On this warming February afternoon sitting in the midst of Industrial U I am grateful that I have spent my working life among students who teach me in ways I cannot anticipate Gerald Campbell, Seminar Co-Chair Group X participant, Anne Katz, represents her group, presenting their casework project in front of a panel of local community leaders: Alva Rankin, Donna Barnes-Haesemeyer, and Michael Miller. L-R: Margaret Larson, Rosemary Ewoldt, and James Freeman, group casework project.

Group X (2002 - 2004)

Rights of Individuals and Communities: Fusion and Tension- January 21-24, 2003

The tension that arises between the rights of the individual and the community's rights is at the heart of much of the work of community leaders. The following Seminar Chairs joined participants at the Schwan Center in Trego, January 21-24, 2003 to ponder how to deal with this all too familiar tension.

• Calvin Brutus, Assistant Professor, Life Sciences Communication, UW Madison and Center for Community Economic Development, UW Cooperative Extension;
  
• Gerry Campbell, Professor, Agricultural and Applied Economics, UW-Madison and Center for Community Economic Development, UW Cooperative Extension;
  
• Beverly Stencel, Community Resource Development Educator, Professor, UW Cooperative Extension, Washburn.

In a retreat setting, during some of the coldest days of this winter participants and seminar chairs examined the basic values that drive their decision-making and the social context in which they are derived. Participants explored aspects of US history and the bases of US ideology-including individualism, pluralism and communitarianism-and how these influence individual and collective decision-making. Participants grappled with the role of dissent, and analyzed the responsibility of an individual or a collective to a system once it is constructed.

In small groups, using current community case scenarios participants examined the role of the community leader in bridging individual and community concerns and who determines the common good. Further, they analyzed the ethical tensions that these cases presented to community leaders. The seminar closed with participants making presentations to local community leaders for their review on the approaches taken by the small groups in resolving the community case scenarios.

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