Poverty on Campus

This is the second in a series of posts over the next 24 hours looking at poverty in Austin as part of Blog Action Day 2008.

As being a Campus Ministry Intern at the University Catholic Center serving The University of Texas at Austin, I see quite often the poverty that exists on campus, taking a few different forms.

First, many homeless individuals spend their time along Guadalupe Street ("The Drag"), some asking students for their generosity, some just experiencing the day. Some students are generous—giving individuals cash, food, water and more. Other students try to only walk on certain sections of Guadalupe to avoid the usual hangouts in fear of being asked by a "Drag Rat" for some change.

Second, the University is a city in itself with an army of non-student food service employees, janitors and many others that are most likely earning well under the average wage for someone in the city of Austin. Some are the only breadwinner in a household bursting at the seams. Not nearly enough students pay them the time or attention that a person deserves, but looking through them as only a thing that is there to provide them food, clean up their trash off the floor or whatever else. Thankfully, many students do see the dignity of these folks who work extremely hard to meet the students' needs, but still, many don't.

Third and very much related to the above two, is the poverty in spirit that exist in some students. From my position at the UCC, I see many students who realize the world around them, the role they play into it and the role that others—from President Powers down to the hourly temp worker—play into the world. They're full of life, generally happy and what.

Those students are a light to others on campus and I count them among my many blessings.

But, many students are troubled, feel alone, are full of anger and hatred, depressed. While they may be surrounded by more material things than I myself will ever know, they're nevertheless impoverished. For them, they may know realize their poverty, which is the saddest part. While we need some material things to survive (food, shelter, etc), to be fully alive, we need more than just the material.

In so many cases, if we can connect these two types of poverty—the poor in spirit with the poor in material—both sides can come out better and less impoverished than before.