Interest in the development of leadership skills among college students has been growing steadily. Typically, these efforts attempt to connect student leadership experiences with learning objectives surrounding career development, civic engagement, advocacy, and other variables related to student success. Organizations such as NASPA, one of the largest professional groups of student affairs administrators in higher education, have created workshops, conferences, and other resources aimed at helping college and university professionals build and maintain effective leadership development programs.
How then have student leaders been tapped by university administrators in terms of campus planning efforts surrounding responses to the Covid-19 pandemic? After all, authentic leadership development would require that students become involved directly in activities that exert some influence over decisions that are being made about the education they are receiving and/or the learning environment they are experiencing. This is where the proverbial rubber hits the road.
It would seem foolhardy to ignore or downplay the voices of students, as they are the very reason … [+]
In actuality, student leaders were given little opportunity for involvement as universities first responded to the Covid-19 pandemic last semester. Governors issued stay at home orders in most states, and higher education administrators responded in kind by closing almost every campus across the country. The rapid move to a virtual learning environment may have been necessary, yet it has left students feeling disconnected from each other. And in the process, student leaders who typically had played a more active role on their campuses may have been completely forgotten during the initial months of the public health crisis.
Student leaders representing various institutions of higher learning recently took part in a panel discussion on student engagement and crisis management convened as part of a virtual conference hosted by the International Town Gown Association. One of those participants was Jamal Holtz, who was the Students’ Association President at the University of Rochester this past spring semester. He said: “Student leaders were not seen as ‘essential’ when the pandemic first hit campus. From this point forward, however, working with student leaders is going to be essential. Administrators should be reaching out to them right now. Let them become trusted advisors as part of a planning process that allows students to have a safe and meaningful residential experience.”
Mr. Holtz was joined on the panel by fellow University of Rochester student Efua Agyare-Kumi, who has served as the News and Managing Editor of Campus Times, the school’s student newspaper. “The role of the student newspaper in the early days of the pandemic had been to amplify the pockets of dissenting voices to the administrative decisions being made. For example, it was the newspaper’s job to show the messiness of the shutdown process. We also organized the voices of students by collecting stories of their experiences. In this way, we could present an overall picture so that people could see all the different pieces.” Looking toward this fall, Ms. Agyare-Kumi predicted that the student newspaper will be focused on helping students understand how cuts may be affecting people, programs, and departments. She said: “People deserve to know how their educations are being affected, and right now that information is not readily available. There has to be more transparency in the communications between administrators and students.”
Fellow panelist Ranen Miao, who served as the Student Union President at Washington University in St. Louis, is of much the same mindset, especially as campuses look to cut back on services once taken for granted. “Austerity measures demand student voices because they need to be a part of the prioritization process. Decisions made in a vacuum without student input will result in those students feeling unheard and that the university does not understand their needs and experiences.” Although there currently are no formal mechanisms available for student leaders to discuss issues across the nation, informal social networks have led Mr. Miao to believe that administrators at many universities have been slow to invite students into conversations about what campus life will look like in the fall. “Fortunately, officials on my campus have reached out to students, telling us that committees are forming and we will be members. That said, it is disheartening to hear how many of my fellow student leaders are still in the dark about what is happening at their universities.”
Providing a graduate student perspective on the panel was Mason Sell, who is enrolled in the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. “Just like undergrads, graduate students at my school largely have been reliant on social media to find out what has been happening. Some of the issues for graduate students will require some special attention, however, and cannot be handled through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.” Mr. Sell went on to say, “for example, my program has an extremely important networking component that typically requires face to face contact. University administrators should be talking to us about how they will be dealing with issues like that.”
The acute crisis caused by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has now given way to a more chronic phase of disruption. Student leaders seem ready to move past their lack of involvement in decision-making processes that led to various inconveniences experienced last spring semester. That said, it would seem foolhardy to ignore or downplay the voices of students from this point forward. After all, they are the very reason for the existence of our nation’s colleges and universities. It is time for university administrators to clearly define the role that student leaders will play in determining the course of their own educational pursuits and experiences.
