College students as catalysts for social change: a case study
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Social FactorsA major social factor for this particular group is being part of the networked knowledge era as discussed in my literature review. In my observations of the founders they are constantly on their computers and frequently on their cell phones. The group also uses many of the social networking websites such as Facebook. This is an effective method as research indicated 94% of first-year students reported spending time with online social networking websites during a typical week (HERI, 2007). One of the new college chapters initially discovered SLP by doing a Google search. The founders stay in touch with the college chapters by email and texting, all things that were not possible for earlier student movements. They also frequently have blog sites for the various trips for students to share their experiences. Additionally they use the computer to help with funding which is becoming increasingly common. “More than 22,000 non-profit groups have signed up to rally supporters on MySpace since it began in 2004, more young people are engaged in activism online and their creativity in using the Internet to do good works is ‘off the charts’” (Koch, 2008). SLP is part of this online activism but instead of MySpace they use Facebook. On Facebook you have the choice to "support a cause." SLP is one of the available causes to support, and 777 students had identified with this cause and contributed nearly $3,000 as of April, 2008. This method to spread the word and raise funds is a new social factor. The way the founder use technology and social networks in general makes SLP successful in ways it would not be without this access. This wide-spread use of fundraising via the Internet has been a social factor that has also been seen in unprecedented campaign donations in the 2008 Presidential campaign. Another social factor is the freedom for this generation to be more entrepreneurial than ever before. Many students in this generation are disillusioned with corporate culture and want the freedom to make a difference in their work settings. Growing up in families that were often consumed with achieving at work, many in this generation have developed a desire to find more meaningful employment (Rodriguez, Green, & Ree, 2003). Certainly starting a non-profit group would support this premise of entrepreneurship. SLP is not alone, in the United States from 1996 to 2006 the number of nonprofit organizations grew 36.2% from just over a million to 1.4 million (Urban Institute, 2007). HierarchyThis section contains three figures that visibly track the changes that have occurred within SLP since its inception. This I believe was one of the most startling examples of how the idealism and desire to remain different has been forced into a mold that is acceptable to others. These examples of the structural changes to SLP can be seen in the organizational charts with increasing levels of hierarchy being established. Figure 5 represents what the founders created during their sixth meeting, the second week of their existence. They were concerned already about the imposition of hierarchy and wanted SLP to be different. The minutes of this meeting read: “Keep in Mind…We need to start bringing people on board—and we MUST keep group dynamics in mind. A hierarchy will soon form; here’s how it will look. Note: Our hierarchy is backwards, putting the people we serve on top.” 
PEOPLE WE SERVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS US Figure 5. (SLP minutes). It is important to remember this was only week two of SLP’s existence, before a true organization had formed. At that beginning and today SLP works to keep the people they serve at the top, using a servant leadership model. Figure 6 was the next organizational chart created in 2006 to explain the exponential growth that was occurring with the addition of college chapters and the creation of a board of directors. Notice the circles and interconnectedness of the visual image. It is a good visual representation of SLP especially the top statement. The smaller circles represent the number of national core members, board members and chapter cores at the time the diagram was created. The smaller circles represent the three national core employees, Pete, Roy and Mackenzie. Figure 6. (SLP PowerPoint). Figure 7 is the current organizational chart. When asked why the changes were made Mackenzie said: “What prompted changes is the fact that we have a great structure. That hasn't changed. But we need to be able to communicate it to other people, in a manner that they can understand.” When discussing the changes that have been made to the organizational chart and some of the expectations of the board, Mackenzie summed it up well when she said “It’s not even just the board, its life. It’s very much an exemplification of our idealism when we were babies.”
Figure 7. (SLP PowerPoint). In addition to a formal organizational chart the SLP Board of Directors asked the founders to create formal job descriptions. In asking how the job duties were assigned among the three founders Pete said: “It’s just kind of what we have been doing, it’s just when we did job descriptions our board wanted them, but we just drilled down what we do anyway.” The roles of the founders have been assigned on an asset based method or a distributive leadership model. The structure has now developed into a traditional model. This same systematization has begun in other areas of SLP including written training manuals given to the bus core leaders, as evidenced from Mackenzie’s comments: Sophomore year I gave the bus leaders maybe two pages typed up that’s it, nothing else. Junior year maybe a week before the tour they…had a winter retreat and then a week before the tour they got like 12 pages. This past years tour, they had a fall conference and a winter retreat and about 18ish pages just on the tour. And this year they have a fall conference with a fall guide book, a winter retreat with a spring guide book and a tour guide book. Some of these tangible resources are in response to needs to systematize due to growth of the organization. Another factor is the organization actually has full-time staff for the first time. However, many of the expectations of structure are being imposed on them from outside. Some of these expectations have been from their Board of Directors, others from funding agencies.
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