,
materials at the alumni office,
events at homecoming, etc.
7. DECIDE WHAT IS BEST FOR YOUR CAMPUS regarding
specific actions tied to
the Pledge. Here are some
examples:
A. GET SOME TYPE OF RECOGNITION/PUBLICITY
AT THE COMMENCEMENT
CEREMONY ITSELF.
▪ Have those taking the Pledge wear green
ribbons, as might supportive
faculty. This has become standard
at many participating schools.
▪ Get one of the speakers to mention the Pledge
at the ceremony.
▪ Have the Pledge printed in the commencement
program.
▪ Have posters/brochures describing the Pledge
near the commencement
festivities.
B. DIFFERENT SCHOOLS RECOGNIZE OR
CELEBRATE THE PLEDGE IN DIFFERENT
WAYS. Be it a reception for Pledge
signers, a speech by a faculty member,
or otherwise, think of good ways
to make the Pledge a fuller experience for
participants. At least one school
has made attending a seminar relevant to
socially responsible employment a
prerequisite to signing the pledge; this
might decrease participation, but
increase commitment. Another possibility
is to make such a seminar strongly
recommended. One school has instituted
an "Alternative Graduation"
ceremony to celebrate/recognize the
Pledge. Another has a Pledge taken
by all first-year students which
incorporates the basic Pledge
ideas, but goes into other areas as
well. Other possibilities include
discussion in classes, introduction in
first-year orientation, and
Pledge-related service projects.
C. DIFFERENT SCHOOLS SIGN UP PEOPLE
DIFFERENTLY.
▪ At Manchester, we give cards and diplomas
(stating the Pledge) to
participants well before
graduation day. Such cards have become standard
at
many schools (see webpage for sample cards).
▪ Another school has participants sign a poster,
which is on display.
▪ Another has people sign a sheet after they
have walked across the stage and
received their diploma.
▪ Some schools sign up pledgers electronically
(their own website, mailing
lists, etc.).
▪ Some do tabling during the spring term. IF YOU
NEED TO GET SIGN-UPS
QUICKLY, DO TABLING. And if you
can, give out pledge cards, green ribbons,
and some materials taken form the
nation Graduation Pledge web site.
▪ See another piece on the website called
"Building Consciousness Raising
Around the Pledge." It has various
further ideas on institutionalizing the
pledge (e.g., campus forums and bulletin board
displays).
D. THERE IS MUCH INFORMATION AVAILABLE FOR
PLEDGE SIGNERS AT THE WEB
SITE FOR THE PLEDGE
(www.graduationpledge.org). For example, there
is
information/links to socially
responsible jobs, listings of questions one
might ask a potential employer,
links to information on influencing one's
employer to be more socially and
environmentally responsible. There is a
"one page handout for graduating
seniors" that gives some of theses ideas,
but, importantly, gives the
opening page website address for the Pledge so
that signers can get full details
on such concerns. Consider getting at
least that page to all Pledge
signers. Lead people to the web site or
distribute such information to all
graduates, Pledge signers, Career
Services office, etc. Seriously consider listing
the Pledge web page
address--and
what is available there--on
the back of Pledge cards noted
in 7C above.
E. CONSIDER WAYS TO REMIND AND SUPPORT
PLEDGE SIGNERS AFTER THEY
GRADUATE (articles or blurbs in
alumni publications and materials, a
listserve of signers, a GPA
newsletter, a presence at any alumni events on
campus or around the country,
formation of a pledge committee of ten or
more alumni who work to publicize
and support previous signers.) And see a
piece on the webpage on getting
your alumni and career services offices
involved in the effort.
F. A FEW SCHOOLS HAVE MODIFIED THE PLEDGE
WORDING to fit their own
needs. The Pledge wording is "I
pledge to explore and take into account the
social and environmental
consequences of any job I consider and will try
to
improve these aspects of any
organizations for which I work."
======================================================
GRADUATION PLEDGE
ALLIANCE
Humboldt State University (California) initiated
the Graduation Pledge of
Social and Environmental Responsibility. It
states, "I pledge to explore
and take into account the social and
environmental consequences of any job
I consider and will try to improve these aspects
of any organizations for
which I work." Students define what being
"responsible" means to
themselves. Students at well over a hundred
colleges and universities have
used the pledge at some level. The schools
involved include small liberal
arts colleges (Whitman and Skidmore); large
state universities (Oregon and
Wisconsin), and large private research
universities (Harvard and
Stanford).. This now includes some schools
overseas, graduate and
professional schools, and high schools.
Graduates who voluntarily signed
the pledge have turned down jobs they did not
feel morally comfortable with
and have worked to make changes once on the job.
For example, they have
promoted recycling at their organization,
removed racist language from a
training manual, worked for gender parity in
high school athletics, and
helped to convince an employer to refuse a
chemical weapons-related
contract.
Manchester College now coordinates the campaign
effort, which has taken
different forms at different institutions. At
Manchester, it is a
community-wide event involving students,
faculty, and staff. Typically, 50
percent of students sign and keep a wallet-size
card stating the pledge,
while students and supportive faculty wear green
ribbons at commencement
and the pledge is printed in the formal
commencement program. Depending
upon the school, it might take several years to
reach this level of
institutionalization. If one can just get a few
groups/departments
involved, and get some media attention on (and
off) campus, it will get
others interested and build for the future. The
project has been covered in
newspapers around the country (e.g., USA Today,
Chicago Tribune, Washington
Post, and Boston Globe), as well as being
covered in magazines (e.g.,
Business Week), national radio networks (for
instance, ABC), and local T.V.
stations (like in Ft. Wayne, IN).
The pledge helps educate and motivate one to
contribute to a better world.
Think of the impact if even a significant
minority of the one million
college graduates each year signed and carried
out the Pledge.
PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED OF ANY PLEDGE EFFORTS
YOU UNDERTAKE, AS WE TRY TO
MONITOR WHAT HAPPENS AND PROVIDE PERIODIC
UPDATES ON THE NATIONAL EFFORT.
Contact NJWollman@Manchester.edu for
information/questions/comments, or
write GPA, MC Box 135, Manchester College, 604
E. College Ave., North
Manchester, IN 46962. The Campaign also has a
web site, at
www.graduationpledge.org
