STEP survey: Civil rights, education fire college students' passions
Civil rights and education are two areas college and high school students and campus ministers want to see the church address, according to a survey completed this summer and fall by the Student Ecumenical Partnership (STEP).

The national college ministry of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), STEP clarified its vision this spring by calling college students to social activism and theological dialogue. To determine the next action to answer that call, STEP collected more than 120 surveys asking college and prospective college students about the social issues they feel STEP is most capable of addressing.

Members of the STEP Leadership Team distributed the survey at the UCC's General Synod in Atlanta and the Disciples' General Assembly in Portland, Oregon. The survey also was available online until the beginning of October so students returning to campuses could participate. Participants were asked to choose their top three choices from a list of thirteen choices.

Civil rights - including GLBT rights, racism, indigenous rights, and human rights in general - was included in 46% of all responses, followed by education in 37%. The categories were selected and defined by the 10-member STEP Leadership Team.

The survey results are not scientific since participants were self-selected, but they are nonetheless insightful.

"First and foremost, they demonstrate how much college students care about the life of the church and how seriously they take the challenge to put their faith into practice," said Leadership Team member Beau Underwood, a student at Eureka College. "These responses also remind all of us how varied the passions of college students are and give us a responsibility to make sure every individual is ministered to, and encouraged by, the work of the Student Ecumenical Partnership."

Jonathan Hall, a senior at Transylvania University, was surprised that the E in STEP ranked lower than he had expected.

"One thing that is surprising is that a prime component of STEP - ecumenism - is far down on the list," Hall said. "I believe that we should keep it as a mission, but perhaps the mission of STEP should be mobilization: using our hands to feed the homeless, our feet to march and protest for civil rights, and our mouths as prophetic voices that are not apologetic, but prophetic."

The survey also included short-answer opportunities for feedback on denominational programs and brief demographic information. Reviewing those answers and discerning the next action for STEP will be on the agenda when the STEP Leadership Team gather in St. Louis November 4-6. Check www.stepnetwork.org in mid-November for a report on that meeting.