Political forum members debate the nature of volunteering

Chelsea Van Baalen
The Advocate

Americans donate to charity more than any other country, political science instructor Janet Campbell said Thursday at the Political Forum “Is Volunteering Altruistic?”

Campbell was joined by panelists Danielle Pannell, Associated Student Government director of state and federal affairs, Mark Patterson, a member of the forensics team, and Eric Juenemann, MHCC career and experiential learning specialist.

Pannell was the first to speak, immediately identifying herself as a volunteer. Pannell said that Mother Theresa was the ultimate volunteer. “She never expected anything in return.”

Pannell said volunteering is “the greatest gift you can give yourself” and she herself “was raised to give to others.”

Pannell said volunteering was in fact altruistic because “people volunteer because they want to help.”

Patterson spoke next in “negation” of volunteering being altruistic. Using the analogy of the federal government, Patterson pointed out times when the government has acted in self-interest versus the betterment of the people.

“People are being raised in a place where the government is putting its needs (before the people),” Patterson said. “The idea of personal gain has been instilled in us through our socialization.”

Juenemann pointed out that volunteerism itself must be defined.

“I think when you’re looking at that question, we actually have to start by defining volunteerism,” Juenemann said. “It can go in a lot of different directions.” Juenemann added that while some people may be acting out of altruism, others may not and that the altruism may shift.

“We got a good variety of points up there,” Campbell said before turning the conversation over to the audience.

“There is a lot of gray area out there,” said Clayton Merritt, a architectural engineering major. “There are people out there who are very altruistic. It really depends.”

“I don’t think altruism is premeditated at all,” Campbell said. “Human beings are such complex creatures, motivation is key.”

Overall, the broadness of altruism seemed to come out.
Patterson said, “maybe the problem is altruism is too broadly defined.”