The Websters discuss the role of Coalition (and other) gatherings in creating momentum for the archive project. John Davis notes how they spurred collective memory recovery and reflection. In reference to a 2009 Center for Health Services (CHS) gathering, Rosie Hammond adds how these reunions were an opportunity to learn of others’ post-Coalition lifetime of …
Bill Corr recounts his introduction to the Student Health Coalition (SHC) and Center for Health Services (CHS) shortly after graduating from Vanderbilt Law School. He was working with the Tennessee Department of Public Health at the time Irwin Venick encouraged him to get involved. Having done so, Bill Corr now reflects back on the SHC’s …
Irwin Venick, Joe Little, and Bob Hartmann reflect on the birth and growth of the Center for Health Services (CHS) over time, tracing its stages of development from its initial Medical School partnership to its later social-science orientation and eventually, with Barbara Clinton as director in the late 1970s, to its relationship with the Nursing …
On the Center’s multi-phasic identities and development over time Read More »
Bob Hartmann and Irwin Venick respond to Gillian’s question about how they would approach or encourage others to approach similar student and/or community-led projects today. Bob provides insight into what the Coalition did right and what it could have done better, concluding that there’s value in and need for both community and institutional support. Irwin …
On the role of institutional support in community-driven change Read More »
Bob Hartmann, Irwin Venick, and Joe Little reflect on how the SHC process became institutionalized and the widespread (but split) resistance to it. Bob concludes that if they’d known more about how universities work or approached the formalization process retrospectively, student resistance may not have been (or wouldn’t now be) so vehement. Irwin and Joe …
Resistance to institutionalization: then and now Read More »
Joe Little reflects on the influence of Coalition (and Center) participation on himself (and others) as an individual, choosing to think on how it impacted so many students in positive and profound ways despite the conflict that surrounded the Center for Health Services’ (CHS) formation. See the full length panel discussion to learn more about the …
Positive impact despite Coalition/Center conflict: Joe Little reflects Read More »
Irwin Venick expands on the competing visions between the SHC and the Center for Health Services (CHS), explaining that once the Center was established, Coalitioners faced the challenge of adjusting to a structure they hadn’t had to in previous installments of their work. As co-director at the time, Dick Couto faced considerable challenges. He sought …
Competing visions and growing pains: on the Center’s origins Read More »
Margaret Ecker reflects on the power of the Coalition, however invisible at the time, and its success in changing institutions, unconventional and inchoate though it was. She brings John Gaventa’s conclusion on the matter, as further detailed in his book Power and Powerlessness, into the forefront of the conversation. See the full length panel discussion …
Margaret Ecker reflects on unique nature of the Coalition’s power Read More »
Joe Little frames Tricia Nixon’s visit to the Center for Health Services (CHS) as a microcosm for the conflict that was going on at the time: some SHC and/or CHS participants and alumni attended the meeting, entertaining the dialogue that other Coalition and Center affiliates protested just outside. See the full length panel discussion to learn more …
Joe Little on Tricia Nixon’s visit and the Coalition/Center conflict Read More »
Irwin Venick and Joe Little define the central conflict pertaining to the development of the Center for Health Services (CHS) as the challenge of retaining a Bill-like figure to keep the spirit, vision, and focus of the Coalition alive, yet also creating a stabilizing structure or institutional landing pad for transitioning projects between transient students–particularly …
Coalescing visionary spirit with stabilizing structure: on the Center’s origins Read More »
