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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Assault on Student Affairs

Student affairs professionals, take note: higher education reformers have set their sights on your offices, programs, and services. I first sensed that a target was now on student affairs at an event earlier this summer on "hacking" the university. The introductory speaker at the event claimed that there is no evidence demonstrating that being on campus or interacting with faculty benefits students. I wrote in response to this event that the speaker was apparently unfamiliar with the vast body of scholarship conducted by and on behalf of student affairs. A series of articles released yesterday by The Chronicle of Higher Education reflected a similar lack of knowledge. Increasingly, ignorance of student affairs is rampant. The present narrative is dangerous and threatens to undermine precisely the learning and development higher education reformers demand.

Let's take a closer look at the contours of this narrative. The first article, titled "The Comfortable Kid," was featured on The Chronicle's homepage. The underlying message of the article is that, through various recent developments, colleges are coddling students. The source of this obsession with comfort is a student-as-consumer ethos in which decisions are made according to what makes students happy. The article acknowledges that this ethos is connected to a necessary desire to care for students in ways that help them learn and develop. What's interesting is that, amidst this discussion of the tension between coddling and care, the article quickly pivots to the history of student affairs. In other words, if students are being coddled or turned into "marshmallows," in the words of the article's author, student affairs is responsible. It is student affairs professionals who have encouraged the individualization, customization, and personalization that characterizes today's college experience. Interestingly enough, many of the examples cited in the article of protecting students from discomfort that causes them to intellectually grow come from academic affairs. Nevertheless, the narrative remains one in which the comfortable kid inhabits a bubble constructed by student affairs.

The case can be made that student affairs sometimes goes overboard in its desire to make the college experience inclusive and sensitive to multiple identities. But student affairs is also responsible for challenging students in crucial ways. It pushes them to dialogue with one another to recognize and appreciate differences. It asks them to try new experiences that make comfort zones far more porous. It develops opportunities for students to hold one another accountable and assume leadership positions. And it connects curricula with local communities. I would argue, in fact, that student affairs does a better job than academic courses of forcing students to contend with cognitive dissonance. Such experiences outside or alongside the classroom sometimes require that student affairs provide layers of support to allow students to reflect and take measured risks. To some, this support resembles coddling, leading to a misinformed narrative in which student affairs is preoccupied with comfort. A deeper understanding of student affairs reveals that support is a simply a means to incrementally challenge students.

Linked within this article is one on student services spending. The article's title suggests that spending on student services is rising because colleges are competing through amenities. It notes, but largely dismisses, other explanations, such as meeting the needs of non-traditional students, increasing resources related to enrollment, and fulfilling regulatory burdens. We cannot deny that spending on student services has increased at most colleges and universities, and the trend is problematic. However, as the article correctly shows, a portion of this spending has gone to vital services like counseling students coping with mental illness and developing programs to prevent sexual assault. The article then rather mysteriously shifts to a discussion of student services throughout history, including a few quotes from noted higher education historian John Thelin. Thelin traces the rise of student services to the 1980s and, for some odd reason, bashes student affairs. Talking about his former students who have gone into student affairs, Thelin recalls: "They started describing student services not as extracurricular but co-curricular," he says. "I think the idea was to legitimize and ensure the survival of some of the things they were offering." This quote showcases another dimension of the narrative against student affairs.

Student affairs becomes merely an expenditure category whose evolution over time is a factor of colleges competing through amenities. The tone of the article makes clear that this spending is considered wasteful and detracts from the teaching mission of colleges. Missing in the narrative is any recognition that student affairs is instrumental in promoting learning on campuses across the country. An investment in student services isn't just an attempt to attract applicants with pretty buildings. Surveys tell us time and time again that significant learning happens through experiences outside of the classroom--experiences that are designed, implemented, and assessed by student affairs professionals. Although the amenities arms race in higher education warrants close scrutiny, we should not in the process denigrate student affairs as extracurricular activities masquerading as legitimate learning opportunities. We risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as student affairs often makes learning truly come alive in college, regardless of whether or not it is in a fancy, new building.

There is an assault on student affairs that is gaining momentum. The narrative that constitutes this assault is one that equates student affairs with wasteful spending and turning colleges into a country club. As someone who researches the neoliberal university, I am certainly sympathetic to any discussion of consumerism in the context of higher education. But I believe the assault on student affairs undermines significant efforts to help students learn and develop as critical thinkers and citizens. Student affairs professionals would be wise to follow this narrative and pay heed to some of the very reasonable critique. However, they should also push back and fight false claims that student affairs is unrelated to spending on those activities that promote active learning. They should challenge false claims that student affairs is all about comfort.

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