In a student production of "Dracula" at Texas A&M University some years ago, the final scene was exceptionally dramatic. One actor stabbed another, who was playing the vampire, in the chest with a real knife. A volunteer director from the community, who was assisting the drama club, had decided that the scene required the actual weapon, not the…

Two-dozen students from the University of Virginia in January 2006 took part in a program that brings college students from around the US to help rebuild New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The program was part of an interdisciplinary two-week course that examined the impact of the hurricane through such diverse topics as…

A 2005 national survey of incoming freshmen in the US reveals that two out of three college freshmen believe it is essential or very important to help others who are in difficulty, with 83 percent stating they volunteered at least occasionally during their senior year of high school. The survey also finds an increased level of political…