Kendra Borgen might miss emptying her Christmas stocking this year. The 22-year-old University student plans to donate $500 of her hard-earned cash to help a local charity instead of buying a Christmas plane ticket home.
Borgen’s pledge is part of a “put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is” effort by Professor Kenneth DeBevoise’s Introduction to Urban Politics class to alleviate the problems the class is studying.
The fund-raising drive grew out of a class debate about taxes and social problems. After DeBevoise had the class separated into liberal and conservative students, Borgen — a self-identified conservative — asked the liberal students if they would be willing to pay extra taxes to support social services.
Forty-six of the students said yes, and Borgen decided to challenge their claims.
“Yeah, right,” Borgen remembered thinking.
This led Borgen to propose a radical plan: If 30 students in the class pledged $100 of their own money to go toward social services, Borgen would contribute $500. When she pitched her idea to DeBevoise, the professor offered to throw in $500 himself.
“I at least make a salary,” DeBevoise said. “Plus, I think it’s a great idea.”
Now the class is in the midst of a drive to raise the $4,000 for a social service charity.
“All of this was kind of inspired by inner-city poverty,” Borgen said. “I was kind of excited about the prospect of organizing and getting involved.”
The students in the class have formed a committee to decide where the money, if it materializes, should go. The committee has narrowed the list of organizations down to three: Womenspace, a domestic violence organization; Looking Glass, a child welfare organization; and Parent Partnership, a South Lane County organization that strives to improve parenting skills and promote healthy development of families in rural areas.
The committee will meet with representatives of the three organizations on Friday and come to a decision soon thereafter.
While DeBevoise’s class focuses on inner-city problems, one student said that many of the issues — poverty, welfare and a lack of good jobs — plague rural Oregon as well.
“These are the same problems that we’re dealing with in Cottage Grove,” Jake Clark, a 27-year-old student, said. “It doesn’t take an inner city to have these problems.”
While the fund-raising effort is led by students, DeBevoise remains an enthusiastic observer. Often dressed in jeans and a beat-up Boston Red Sox hat, DeBevoise poses questions to his class such as: “Is idleness a ghetto value?”
DeBevoise’s students said his classes are unique.
“I think Ken’s nature is open and welcome,” Borgen said. “He kind of embraces the bizarre.”
Borgen said that there is a good chance the class will be able to raise the $4,000 and perhaps significantly more.
“There’s an off chance that we might get an outside sponsor,” Borgen said. “We could get upwards of $10,000.”
As for Borgen, she doesn’t regret her extraordinary pledge.
“Sure, I’ll miss my folks and friends back home,” the Alaska native said. “(But) if we can help a charity that keeps one family together, I’m completely willing to make that sacrifice.”