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Omidyars Invest
In Active Citizenship, Public Service At Tufts
Medford/Somerville, Mass. -- In March, Pierre and Pam Omidyar invested $10 million in a Tufts initiative to infuse public service into the University's curriculum. On Friday, the couple spent the day at Tufts -- sharing their enthusiasm for citizenship and public service with students.
Tufts
President John DiBiaggio agrees. He's been focused on encouraging
public service since he came to Tufts in 1992. Now, The University's
new College of Citizenship and Public "The Tufts initiative is the most comprehensive example of the efforts being made by hundreds of universities across the nation to re-emphasize public service as a core tenant of the curriculum," the New York Times wrote today. The effort appears to be working. "I want to do something to help and make a difference, " Tufts freshman Robina Bhasin told the Christian Science Monitor last week. She and 20 of her classmates were at the World Trade center to for the Peace Games Festival, the final event in a year-long program to teach violence prevention in K-8 grade classrooms. "I like the idea of working with kids, teaching them about cooperation and collaboration... It makes a difference for the next generations," Bhasin said.
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"Being an active part of your community, an active citizen, involved
in public service, is not just one of the bubbles that are part
of your life," Omidyar told a classroom full of Tufts students.
"It's not something you put on your resume. It's not something you
do each morning before you go to work. It's something you should
think about throughout every day."
Service
is receiving a lot of attention, including coverage in the New
York Times and the cover story in Forbes Magazine.
