[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 25, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E281-E282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE RESPONSIBLE SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM AT IOWA WESLEYAN 
                                COLLEGE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. LEACH

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2003

  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to invite the attention of my 
colleagues to a remarkable program at Iowa Wesleyan College, a 161-
year-old, Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Mr. Pleasant, 
IA.
  In conjunction with National Volunteer Month, this week the college 
is celebrating the achievement of 1 million hours of service to society 
by its graduates through participation in its Responsible Social 
Involvement (RSI) program.
  In the 35 years since its inception, RSI--with its requirement of a 
minimum of 160 hours of work with a nonprofit organization, as well as 
the keeping of a journal, the writing of an essay and the making of an 
oral presentation--has become a national paradigm for public service.
  More than simply a requirement that must be met for graduation, 
participation in RSI has proven a life-transforming experience for 
thousands of Iowa Wesleyan students.
  In 1739, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, confided 
to his journal that ``I look upon the world as my parish.'' The young 
men and women Iowa Wesleyan sends from its campus through RSI discover 
a world in which too often the so-called ``me-generation'' succumbs to 
the temptation to decouple freedom from responsibility.
  Today it is tempting to seek freedom by abjuring personal 
responsibility for addressing the needs of those less well off in our 
communities. This renunciation of individual accountability is too 
easily justified by the assumption that the role of meeting societal 
needs is exclusively that of impersonal bureaucracies. Participants in 
RSI come to understand that a moral society demands that individuals 
not duck responsibility for improving the lot of others, that personal 
fulfillment comes through action rooted, not in ``I'', but ``we.''
  The Responsible Social Involvement program at Iowa Wesleyan 
appropriately epitomizes John Wesley's Rule:

     Do all the good you can,

[[Page E282]]

     By all the means you can,
     In all the ways you can,
     In all the places you can,
     At all the times you can,
     To all the people you can,
     As long as ever you can

  I am sure my colleagues will join me in congratulating the faculty, 
staff, students, alumni and friends of Iowa Wesleyan College on 
reaching the milestone of providing one million hours of service 
through RSI. They will also want to join me in wishing them Godspeed as 
they embark on their second million.

                          ____________________