For the past four years, ReachOut, a service learning-oriented student organization at Columbia, has traveled to New Orleans during spring break to rebuild homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina. On the latest trip, however, some students were caught drinking, which led to the suspension of the group that now cannot re-form until fall 2010, when they will start to raise money and plan the 2011 trip.

Individual members who received punishment were those caught drinking and the five members of the executive board, only one of whom was actually involved in the incident.

Miranda Nicholas, general coordinator of ReachOut and former chair of the Student Organization Council, was not involved in the incident and said she doesn’t understand why the four members of the board who were not involved were punished.

“My letter [I received] said I ‘failed to follow the directive of a Columbia College employee,'” she said. “When that happened, I don’t know. For a week I racked my brain trying to figure out how I broke it. I still don’t know.”

Nicholas, who was terminated from her position as chair of SOC due to the punishment for the incident, said she feels like a picture is being painted of ReachOut that isn’t necessarily accurate.

When asked about the situation, assistant dean of Student Life Kari Sommers, whose signature was on each student’s letters of punishment, said she was unable to discuss students’ private issues.

“There’s really nothing that’s appropriate for me to say,” Sommers said. “After next year, they’re going to come back stronger than ever. There’s not a doubt in my mind. They are brilliant, smart, dedicated and hardworking.”

Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Aldo Guzman also said he was unable to comment on individual student issues because the punishment did not come from his office.

“ReachOut is not banned,” Guzman said. “They are sanctioned for one year.”

Guzman also said he was confident the group will come back strong in 2010. He has started working with the former executive board to plan what the next steps are for the group, saying they have his full support.

The group worked closely with the administration and the Student Organization Council to get the trip going and make it effective.

“We’ve always run into problems that the school has helped us work out,” said executive board member Janelle Foszcz. “They’ve always seemed to support us strongly, so we’re not entirely sure about how all of this played out.”

Each member signed a printed copy of the Student Code of Conduct, which clearly prohibits drinking. Chaperones decided that breaches of the code would be dealt with on an individual basis and would be reported back to the college. Students who were punished received social probation, which means they are not allowed to attend Columbia events and may face expulsion if they are involved in any other conduct incidents.

But the 2009 trip was not the first time there has been an issue with drinking. Nicholas said many people were caught drinking in 2008, but no one was reprimanded by chaperones or the college.

“We’ve always had President [Warrick L.] Carter’s support,” said Nicholas. “He knows the name of the group and always seemed to enjoy our work and praise us for what we were trying to do for the school and start this huge service-learning program.”

Columbia is working to establish service-learning as a larger part of the curriculum, providing students with opportunities to volunteer in the community as part of their existing classes. Service-learning-based courses are available through many departments. The emphasis on this type of education is increasing at Columbia, especially in relation to the economic recession facing the country.

ReachOut is a student organization that exemplifies this trend at Columbia. In addition to fixing houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the group also worked with a battered women’s shelter and a juvenile detention facility while on the trip.

Despite being suspended, the group is now raising funds outside of Columbia, to fund a gallery space that opened in Lakeview on May 1 displaying art from the trip.

“We have so much artwork and inspiration that happened down there,” Nicholas said. “Just because Columbia doesn’t want to be a part of it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen and it wasn’t beautiful.”

The gallery features various student artwork, including photographs that participants took on the trip. There was also a spoken word performance at the opening.

“We still want to show the work we did on the trip and make something good out of what we accomplished,” Foszcz said.

The group does plan to re-form, but by the time that will be allowed in the fall, most current members will have graduated.

“We wanted ReachOut to be that first step for people to be leaders in the future, and now we don’t have that anymore,” she said. “I feel like it’s a shame for students, and I really feel like it is a shame for the college.”

involved were punished.

“My letter [I received] said I ‘failed to follow the directive of a Columbia College employee,'” she said. “When that happened, I don’t know. For a week I racked my brain trying to figure out how I broke it. I still don’t know.”

Nicholas, who was terminated from her position as chair of SOC as her punishment for the incident, said she feels like a picture is being painted of ReachOut that isn’t necessarily accurate.

When asked about the situation, assistant dean of Student Life Kari Sommers, whose signature was on each student’s letters of punishment, said she was unable to discuss students’ private issues.

“There’s really nothing that’s appropriate for me to say,” Sommers said. “After next year, they’re going to come back stronger than ever. There’s not a doubt in my mind. They are brilliant, smart, dedicated and hardworking.”

Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Aldo Guzman also said he was unable to comment on individual student issues, because the punishment did not come from his office.

“ReachOut is not banned,” Guzman said. “They are sanctioned for one year.”

Guzman also said he was confident the group will come back strong in 2010. He has started working with the former executive board to plan what the next steps are for the group, saying they have his full support.

The group worked closely with the administration and the SOC to get the trip going and make it effective.

“We’ve always run into problems that the school has helped us work out,” said executive board member Janelle Foszcz. “They’ve always seemed to support us strongly, so we’re not entirely sure about how all of this played out.”

Each member signed a printed copy of the Student Code of Conduct, which clearly prohibits drinking. Chaperones decided that breaches of the code would be dealt with on an individual basis and would be reported back to the college. Students who were punished received social probation, which means they are not allowed to attend Columbia events and may face expulsion if they are involved in any other conduct incidents. The administration has been open to questions from the students involved.

But the 2009 trip was not the first time there has been an issue with drinking. Nicholas said many people were caught drinking in 2008, but no one was reprimanded by chaperones or the college.

“We’ve always had President [Warrick L.] Carter’s support,” Nicholas said. “He knows the name of the group and always seemed to enjoy our work and praise us for what we were trying to do for the school and start this huge service-learning program.”

Columbia is working to establish service-

learning as a larger part of the curriculum, providing students with opportunities to volunteer in the community as part of their existing classes. Service-learning-based courses are available through many departments. The emphasis on this type of education is increasing at Columbia, especially in relation to the economic recession facing the country.

ReachOut is a student organization that exemplifies this trend at Columbia. In addition to fixing houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the group also worked with a battered women’s shelter and a juvenile detention facility while on the trip.

Despite being suspended, the group is now raising funds outside of Columbia to fund a gallery space that opened in Lakeview on May 1 displaying art from the trip.

“We have so much artwork and inspiration that happened down there,” Nicholas said. “Just because Columbia doesn’t want to be a part of it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen and it wasn’t beautiful.”

The gallery features various student artwork, including photographs that participants took on the trip. There was also a spoken word performance at the opening.

“We still want to show the work we did on the trip and make something good out of what we accomplished,” Foszcz said.

The group does plan to re-form, but by the time that will be allowed in fall 2010, most current members will have graduated.

“We wanted ReachOut to be that first step for people to be leaders in the future, and now we don’t have that anymore,” she said. “I feel like it’s a shame for students, and I really feel like it is a shame for the college.”