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STUDENTS USE PERSUASION TECHNIQUES TO RUN CLOTHING DRIVE
By Nathan VanderKlippe NEWS EDITOR Little did most Calvin students know that what they thought was a generous donation was really evidence that they were victims of persuasion. And the students responsible are getting class credit for it. Amy Juenger, Michelle Nuiver, Jason Porte and Cameron Van Wyngarden are all students in CAS Professor Randall Bytwerk’s Persuasion and Propaganda class, CAS-305. In lieu of writing a final term paper, they opted to do a project demonstrating the principles learned in the class. The project they decided on was a clothing drive. The objective was to use techniques learned in class to effectively persuade people to donate as much as possible. To persuade students to donate, signs were posted around campus and in the residence halls. The dorms were given an added incentive. “Every dorm that donates three garbage bags full of clothing will get an extra day of open house,” said Van Wyngarden. Students will be able to leave clothes at their dorm desks until next week Wednesday. However, most donations were received at a table set up in Johnny’s which was manned on two consecutive Wednesdays, the 21st and the 28th, in order that off-campus students might have a chance to participate as well. At the end of last Wednesday, over 60 boxes of clothing had been collected and sent to Good Will (difficulties with the Salvation Army force d a last-minute decision to go with Good Will). What was surprising, said the group, was the amount of clothes given by faculty. Van Wyngarden said that it was hard to judge their success in the endeavour because they are the first students to do a clothing drive and as such “there’s no benchmark to shoot for.” But at the end of the day they were surprised at how much came in. “We really didn’t think we’d get as much here as we did,” said Porte. “At first, we expected four articles of clothing per student and we got a lot more. Today [Wednesday the 28th] was just unreal,” said Nuiver. Asked what he thought about being able to do a project instead of a term paper, Porte responded, “I think it’s great that [Bytwerk] gives us an alternative, especially one that benefits people. I think we learn more this way than from writing a paper.” Bytwerk explained his reasoning behind giving students a choice between a paper and a project. “One of the annoying things about teaching is that people respond differently,” he said. “Some people get the material but writing is not their strong point, so I like the option of students completing the assignment in a different way.” Previous student projects have included promoting the Grand Valley blood drive (one group helped to more than double the number of donors) and promoting student organ donation. |
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