Marleigh
Hayes ’25 used grant funds to study drug and alcohol use among arrested
individuals
CONWAY, Arkansas (November 28, 2023) — When Marleigh Hayes
’25 accepted a $2,600 Elizabeth
T. and John S. Workman Summer Project Grant awarded through the
Hendrix College Office of Religious Life, the politics major saw it as a fitting
way to combine her United Methodist faith and her interest in advocating for
social change. The Workman Grant supports summer projects by Hendrix students
pursuing careers in the United Methodist Church, social justice, the news media
or writing.
With the guidance of her academic advisor, Dr. Delphia Shanks
of the Hendrix Department of Politics, and working with the Arkansas Justice
Reform Coalition, Hayes helped develop a study that would evaluate the
prevalence of drug and alcohol use in Washington County arrestees through
interviewing recently arrested persons. The data the team gathered and the
report Hayes generates will eventually provide tools to inform new programs and
reduce recidivism, improving the lives of those who face struggles with
addiction.
Though the study itself occurred during the summer, Hayes
engaged in an independent study with Shanks during the Spring 2023 semester to
ensure she was prepared for the work ahead. This phase included reviewing the 2008
Washington County Arrestee Drug and Alcohol Report and changes that have
occurred since its release. That existing report and the nuts-and-bolts
elements of preparation, such as choosing a survey results collection tool and
learning how to use it, helped her build a framework for the interviews she
would conduct inside the walls of the Washington County Detention Center.
Even with detailed preparation, Hayes found the two-week survey
period more meaningful than she could have known in advance.
“We really got to talk to people, form connections, and allow
them a safe space to be heard,” she said.
Hayes and others who gathered survey responses face-to-face worked
in a windowless room inside the detention center from 3 p.m. to midnight,
interviewing persons who had been arrested within the past 48 hours and who indicated
a willingness to participate in the study. Respondents ranged from a young
adult being held on a first-time DUI charge to someone who had served 50 years
behind bars and had just been re-arrested.
Being in the detention center was “a tense environment,”
Hayes said, but she found her interaction with the respondents incredibly
meaningful, as was her experience interacting with the center’s administration
to agree upon the conditions under which the survey interviews would be
conducted. The survey team argued successfully for interviewing the respondents
without them wearing shackles or other restraints.
“We wanted them to feel comfortable while having these
conversations” about potentially emotional topics such as their addiction
history and other significant life events, Hayes said. While interviewers could
not offer participants any kind of compensation, they did give respondents a
soda and a candy bar as a thank-you for their time—again, in the interest of
providing a comfortable environment for individuals already facing struggles.
Among the findings: Substance use has increased among the
detention center population since 2008, and white respondents reported higher
rates of illicit drug use than non-white respondents. Also, most people who
participated in the survey reported living in destitute conditions before their
arrest.
Hayes has long wanted to work in the nonprofit arena, and
this experience gave her a window into how she can be on the ground advocating
for people and the systemic change that will help them. She also hopes to learn
more about criminal justice and what her role can be as a person of faith with
a desire to create change.
“I met Marleigh when she was a high school student
participating in Hendrix Youth Institute, where our serving experience touched
on the injustices in mass incarceration,” said the Rev. Ellen Alston ’82,
chaplain of the College. “It has been a privilege to watch her grow in her
faith, insights, and calling, now as a United Methodist Leadership Scholar at
Hendrix, as she invests her time and energies to serve and lead in ways that
can make a positive difference for others.”
One element of this summer’s experience has already proven
life-changing for Hayes. Because no members of their team spoke Spanish, she
saw how that missing skill hampered the project’s reach to a significant number
of persons held in the detention center. As a result, when she returned to
campus this fall, she immediately declared a minor in Spanish.
“Marleigh has been a fantastic partner throughout this
project, and I am impressed by her willingness to do whatever she can to increase
her capacity to effect change in her community,” says Shanks, Hayes’s academic
advisor and mentor. “She is learning from her experiences and taking action in
a meaningful and reflective way.”
Members of the Workman family read Hayes’s written report and
viewed a recording of the presentation she made November 16 to Hendrix
community members. They offered praise for her project, expressing how well it
aligned with their parents’ passions—their mother’s human rights work, in
particular.
“We value our parents’ contributions to society and feel that
the best way to honor them is to give others an opportunity to pursue similar
goals,” said Susie Workman Jones ’78. “I am very pleased that the 2023 grant
was awarded to such an obviously appropriate recipient.”
John Workman Jr. ’75 said his parents would have been “so
pleased and heartened” to know that the program established to honor them is
funding such justice-oriented work. “From my own experiences with summer
projects at Hendrix, way back in the 1970s, I can assure you that your work
over these past intensive months will stay with you, will inform you, and will
enrich you—for many years to come,” he wrote in an email message to Hayes.
Hayes says she would like to work on a similar project in the
future, but with a focus on mental health in addition to addiction issues.
Before then, though, she will complete this project’s report and then find the
best ways to share it with community organizers, policy makers, and law
enforcement in her Washington County hometown of Fayetteville and beyond.
“I’m really wanting to continue to learn more about criminal
justice and what role I can play in improving the approaches that our justice
system uses,” she said. “As a citizen and as a United Methodist, I know I can
find ways to have a positive impact. My experience with the Workman Grant has
made that even more clear.”
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is featured in Colleges
That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges
and celebrated among the country’s leading liberal arts colleges for academic
quality, engaged learning opportunities and career preparation, vibrant campus
life, and value. The Hendrix College Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III
sports. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since
1884. Learn more at www.hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement that links the classroom with the
world, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, justice, and sustainable
living, the Hendrix community inspires students to lead lives of accomplishment,
integrity, service, and joy.” —Hendrix College Statement of Purpose