Students in Jade Van Hasselt’s Professional Roles and Careers in Child and Adolescent Development class received a surprise visit from Marian Wright Edelman—a leading civil rights pioneer and president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund—during their class meeting this morning.

The surprise was for the show “Stand In”—an Emmy-nominated series that’s part of MTV’s college network channel, mtvU. According to a press release the show “engages college students by surprising them with a guest lecturer who is a cultural icon and role model.” Past “Stand In” lecturers have included Sting, Madonna and Tom Wolfe.

Students who arrived to class early said they had no idea they would be participating in the show. As students arrived, they were told that the film crew was for an admissions video.

"I was shocked,” said child and adolescent development student, Melvin Lane. “We were just talking about [Edelman] and her policy. Her policy differs from the policy of No Child Left Behind. She was the founder the department."

During the class, Edelman promoted her new book, "The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is So Small: Charting a Course for the Next Generation." Edelman said she is also providing a springboard or, in her terms, "a down payment" for educators in securing a place for underprivileged children.

"We do not have a constitutional right to education," Edelman said to the class. "So we created the demand for it."

Edelman also mentioned a "cradle to the prison" pipeline that has more children of color end up in prison at an earlier age. Edelman asked that we shift the paradigm from punishment to prevention since spending for prison is four times as high as higher education.

"Education reform takes an average of five years to change,” Hasselt said. “Advocacy isn't just picketing, a lot of it can be done within the issues.”

Edelman said she is looking for fair social policy.

"We need quality after-school programs along with quality education,” she said.

Through the Children’s Defense program, Edelman has started Freedom Schools all across the country. These schools train college students in educating underprivileged and at-risk youth.