Most of you have probably never heard of Center for Civic Life (abbr. CCL) as we're a really small group on campus. I've been in the group for two years (this will be my third year) now and we're like a small family. While I could go on for hours about the people in the group, I'll tell you about the club itself.
Our two advisors started the club years ago and originally it was just a faculty club. Then, a few years ago, the club opened up to students as well. The ultimate goal of our group is to help make a change or to at least get people talking. We talk about all kinds of events or issues in today's society and talk about solutions for said issues and topics.
We don't just discuss the topics as that wouldn't really create a change, it would just create awareness. We don't debate the topics, either, as that might have a more negative impact rather than positive on our goal. So, what we do is we deliberate. This means that we have a discussion or forum and talk about all kinds of options and solutions to the issues. Once we have agreed on a set of solutions, we put forth the motion into creating the change (i.e., sending our results to the groups directly involved in our discussion).
There's a lot more that goes into the group than just showing up for discussions and making compromises, but this is a general overview. So why should you join? There are quite a few reasons. One being that through CCL, you can go through moderator training and get a certificate, which looks good on resumes. Another reason is that the group has good intentions. Everyone should want to help create change, but that can't happen unless everyone tries. And lastly, it's a great group. As I mentioned, we're a family. We have a lot of fun together and in the process we're also, y'know, trying to save the world. All right, I'm exaggerating the last part, but still.
An example topic of what we talk about is identity theft. In fact, in October we'll be holding a community discussion about how you can prevent your identity from being stolen and what you can do once you have been hacked. One of our members will be putting flyers around with more information, but it will definitely be interesting especially after the issue of identity theft that occurred last year. So, you should definitely check our group out and think about joining!
