Higher Education is like an Onion...

When I say I have enjoyed this experience...I say that wholeheartedly. Higher education is forever evolving to adequately meet the needs of students, faculty, and alumni. That being said, in college organization and governance class, we talked about the four markets of higher education: students, faculty, funding, and prestige. The topics that we have discussed in this class this semester fit those markets.

Nearly all of our topics directly affects students. In my first entry, I discussed how economics are affecting students and their choices of studies. Continuing down the semester, we discussed how campus violence affects students. This was a very relevant topic considering that a fellow SEC university unfortunately had to deal with that tragedy. Campus violence and protection are topics that are on the minds of many considering how often and wide scale these senseless acts are occurring. While we talked about the physical ways universities can protect students, we also learned how to psychologically and emotionally help students in such trying times.

We definitely have had some topics that elaborate on the university's efforts to attract, recruit, and retain faculty members. Creating a campus that is open to thinking and revolutionizing our world are great ways to ensure that faculty members feel as if their academic disciplines and growth will be accepted, welcomed, and encouraged. Topics that aided this was freedom of speech and campus activism. I think that these topics seem attractive to faculty members who are looking for an employer who will challenge the culture to think past superficial or surface ideas and move the university further into the future. Freedom of speech and activism are great foundation blocks to encourage change.

Funding, in the light of the recent economic recession, has been a hot topic at colleges and universities. And with funding issues there comes budget cuts. In one of my blog entries, I talked about the effects of budget cuts on students' overall experience at their institutions. Because departments have to find ways to do a lot with a little, certain programs and actual employment positions are eradicated in order to maintain some kind of balance in costs and spending. Fundraising also plays a role which goes hand in hand with prestige.

Universities can ensure that they move up on the proverbial ladder by creating, building, and elaborating on their resources. We talked about student unions last week and how building a great one will not only make students happy, but can be a huge recruiting tool to get students here. Prestige upgrade #1. We also talked about the "Going Green" initiatives that universities are running to implement. Prestige upgrade #2. All of the topics that we have discussed have tangents that can lead to building prestige for an institution. Right now, our university is building a state-of-the-art law school that looks good, is environmentally friendly, and will put The University of Mississippi on the maps of student who had not previously considering us. Prestige upgrade #infinity.

Higher education is like an onion. There are so many layers that make up the whole. Layers that build upon layers. Non-metaphorically speaking, different departments, societal issues, students, faculty members, staff, and alumni aid to the culture, climate, and connotation of a university. Our class has really delved into those many layers and I feel like I'm all the better because I've been surrounded by different minds with different paths with the same goal.

The Student Union is for STUDENTS?! Get Outta Here!:" The Usage of Student Led Advisory Boards

Let's walk through someone else's shoes for a second, shall we?

Typical Undergraduate Student

I come to the student union after my 11am physics class. As I walk through the Grove and approach the 70s style union, I'm already expecting the building to be incredibly full, with hardly any place to walk. And I'm right. The main walkway through the union is congested because student organizations' tables, the central ticket office's lines, and socializing are in full force right now. I could sit in the lobby, but I've decided I'm hungry. I'm hesitant because the inflated prices in the food court are RIDICULOUS! But what other choice do I have? After I get my lunch, there's no place inside to eat. I even go upstairs to the Southern Breeze and all of the tables are taken...

Typical Student Leader

It's before 5pm and I have a meeting on the fourth floor. I booked the room for the meeting. I was amazed that I actually got it. Sometimes, rooms are said they aren't available, even though I look at the reservation sheet next to the room and only two organizations have booked the room...one's at 9am and the other at 6pm. My meeting should last about an hour, but I definitely cannot park in thirty minute parking because the ticket hawks are out to get me. Their constant surveillance definitely takes the student friendliness away from the union. And who can honestly do anything in the union in less than thirty minutes?? Can I PLEASE have 45? Anyway, it takes me a while to get through the Union because I get to see so many of my friends and people that I'm in organizations with.

Typical Graduate Student

I have a graduate assistantship with one of the administrative offices in the Union, so I get the opportunity to witness the student interaction with the building. When I do talk to students about the union, most say how they try to avoid coming in here because of the space issues, how expensive the food is, and the availability on only the lobby to study. My graduate student colleagues say they don't even come to the union after they buy their textbooks. They would rather go to the library, to their academic department, or stay home. I have noticed how there isn't any study places available unless you want to come to the lobby at 9pm.

I personally have been in all three of these positions. I like the union because of the venues and services it does provide, however, I think our union lacks things that could truly enrich our students Ole Miss experience. I have heard both the Dean of Students and the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs talk briefly about how students could be more involved in the operations and upkeep of the student union. BRILLIANT IDEA! The union now really has a weird aura to it. It says "Ole Miss Student Union" on the front, but it definitely should read "Ole Miss Administrators, Physical Plant, and Aramark Union."

I think that students should definitely have a bigger role when deciding what goes on and what DOESN'T go on in the Union. Right now, I feel as if Aramark has the final say so. Our student union is slowly but surely turning into a big huge food court. The ONLY student lounge on campus is now turning into a sandwich shop...Does this make sense to me? If we're only thinking about revenue, then maybe, but if we're thinking about the daily personal welfare of students...then I think not. Students need to eat, but that's not the only thing we do. Student unions should include theater and auditorium space, stores that provide more than food, a lounge, study spaces, a multicultural center and venues for entertainment purposes.

A great way to ensure that our student union provides services that students will actually benefit from is to return to the idea of a student union advisory board. While I do not know much information about it, I'm under the assumption that our student union had something of this capacity, and even a student-appointed position. I found a great description of a student-led student union advisory board on the website for Florida Gulf Coast University (almost 10,000 students enrolled).

"The Advisory Board is a University-wide standing committee run by student officers, with a voting student majority. This presidentially appointed committee is comprised of at least 13 voting members and 2 ex-officio members. The appointment term for student members is one year, beginning in May of each year. The student members of the board are representative of various university constituencies, so that the board represents a strategically diverse student population. The purpose of the board is to solicit and evaluate input from all members of the University community regarding the operation, growth and programming of the Student Union. The Student Union Advisory Board meets at least once per month during the Academic Year." Florida Gulf Coast University.

I think a board like this would be very successful at Ole Miss. Our campus always has student leaders who are ready to work and contribute their all to the university. Having a student advisory board will definitely be a wonderful addition in respect to keeping students wants and needs in mind. Right now, I think departments are relying heavily on emailed surveys to illuminate what students want. My only comment is that I would like to see what percentage of students take them. With students being directly involved in the decision making processes, there would be less doubt if a certain initiative or renovation would site well with students. This, in turn, will aid in being a very lucrative recruiting tool. This board will also provide students with leadership experience they may need for the next step in their lives. With such large responsibilities, the students involved are learning very necessary supervisory, decision-making, and team building skills.

Plus, it would just build the overall morale of students here. Students already have a powerless feeling sometimes on our campus. To designate a part of campus as "by the students, for the students" would be huge!

Let's not forget that the student union is to support student collegiality as well. I love my chicken nuggets and waffle fries, but I think I speak for many students when I say give me something new. Give me a movie theater. Give me a multicultural center. Give me office space for the organizations who are not ASB. But don't just "give" it to me. Let me be involved.

"That's MISS green to you:" From Environmental Activist to Administrator

Being green has definitely become the "in" thing to do. From television commercials, to universities launching environmentally friendly programs, it's obvious that our perception of being green has changed. The entire look of an environmentally conscious person has changed. The stereotypical look was the "hippie" look. The flower child. But that image has slightly changed. The ideal person for the green initiative has become the everyday average person. Just look at Al Gore. Totally typical. He has no flowers in his hair, and he definitely wears a shirt and tie.

The recent efforts to save our planet has been a collective one, and has even changed how universities function and implement new programs. The University of Mississippi has the Red, Blue & Green campaign. The way that we construct buildings, get to and around campus, and so many other things are different. So campuses have changed as well. But there's any even bigger change that combines the university and the individual. And that's the position of sustainability coordinators at universities.

According to the "Young, Green, and in Charge" article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, universities are tagging along with the idea of environmental friendliness and it is young people who are leading the way. The article speaks of a young woman who made some drastic demands of her university president:

"The student activist laid out a list of environmental demands: A planned campus development should be made more ecologically friendly. The budget for sustainability projects was too small. Staffing was inadequate. Oh, and one more thing: The university should hire her to fix this mess."

And she was hired. Across the country, students passionate about the welfare of our environment are being employed by universities to either coordinate the efforts or serve on the staffed team. However, there are some differences for the student-turned-administrator that makes their jobs harder.

1. It's difficult to find the line between extreme activist and administrator.

"In my personal life, in my life as an activist, I would make very different decisions than I can make as a sustainability coordinator," says Ms. Gava. "I drew a line in the sand where the coordinator will sit. I didn't draw that line in the right place at first, and two years in, I realize I'm still too radical." Change, she discovered, does not occur overnight." The article describes the fear of "selling out" that sustainability coordinators sometimes feel because of the more contained nature of their employment. They sometimes feel like they have to oversell what the university is really doing to promote their place of employment, even though they feel as if the university is not doing as well as reported.

2. Getting past age

"No matter how strong their grasp of environmental theory and climate change, however, the recent graduates find it challenging to maneuver past a bureaucracy full of administrators who attended college before environmental studies was an option. Mr. Friedman says colleagues at meetings and sustainability conferences ask what his major is. He often hires graduate students older than himself. The young administrators worry about what to wear to trustee meetings and how to exert authority when most of the campus power players are 40 or older."

These individuals find it difficult to persuade and educate an older administration that did not grow up in an age where the welfare of the environment was a top issue on the to-do list. They often feel like they spend more time creating a avenue of conversation instead of making important decision concerning sustainability.

3. How to act

"Mr. Friedman and a colleague at the University of California at Santa Cruz are putting together a guide for new sustainability coordinators that covers the basic administrative issues not covered in a biology or environmental-studies course. The sense of urgency many of them feel leaves little time for learning how to get things done within a university bureaucracy."

Because of their age, young sustainability coordinators and administrators bring a youthful vitality to their office and departments. They bring fresh ideas and they understand how to get undergraduates on board with university initiatives. However, their inexperience also plays a role because they have to play "catch-up" in order to fit in with the university environment--bureaucracy and all.

There is an association that supports these individuals, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and the article has stated that young sustainability professionals find comfort in learning more about their field AND getting the professional help they need in order to be productive on their campuses.

The look of "going green" has changed throughout the decades and so has university infrastructure by adding sustainability departments. I think it's interesting that some universities are using their recent graduates to help coordinate and add life to their campaigns.

Link to article: http://chronicle.com/article/Young-Greenin-Charge/28134/

I'm too Busy to REALLY like you: Hooking-up on College Campuses

College can be a hectic time. There's twenty-page papers, reading assignments, organizations meetings, part-time/full-time jobs, and actual class time. One barely has time to eat, let alone be committed in a serious monogamous relationship. So the best option: casual sex/hooking up. Or so the students at Yale University have self-reported. Yale Daily News poll, sent last week to 5,186 undergraduates, of which 1,770 students responded. The results have been charted on the link below:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/26593055/Inside-Yale-s-Sex-Scene

I learned from the article that the study has caused some conversation at Yale. There are students who agree wholeheartedly with the study and its analysis while some students are saying that this represents a small sample of a special population of Yale's undergraduates. However, I have created my own categories to group the reactions of those conversations:

There's not enough time in the day to nurture a serious relationship.

"We work hard and we play hard," is a comment that I think sums up what some of the students were trying to say. Because of heavy course loads and other responsibilities, a lot of students seriously consider whether or not a relationship would be worth pursuing. So while some students may so no to a relationship, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are saying no to sexual relations.

“Hookups, by virtue of the academic environment that we are in, are much easier and much more sustainable,” Michael Jones ’12 said. “I guess by extension of the environments we are in, when you’re interacting at a party, it’s very difficult to develop a meaningful, emotional relationship with someone immediately.”

Any attention is good attention.

Some of the females commented that they hook-up with guys because they want to spend some time, any time, with the person they're attracted to. "While Ruck said both parties often entertain the possibility of a relationship, he also said he knows of several guys who had led girls to believe they were more interested in a real relationship than they actually were in order to prolong the hookup. On the flipside, he said girls have also been known to have sex with guys with the sole hope that it will help keep them around. But he said many hookups end the moment the girl says “I want to be exclusive.” "

It's so easy to get it.

On most college campuses, socializing makes it very easy to get to know people. Fraternity parties, clubs, and bars offer opportunities for people to meet and relationships to blossom. "As explained by Sarah Matthes ’13, a large portion of this pattern can potentially be attributed to what is commonly referred to as “DFMO,” short for dance-floor makeout. Citing Safety Dance, fraternity parties and Modern Love as common hookup venues, she described kissing as “trivial” in the light of questions pertaining to intercourse and oral sex. Even at Toad’s Place or a campus party, kissing someone is considered a dance move.

“Here I think making out is something that can happen and people can wake up the next morning and laugh about it and go about their day,” she said, while admitting that there is a separate contingency of Yale students who did not participate in frivolous makeout sessions at all. About nine percent of students polled reported to have never made out with anyone.

“From a single guy’s point of view, I find few things more fun than going out at night and seeing what I can come home with,” Wyper said. “It’s fun. It’s exciting. I’m not looking to fill my empty heart. Wednesday through Saturday you have a pretty decent shot at hooking up with somebody.” "

Hooking up is very rampant on college campuses and have serious ramifications, especially for students who invest so much of themselves in their love lives and come up empty-handed.

A Fish out of Water: Spirituality on a Secular Campus

One could say during my childhood I lived at our church. Sunday was worship service, Monday was Youth Night Out, Tuesday was choir practice, Wednesday was bible study night, and with two days of rest, Sunday began the week all over again. Before I came to college, my "walk" as a Christian was not easily jogged by outside influences. I lived at home so my schedule mostly revolved around the schedule of the family. And if Momma said it's time to go to church, say grace before eating, pray before bed, etc...then that's exactly what happened.

However, I eventually came to college, and my schedule became my schedule. Sometimes I woke up early enough to attend Sunday morning worship...and sometimes, I didn't. Because my university does not sanction me to attend religious activities, the decision to go or not to go was purely based upon my conviction. However, I soon learned that whatever I decided would eventually affect my walk.

Many college students are faced with this dilemma, especially those who attend school on a secular campus. While there are many reasons why students may practice, not practice, or become indecisive about religion, sometimes it is the secular campus culture that may make a student question or grow stronger about their chosen religion.

In a 2008 article in The Daily Californian at UC Berkeley, "Students Try to Reconcile Religion with Campus Culture" highlights some of the issues that students face on a secular campus. There are so many ways that a secular campus can affect the relationship between students and religion. I found the article very interesting and will give a brief snapshot of the four students in the article:

Submerge oneself in a religious environment

A devout Christian, a female student felt pressure from her professors and peers to conform to a secular lifestyle. So she joined a Christian sorority. She says that she uses the group to learn and grow stronger in her faith, and also socialize in a uncompromising environment.

A member of a culture that does not embrace spirituality

A male student, who practiced Christianity before coming to the university, finds it hard to be as devout as he was because of the organization and culture he belongs to. The university's band is known for partying and he feels it's easier to just go along with the lifestyle.

Create a culture inside a culture

Another male student also belongs to the band and understands the lifestyle and culture the band has. So he forms a bible study group for Christians who are in the band as well.

Reconsidering one's life decisions

A male student, who was once Christian, has allowed himself to ask questions and research why he believes what he believed. Because of this exploration that he feels happened because of the nature of a secular campus, he has become an atheist.

These are just four different scenarios that can play out for college students on nonreligious campuses. I think that it is important for student affairs professionals to take spirituality into heavy consideration when counseling students and creating programs to further student development.

Link to article:

http://www.dailycal.org/article/103039/students_try_to_reconcile_religion_with_campus_cul

"Do You Want to Protest? Click Confirm of Deny": A New Age of Activism

Graham Spanier, a university president, wrote an article discussing "Is Campus Activism Dead--or just Misguided?" His premise is that student activism does not resemble what it was in the 1960s and 1970s. He states things like no "nationwide campus uniting protest," and the age of Twitter and Facebook being more important that the impact of world events. However, just like any facet of university life in the 21st century, even student activism is affected by the world's social networks. Students have been utilizing websites like Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace to recruit and inform individuals of their causes. For example, in 2007, while faculty members at Acadia University staged a strike, students discussed, supported, and campaigned their faculty's efforts using blogs, Facebook groups and YouTube. These students were not physically joining their professors and instructors on the picket lines, but they were however involved because of their contributions on the web.

And it makes since to use social networks which connects so many students on a campus. According to TechCrunch.com, in 2005 as many as 85% of college students use Facebook in some capacity. Facebook's statistics state that the average user spends about 55 minutes on Facebook each day. So I think it is fair to say that Facebook is a wonderful way to get in contact with people for whatever reason.

Student activists are now using social networks to electronically protest or to organize for a protesting event. DigiActive is a group that has dedicated itself to electronic activism. Its mission statement, posted on the website, reads: "DigiActive is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping grassroots activists around the world use the Internet and mobile phones to increase their impact. Our goal is a world of activists made more powerful and more effective through the use of digital technology."

DigiActive also has a manual to help guide students who choose to utilize social networking for their activism needs. "A DigiActive Introduction to Facebook Activism" goes into detail about how one's cause can be helped and hindered by Facebook. The pros and cons described in the guide are listed below:

PROS

• Lots of People Use Facebook
• The Price is Right
• Hassle-Free Multimedia
• Opt-in Targeting

CONS

• Content on the Site is Disorganized
• Dedication Levels are Opaque
• Facebook isn't Designed for Activism

DigiActive's guide is a good resource because it even lists some successful and productive "Facebook Campaigns" and critiques what they did and why it worked. I think that student affairs professionals can benefit from this resource because it can help guide students to plan, gather, and execute their activist efforts in a productive and efficient manner. From researching the news articles concerning student protests on college campuses, it is safe to say that student protest is here to stay, and in my opinion, is really healthy if done in a safe, productive, and efficient way.

Links:

"Is Campus Activism Dead — or Just Misguided? A President Wonders Where the

Campus Radicals Are Now" by Graham Spanier

https://www.acui.org/uploadedFiles/Programs/Online_Programs/2008/Is%20Campus%20Activism%20Dead%20-%20or%20Just%20Misguided.pdf

"I Heard it on the Grapvine" --Blogging, Facebook, YouTube, and Student Self-

organization during a Faculty Strike" by Emilie W. Gould

http://www.springerlink.com/content/y640786183tq26q0/fulltext.pdf?page=1

"A DigiActive Introduction to Facebook Activism" DigiActivism

http://www.digiactive.org/wp-content/uploads/digiactive_facebook_activism.pdf

Take a walk in my Sneakers: Restorative Justice on College Campuses

According to Karp, colleges and universities are lagging behind the juvenile and criminal systems because of their "uncreative, cookie-cutter sanctions." Karp believes that judicial professionals should seek out unconventional ways to teach students life-long lessons about their wrongdoings and the consequences of their actions.

The U.S. Department of Justice adds that restorative justice was a way to find common ground between camps who support harsh punishment and those who support more lenient justice. It breaks down the implementation of justice into two categories: Restorative justice, and retributive justice. Retributive justice has an outlook that "justice determines blame and administers pain." Under this model, the roles of the victim and offender are passive, and justice becomes a "contest between the offender and the state."

The department has seven guiding principles concerning restorative justice:

1. Crime is an offense against human relationships.
2. Victims and the community are central to justice processes.
3. The first priority of justice processes is to assist victims.
4. The second priority is to restore the community, to the degree possible.
5. The offender has personal responsibility to victims and to the community for crimes committed.
6. Stakeholders share responsibilities for restorative justice through partnerships for action.
7. The offender will develop improved competency and understanding as a result of the restorative justice experience.

So when I take this logic and apply it to a university setting, I can see how restorative justice can play a major role on a college campus. Higher education states that our main goal is to help students develop and mature into more conscious, thinking, feeling human beings than they were when they entered this place. Restorative justice aids this mission by putting perpetrating students into situations where they can feel and understand the hurt, inconvenience, and confusion their actions have caused.

As a resident assistant in a all-sorority residence hall, I saw restorative justice "at work." My hall director believed that residents should know and understand why the policy they disregarded exists. For example, a resident was documented trashing the hallway and her floor's lobby. My RHD could have easily sanctioned her with a warning, meeting in her office to ask her why she did it, put in on the resident's record, and went about her day. However, that's not how restorative justice works. This resident was sanctioned to pair up with her floor's custodian every Monday for a semester and help her on her floor rounds. At the end of the semester, the resident wrote a paper discussing her experience and what she had learned, and my RHD could see a profound difference in this woman. The resident stated that she learned to respect and appreciate the people who help make her life easier. She also found herself experiencing anger and disappointment when she saw her sorority sisters throw trash on the floor without any regard, something that she did all the time without even thinking about "who has to clean up my unnecessary messes." She ended her paper saying that this was a lesson that she knew she could apply to any life problem because she learned to walk in someone else's shoes and be more responsible.

I do not think that this resident could have learned this if her punishment was retributive. Restorative justice allows for students to interact with what they did wrong, which in turn has a greater chance of creating learning opportunities.