At 3 p.m. on Thursday, about 22 students will become homeless.

The students, who are enrolled in SPM 101: “Personal and Social Responsibility,” are camping out on the Quad from 3 p.m. on Thursday until 8 a.m. on Friday as a part of the Cardboard Campout campaign, started by the Syracuse Rescue Mission. They will also be accepting donations of personal care items to benefit the men in the Rescue Mission shelters.

Jeff Pauline, the professor who teaches SPM 101, said the personal responsibility aspect of the class focuses on adjusting to college and becoming independent, while the social responsibility aspect focuses on the students’ roles in their community and society.

“[This class is] trying to get young people to understand that their place in the world is above and beyond just themselves,” Pauline said.

The campout is an attempt to get students involved in the local community, he said, as well as recognize the global significance of homelessness. Pauline said the class’ involvement in the project started when representatives of the Rescue Mission approached him about being a part of their campaign.

In addition to the campout, Pauline said, donation bins around the Quad will collect small personal care items, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant and soap.

“I joke with my students, ‘Hopefully you brush your teeth every day,’ but we don’t necessarily think about having a toothbrush and toothpaste to actually do that,” Pauline said.

The donations will benefit the men who stay at the Rescue Mission shelter and are in need of these items. There will be no cash donation system, Pauline said, but there will be care items available to purchase for donation for interested passers-by.

Marketing director of the Rescue Mission, Liz Poda, said the idea behind the Cardboard Campout is to help different groups understand what it’s like to be homeless for a night, and build awareness of the issue through a hands-on experience.

Last year, the Rescue Mission served more than 10,300 individuals and more than 250,000 meals. But beyond beds and meals, Poda said, the Rescue Mission works with homeless individuals and families to help them move forward and become independent from the shelters.

Poda said she hopes that through activities like the Cardboard Campout, people will become aware of the services available to the homeless, so even strangers can refer someone in need to the Rescue Mission.

Fardan Farrakhan, a senior political science major participating in the campout, also stressed that the goal of the event is awareness. He said he doesn’t expect students who see the group sleeping on the Quad to immediately take action to help the homeless. But he said he hopes it can change the way some students perceive the issue.

For the students in the class, the idea of actually completing this task had a certain shock value, he said, but nobody seemed to respond negatively to it.

“It’s different. We all want to experience it because it’s so different,“ he said. “It’s humbling. It gives you a better sense of what (homeless people) go through.”

Farrakhan said the class is an experience within itself because it addresses and analyzes issues people don’t usually talk about. The event relates to the class because students are bringing attention to an issue that is often overlooked, he said.

“I think the fact that Dr. Pauline is making us do this is phenomenal,” Farrakhan said. “Going through a school like Syracuse, where 80 percent of the school is wealthy, for most people, this isn’t at the top of their bucket list.”

Based on the feedback the students get on Thursday, Pauline said he hopes to do the event again next year.

Said Pauline: “The big thing that (students) can take away is that they can actually have an impact on our community in a positive way.”

Published on April 17, 2013 at 11:59 pm