Community Service and the Hospitality Curriculum

Abstract

Students in a required human-relations course at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration were assigned the responsibility of "volunteering" in a local humanservices agency. The students chose their assignments, which included visiting with residents in nursing homes, tutoring at-risk children, and serving in soup kitchens. The students gained information about the effects of cutbacks in government programs for the disadvantaged and insights into their own motivations and the effects of interpersonal interaction. Ironically, although students agreed that volunteerism is important, none continued their volunteer assignments in subsequent semesters.