Before the ink is dry on this editorial, someone is sure to complain about city Councilman Jeff Scott using his connections as a trustee at Slippery Rock University to get students from our local university to help improve a city park which happens to be in his own neighborhood.

The easy way to explain it is Councilman Smith was able to skillfully use his multiple positions to aid the SRU students with their mission to help the community and help the neighborhood with some much needed cleanup.

This isn’t abuse of power, but rather good leadership as long as the students weren’t being forced to do it, and based on the comments in the article on last Sunday, all was being done properly, so thank you Councilman Smith.

SRU and the students have started and are continuing to play a role of good citizenship throughout the county.

There was a time when many complained of the university being more of a taker and not a giver for even Slippery Rock borough let alone the entire county. Over the years, the presidents of the university have worked hard to encourage student involvement in the community and to improve relationships.

They seem to become more and more successful all the time. It is probably not a coincidence that SRU is seeing more success than the other state-operated universities but rather a product of the policies implemented by a number of recent presidents and current President William J. Behre.

None of the past presidents we have known during the past 40 years (Drs. Robert Abersold, Warren Smith, Robert Smith and Cheryl Norton), yearned for recognition and accolades.

The office of the president of SRU has been occupied by people always willing to put students first, and all others second.

They rightfully look after the best interests of the students, which, in turn, is also best for the community, the faculty and the administration.

On Saturday morning a group of SRU students came to Butler to perform community service.

No, not the kind ordered by a judge because of bad behavior, but the version encouraged by a university president who knows that community service is a vital part of the education of all people including college students.

Community-Engaged Learning is the sophisticated name for helping your neighbor, and the occasions are being called Service Saturdays. The lessons learned are every bit as valuable as any classroom work, and it puts the students and the residents on a level playing field as they work together for the betterment of this little piece of God’s world.

SRU is much more than a place of higher learning. It is an architect for better living as President Behre follows in the footsteps of those who came before him to mold SRU students into good students and better citizens.

— RV