The AU Community...?

Communities contain no boundaries, though they are sometimes defined by their geographic location. Communities do not stop at a specific number of people, though they usually involve a certain population. And communities always involve people that share a common interest, belief, or desire. Another important note about communities is that they have the power to include those who share the same beliefs, desires, or interests, while excluding those that do not.

With those parameters in mind, I will go on to explain how AU is a community, but it also contains many multiple communities, and it is also a part of a larger community.

AU is a community because we all made the decision to come here since we held the belief that it was where we were supposed to go to college. Therefore, all AU students have that common thread linking them together to form a community of students. Teachers also are an integral aspect of the AU community because it is assumed that they wanted to teach here and wanted to influence AU's students and allow them to succeed. The overall AU community is also exclusive in that one must be accepted here to attend this school, and since teaching here is a profession, one must be hired first. Through these measures, AU ensures that its community is composed of the people that it thinks are needed to keep this community thriving.

However, AU is composed of many multiple communities, too. When I first thought of the different communities that AU has, the first one that came to my mind was the Catholic Community because that is what they call themselves. They specifically use the word Community because it allows them to include those that are Catholics who will know that they have a place here. Also, the various other religious organizations are also communities because they have the power to exclude those who do not share their common religious belief. Although other clubs are less exclusive than religious ones, they still have the ability to exclude others once all members have joined. Varsity sports teams are another exclusive group on campus in that one must be invited to play for the team. Once one is on a varsity sports team there is a separate gym for one to use, and I am sure there are other privileges that they obtain as well.

Due to geography, AU is also a part of the larger, DC community since AU is recognized by many here and people can sometimes guess if you are a student there. However, AU is a part of a much, much larger community which is composed of all of the universities in the United States. All U.S. universities have in common the desire to educate people, and they are all very exclusive because one must apply to them to go to any university. This large community is defined by its geography in the U.S., and its population in mind is students, allowing it to meet all of the criteria for being a community.

Therefore, I think that it is important to not limit AU's community to itself, in that besides AU being a community, there are also many within it, and AU also plays a major role in a much grander community as well.