Eight students returned to campus last week without the tell-tale tans
of a spring break spent in a sunnier clime. But they returned with lots of stories, and an
appreciation for the plight of the inner city.
The eight, along with Tom Frieberg, Catholic chaplain, took a van to
Chicago for what Frieberg calls “the urban plunge,” a combination of hands-on
hard work and some eye-opening experiences.
Among them, they:
— met with members of gangs and those trying to get out of gangs;
— attended a meeting with residents who are trying to open an
alternative school that is open during the evening, when street violence is at its peak;
— cleaned up an abandoned lot to be turned into a park
memorializing the victims of a car-pedestrian accident; and
— heard the powerful story of a man who paid with his life for
citing housing code violations in his neighbors' buildings, allegedly at the hands of
landlords who were upset at his activities.
“What really impacted the students was the contrast of violence and
hospitality,” Frieberg recalls. “We spent a week in a neighborhood that was a
microcosm of urban problems, but when residents invited us in for dinner, there was
tremendous warmth and hospitality.” Despite the problems, Frieberg said, there is a
great deal of pride and hope in the neighborhoods.
After being in that setting, students were asking good questions about
the causes of urban problems, Frieberg said. What they discovered, he said, was that
problems result from a combination of personal, socio-economic and political conditions.
On the trip were Jessica Chappell '00, Shana Dangelo '00,
Kelly Johnson '01, Michelle Sanchez '00, Jennifer Stratton '99, Jason Turi
'99, Dan VanSlyke '00 and Alison Ciolino '98.