Roosevelt University researcher and her students worked behind scenes for passage of new state law

Kathleen Kane-Willis, director of the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University, predicted that deaths from drug overdoses in Illinois will decline thanks to a new state law, the Emergency Medical Services Access Act, which was recently signed by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

“The number one reason why folks don’t call 911 is the fear of police and prosecution,” said Kane-Willis, who has been advocating with grassroots organizers since 2010 for bi-partisan passage of the new law, which gives limited immunity from prosecution to those who call 911 or who seek medical treatment in a drug overdose situation.

With its passage, Illinois becomes the fifth state in the nation (New Mexico, Washington, Connecticut and New York have approved similar legislation) to grant limited immunity to drug users who are overdosing and to those who reach out on behalf of a drug user in an overdose situation. The law protects individuals from prosecution when small amounts of most illegal substances are involved. It does not protect drug sellers or traffickers.

In Illinois, the grassroots coalition that worked for passage of the new law in 2010 and 2011 included parents who lost children to overdose, researchers, Roosevelt University students in Kane-Willis’ Drugs, Alcohol and Society class, Students for Sensible Drug Policy in Illinois and drug-treatment providers.

“We did background research and went down to Springfield to advocate for the new law,” said Clay Wallace, a Roosevelt graduate sociology major (also pictured) who was the teaching assistant for Drugs and Society, a transformational learning class. Wallace, a resident of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, enlisted the support of his state representative, Democrat Barbara Flynn Currie, who co-sponsored the Emergency Medical Services Access Act.

“This was democracy in the making, and it showed me that lawmakers are willing to look at things on a practical level.  The bottom line is no one wants people to die from a drug overdose and our lawmakers understood that,” he said.

“I hope this new law will someday be remembered as the first in a series of policy reforms that helped lead to a substantial reduction in the lives lost due to substance abuse,” said retired Chicago Police Captain John Roberts, a resident of Homer Glen in Will County, whose 19-year-old son died of a heroin overdose. Roberts is the founder of the Heroin Epidemic Relief Organization (HERO) and a member of the broad-based coalition that worked behind the scenes for passage of the new law.

The bill’s sponsor in the Illinois House, Representative Kelly Cassidy said “Simply put, this bill will save lives.  I am thankful to the advocates who worked so hard for so many years to pass this bill.  I am particularly grateful to the parents who shared the stories of their tragic losses to raise awareness and hopefully prevent others from enduring what they have."

Promoting child literacy through transformational learning

Students in Tammy Oberg De La Garza's READ 320 collaborated with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association during Fall 2012 to promote child literacy through transformational learning.



Her students document how much they learned in compelling videos. These undergraduates describe how they not only helped others, but also how the experience affected their personal development.

Transformational Learning Update for 2011

Transformational learning anchors the university's social justice mission in the classroom, allows students to reach out into the community as part of their coursework, and helps students become engaged citizens who have the tools to promote social change.  The unique and innovative model of service learning that we have developed at Roosevelt University actively involves students in addressing social problems as it allows them to help individuals in our neighborhoods.

We are happy to share that the use of transformational learning has dramatically expanded at Roosevelt over the past two years.  Many instructors have started to use service learning as part of the Mansfield Institute's work in interrupting the "cradle to prison pipeline."  Others faculty have embraced service learning through new partnerships between the MISJT and other units at the university.

Consider this quick comparison that reflects the growth in transformational learning.  In Fall 2009, instructors offered 16 classes that included transformational learning, with a total enrollment of 169 students.  In Fall 2011, this number is now 42 sections, enrolling 623 students.

Transformational learning has been infused as an option within the general educational curriculum.  Jan Bone's section of LIBS 201 (Writing Social Justice) is one innovative illustration.  This growth has encompassed virtually all sectors of the university.

We are pleased to expand our support of social justice-oriented courses and programs within the Heller College of Business, including their social entrepreneurship undergraduate business major and MBA concentration, internship programming, and applied opportunities to address chronic social issues (such as poverty and food security) through firm-level solutions.  We are similarly happy to report that transformational learning has become emblematic of particular departments at Roosevelt: 18% of undergraduate classes offered by the Department of Psychology during Spring 2012 will have a transformational learning component.

The Mansfield Institute has been able to support this work by providing grants, teaching assistants, and guidance about how to include service learning into coursework.  We have deepened partnerships with community organizations that address social inequality to facilitate the placement process for students.  These successes reflect the dedication of Roosevelt University faculty to the social justice mission and illustrate their commitment to using effective teaching methods that help transform students into socially-conscious individuals.

Teaching Assistant Grant Recipients

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the Mansfield Institute's Teaching Assistant Grant Program for Spring 2012.  Each of these faculty members will be able to hire an undergraduate or graduate level teaching assistant to help them implement transformational service learning during the upcoming semester.

This is the second year of this highly successful program, and we are happy to support innovative uses of service learning that will allow students to develop a deeper understanding of class concepts by their outreach in the community.  Roosevelt University students in these classes, for example, will conduct background research for Occupy Chicago, analyze the effectiveness of programs offered by the Young Men's Educational Network in North Lawndale, help a community organization develop assisted housing facilities, and assist in the afterschool programs at Whittier Elementary School in Pilsen.

Congratulations to this year's awardees:

Jan Bone (English Composition)
LIBS 201 - Writing Social Justice

Jennifer Clark (Economics)
ECON 102 - Introduction to Microeconomics

Tammy Oberg De La Garza (Education)
READ 323- Teaching Reading through Children's Literature

Melissa Sisco (Psychology)
PSYC 387 - Child Abuse and Family Violence

Fabricio Prado (History)
HIST 112 - The World since 1500

Lisa Lu (Psychology)
PSYC 310/BIOL 310 - Fundamentals of Behavioral Neuroscience

Sofia Dermisi and Jon DeVries (Finance and Real Estate)
REES 441 - Real Estate Design and Feasibility

John McDonald and Jon DeVries (Finance and Real Estate)
REES 451 - Public/Private Development

Alfred DeFreece (Sociology)
SOC 290 - The Research Process
SOC 480 - Sociological Theory and Methods

Erik Gellman (History)
HIST/SOCJ 201 - Introduction to Social Justice Studies

Tana McCoy (Criminal Justice)
CJL 220 - Juvenile Justice

George Seyk (Heller College of Business)
BADM 398, MGMT 492, ACCT 492 - Internships

Tom Farmer (Psychology)
PSYC 381 - Children and Families

Transformational learning in LIBS 201: Writing Social Justice

On the first day of class in September, students in Jan Bone’s Fall 2011 Writing Social Justice course in Schaumburg (Liberal Studies 201) did not know they had signed up for a course that could include transformational learning. However, more than two thirds of them opted to take part in the transformational project on domestic violence. The rest of the class studied an alternative curriculum on immigration issues. Those that chose to be a part of transformational learning were paired with contacts provided by Agnes Masnik, Illinois State Senator Matt Murphy’s district director and secretary of the Northwest Suburban Alliance on Domestic Violence, headquartered in Palatine and near the Roosevelt/Schamburg campus. The contacts Masnik provided to students were all members of the Alliance and are committed to promoting prevention of domestic violence.

Over the 2011 summer, Bone and Masnik met several times to coordinate how to make the partnership between Roosevelt University students and the Alliance work effectively for everyone involved. Together they hatched the idea of creating blog postings where student authors would write-up their interviews with participating members of the Alliance. Bone and Masnik both spoke highly of their experiences working together on the transformational learning portion of the course; each wanted to give the other lots of credit for her work.

The 16 students who chose to partner with an Alliance member or agency went through a process of choosing a partner, requesting an interview with them, interviewing them, preparing questions, and actually interviewing. Interview questions were prepped as a class assignment and reviewed by Bone before the students met their individual contacts.

Students learned a great deal about interviewing skills as well as skills geared toward writing up an acceptable short interview report for their blogs on the Alliance website. Bone talked with her students about audience and purpose and the need to consider both when interviewing and writing up the material. Each interview piece went through multiple revisions with the help of Bone and Masnik before being published on the blog. Besides the end goal of posting their work on the Alliance’s blog, the students also were working to finish their pieces as a promotional timed to run concurrently and shortly after the Domestic Violence awareness event co-sponsored by Roosevelt and the Alliance called “Break the Silence on Relationship Violence” held on October 27th at the Schaumburg campus.

The partnership between Bone’s students and the members of the Alliance was at times complicated, but it was also valuable. It took a lot of coordination between the students and their designated contacts to find a time where they could even talk about setting up a meeting, much less actually meet. Bone also reported that she liked the challenge and will run a similar transformational learning course in Spring 2012 with the help of a teaching assistant using a $2000 grant from the Mansfield Institute of Social Justice and Transformational Learning for the course. The $2000 scholarship will be applied to the student’s Spring 2012 tuition.

Masnik elaborated that in a time where nonprofits are struggling to provide a service, the organizations were able to have the students help spread their message of social justice. The students’ blog entries were a new medium whereby attention was being drawn to something that needed attention: the cycle of domestic violence. The students also got a lot out of the experiences in the class as well. Not only did they learn interviewing strategies and improve their writing skills, but also they had the chance to learn by experiencing and being able to work with someone in the field. They enjoyed seeing their bylines published with their blogs, as well as the credit line for Roosevelt’s Social Justice classes.

The students were able to go to the sources to learn -- taking their learning a step farther than a textbook is able. Transformational learning also made the students feel involved, powerful, and as if they were actually doing something meaningful. After all, how many college sophomores get to interview a mayor or police chief and have their work published?

Bone’s transformational learning course gave them those opportunities. Her Spring 2012 class in Writing Social Justice will work closely with staffers from CEDA Northwest Self-Help Center, a non-profit agency that works in partnership with 14 communities to achieve self-sufficiency and improve their quality of life. CEDA Northwest serves the communities of Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Park Ridge, Prospect Heights, Schaumburg and Wheeling.

Check out the students' blog posting on the Northwest Suburban Alliance on Domestic Violence page at http://endallabuseblog.blogspot.com/.

Alternative Break Immersion 2012 applications available

Please inform your students of a wonderful opportunity to impact a community in need and be part of an amazing team!  During Spring Break 2012, Katie Mason will be taking a group of up to ten students to Goshen, IN where we will provide service for an organization called La Casa, Inc.  La Casa, among many things, provides affordable housing for rent and to purchase for individuals who are considered in the low-to-moderate income status.  They will spend the week doing housing repairs and learning about the community.  Trip dates are March 10th-March 17th.  Applications are available in the Center for Student Involvement (AUD 344) and are due by December 5th at 5pm.  Questions?  Contact Katie Mason at kmason@roosevelt.edu (Career Counselor in the Office of Career Development).

Social action in transformational learning classes

What is our "brand" of service learning?

One of the most important ways in which service learning at Roosevelt differs from other universities is our frequent emphasis of creating social change through students' community work.  For instance, many service learning placements across the country involve tutoring children who experience adversity, but fewer encourage their students to question and act on why those inequalities exist in the first place.  This is where our social justice mission directs our work in a unique way for transformational service learning.

I recently read an example of this broader focus in an issue of the Diversity and Democracy newsletter published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.   Here's an excerpt below.  You'll find other examples from some of the previous posts on this blog.

Perspective-Taking and Community
In my classes, I connect assigned readings directly to challenges facing our local and global economies. These challenges affect both students' lives and the lives of the community members with whom they come in contact. I use the course readings as media for enhancing critical dialogue on the possibilities for new models of democratic engagement and collaboration. To make the readings concrete, I give my students the opportunity to work alongside new immigrants in a Pomona day labor center, day laborers on the street corners of Rancho Cucamonga, farm workers in the San Joaquin Valley, and labor and community organizers in diverse coalitions throughout the region. The readings and our class discussions become "real" when students meet with these day laborers and community organizers to work on common projects that emerge from their dialogue. Just as in the classroom, students advance to new levels of collaboration and civic engagement by practicing democratic exchange.

Having identified problems that are relevant to the workers, students use participatory community-based research and action to locate solutions. Drawing on their discussions with workers, students organize various projects that push for social change. Students and workers have collaborated to implement English classes, health workshops, and immigration rights research projects. Students have also organized petition drives, researched the constitutionality of checkpoints, marched to protest immigration raids, and campaigned to ensure continued funding for the local day labor center. To combat negative portrayals of new immigrants, students and day laborers have organized community-wide art and pictorial life history presentations. Thus the workers and students join in raising their voices and ensuring that they are heard. In all these projects, students come to accept the day laborers as teachers. With the help of the Center for Community Engagement and funding from alumna Susan Hanson, the college hosts weekly Encuentros (Encounters) lunches where day laborers share their life stories and converse in Spanish with students and faculty. Students also perform teatro (activist theater) in various communities during their spring break.

Through the projects and class readings, students become more equipped to understand contemporary debates over immigration, free trade, globalization, and the many myths that circulate about farm laborers, union organizers, and immigrant workers. By learning to respect each other's perspectives and by pursuing specific outcomes that benefit both campus constituents and workers, students and workers have developed a genuine trust over the years. In this way, the practice of perspective-taking becomes a useful tool in understanding the diverse experiences that intersect in the "border culture" between academia and the world beyond. Students learn to value the perspective of the "other": the poor, the worker, the oppressed, the immigrant, or the person of another color, class, gender, or sexuality. Similarly, workers and community organizers grow to respect classrooms as places where ideas can become deeds that advance their efforts to be heard.