Practically speaking, it is not in our best interest to join service groups like the Peace Corps and Teach for America if our best interest is based on what will economically sustain us, push us up the corporate ladder and conform to the recommendations of our advisers, parents and peers.

But with our $40,000 a year comes the understanding that an educational institution has a responsibility to develop students with particular values, knowledge and character.

The Center for Student Leadership and Involvement is the college’s strongest advocate of community service, organizing alternative spring breaks, the Make a Difference Day and community plunges. It sends a weekly e-newsletter with community service events and supports service organizations like Habitat For Humanity, among other initiatives.

But it is limited by being a single organization and limited in that it meets the needs of students who already know the importance of community service and seek its programs out on their own. It does not fulfill the college’s institutional obligation to enlighten those students who are not aware of this.

That is a responsibility that lies with the college and its students to create a culture in which students are taught by guest speakers, professors, resident assistants and advisers the importance of empathy. When we empathize with those in need, their problems become our problems. We can easily distance ourselves from world problems by ignoring fliers on the walls and e-mails in our inbox. But we cannot distance ourselves from guest speakers who tell of starvation and disease; from classes that encourage us to study this and organize plans to correct it; from service programs organized in our residence halls; and from advisers who encourage us to spend our post-college years serving the world.

Our most heroic alumni are not business entrepreneurs. They are students who have attained integrity and character and spend their post-college years making a difference. Those are the students the college should be most of proud of and the role models it should encourage its current students to follow.