Educating the Whole Student: The Growing Academic Importance of Student Affairs

Author(s): Arthur Sandeen

Source: Change, Vol. 36, No. 3 (May - Jun., 2004), pp. 28-33
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40177971
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 Jill L Q L 111 .

Jriole .
Student .
77*£ Growing Academic Importance
of Student Affairs

Qb\ Arthur Sandeen)

Drofessors, department chairs, and deans no longer are the sole sources of the
learning experiences that undergraduate students benefit from on our cam-
puses. Recent years have seen the growth or expansion of a wide variety of i

out-of-the classroom supplements to classroom education, including learn-

u
I
„ ing communities, "theme" housing beyond the traditional language-focused
<

<

settings, service learning, leadership-development programs, and peer-related edu-

cation. Central to many of the new learning venues that have blossomed over the i

past decade or two are student affairs professionals.

Arthur Sandeen is professor of educational leadership at the University of Florida and served as vice presi-
dent for student affairs therefrom 1973 to 1999. J

28

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 29

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 What is now called student affairs formally began in 1890,
when President Charles Eliot was busily transforming Har-
vard College into a university. As faculty interests shifted to
scholarship, and as Eliot engaged in institution building,
someone was needed to look after the undergraduates. Thus,
Eliot asked LeBaron Russell Briggs, a young and popular
English instructor, to serve as a "student dean."
Briggs' position mainly represented an attempt to retain
the humane values of the old college at a time when the more
worldly goals of the university were becoming dominant.
While the personal concern he demonstrated for Harvard un-
dergraduates became legendary, Briggs himself saw his work
as an important part of the students' education.
Many other colleges followed Harvard's example, and
while these early student affairs deans struggled to define
their work, the education of the whole student was eventually
adopted as the core idea of student affairs, and it remains so
today. The student affairs function in higher education has
become more complex as the age, ethnic, academic, social,
30 Change • May/June
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and financial backgrounds of students have become more
diverse.
A student affairs division today typically includes respon-
sibility for such functions as enrollment management, finan-
cial aid, housing, counseling, student health, judicial
programs, career services, recreational sports, and student
activities. It also may include campus services such as trans-
portation, security, child care, and student academic support.
Thus student affairs leaders have expanded their profes-
sional interests and reject any suggestion that they are just
"service providers." They see themselves as an integral part
of the academic programs of their campuses and as active
contributors to student learning.
Bolstered by higher education's increased emphasis upon
improving undergraduate education, they have found support
for their efforts in the research of Astin, Chickering, Boyer,
Pascarella and Terenzini, Schroeder, and Kuh.
They have made efforts to collaborate with provosts, aca-
demic deans, and faculty members to improve the student
2004
learning experience. They still sometimes encounter obsta- student affairs staff should be expected to contribute signifi-
cles in these efforts, though. The belief that the classroom cantly to broadened student learning experiences on their
and the laboratory are the exclusive locus of student learning campuses.
still persists among some academic administrators, and to In turn, top administrative and academic leaders should
some degree, may be reinforced by faculty. be open to a view of undergraduate education that transcends
traditional classroom boundaries and includes the total life
experiences of the students. For example, helping students
student affairs professionals have previously remained learn to work effectively with others from diverse back-
on the periphery of core academic programs and have grounds presents many opportunities for faculty members
overseen only traditional services like and student affairs staff to work togeth-
counseling, student health services, and er - and when provosts and presidents
judicial programs, faculty and academic get directly involved, the importance of
administrators may be understandably this educational goal is strongly rein-
skeptical about what it is that student af- forced.
In the
fairs staff might contribute to the im- Student affairs personnel should, of
provement of undergraduate learning. course, be expected to know and under-
decade ahead,
Some well-meaning efforts by student stand the diverse academic and personal
affairs personnel to become part of the student affairs staff backgrounds of entering students and to
campus educational program also have be effective advocates for these students'
been thwarted by their own use of jargon, should be needs. The knowledge and understanding
which has not been recognized or appre- they should have about new students can
ciated by their academic colleagues. Fur- contribute to improved student recruit-
ther, some faculty may hesitate to
expected ment, orientation activities, and retention
participate in joint efforts with student to contribute programs.
affairs - for example, in developing resi- But this knowledge also should be
dential learning communities - if they used in improving the general education
see no professional rewards for them-
significantly program, academic internships, students'
selves. This is especially the case if pro- to broadened group projects, and special learning
motion and tenure policies continue to experiences such as freshman or senior
give little recognition to collaborative seminars. When jointly planned and
service activities or to "non-traditional" student learning conducted with their colleagues in aca-
scholarship. demic affairs, these efforts can support
However, in the process of re-examin-
experiences and enhance the educational goals of
ing their undergraduate programs, many the campus.
institutions now understand and support
on their campuses. By focusing attention on specific
the contributions that student involve- groups of students (for example, those
ment, leadership, student-faculty engage- who are transfer, pre-professional, or un-
ment, and community-service programs derachieving), effective targeted pro-
can make to improving student learning. Finding ways to get grams can be developed. If, however, such efforts are
students more involved with faculty, creating student-learn- pursued in isolation by student affairs, or if academic affairs
ing communities, and encouraging students to participate in staff and faculty view them as disconnected from the "real"
group projects thus have all become natural activities for stu- academic program, they will most likely fail to improve un-
dent affairs staff. dergraduates' educational experience.
The success of these activities, though, may depend on Even at relatively small colleges, there are several student
how faculty and academic leaders perceive the abilities of cultures present, and student affairs professionals should use
their particular student affairs staff. More than a few joint ef-
their close contacts with these student cultures to help con-
forts between academic and student-affairs staff have failed nect them more effectively with the academic programs of
because of poor communication or an inability to look be- the institution. International students represent a rich re-
yond traditional status differences between academic and source, for example, and too often, their potential contribu-
student affairs personnel. tions to campus life are not acknowledged or developed.
Presidents, provosts, academic deans, and faculty mem- Student affairs staff and faculty members can develop social
bers should expect student affairs staff to be efficient admin- and cultural programs with international students that can en-
istrators, effective problem solvers, and sensitive handlers ofhance their education and enrich the learning experiences of
student crises. But, most importantly in the decade ahead, U.S. students as well.
Change • May/June 2004 3 1

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 faculty and academic affairs officers can look beyond efforts to provide a caring campus environment through
traditional departmental boundaries, which often have sound educational and support programs. At times, student
been barriers to coherence in undergraduate education, affairs leaders have declared themselves the exclusive ex-
new approaches are likely to emerge. Student affairs staff, of perts in such matters. By staking out what they viewed as
course, must understand and support the educational goals their special professional turf, they sometimes have dis-
of their institutions, and work collaboratively with academic tanced themselves from their academic colleagues.
deans and faculty in achieving these goals. Student affairs In turn, when faculty members ignore the serious per-
professionals cannot expect to be real contributors to the edu- sonal problems students face, they are contributing to the
cational program if they are not familiar with what freshmen fragmentation of the campus and denying students the ben-
and sophomores are reading in their his- efit of their counsel. Since the best way
tory, political science, and English class- to improve undergraduate education is
es, or what these same students are to focus on the total student experience,
studying in their math classes and in their paying close attention to students' men-
science laboratories. Student affairs tal and physical health is critical. Iso-
In turn, faculty and academic affairs lated or disconnected efforts to resolve
leaders also need to become familiar with staff must students' difficultie can undercut stu-
student residential life, social activities, dents' potential for learning.
and student organizations on the campus demonstrate with I recall the example of a very
if they are going to enhance their aca- promising student who left college
demic influence upon students. Whether their knowledge, when his father died. Distraught and
it is a living-learning program in a resi- out of money, the young man found
dence hall, a re-entry program for stu- insight, and hope again when two of his professors
dents returning from study abroad, a and a student affairs adviser traveled
service-learning class, or a language organizational skills 200 miles to the student's home to see
theme house, student affairs staff can him. Their encouragement and creative
contribute to the success oi; these efforts that they have use of college resources resulted in per-
if they forge close links with their aca- suading this student that he could and
demic colleagues. something real should continue his education.
Among the most promising student
affairs/academic affairs collaborations to contribute
in recent years have been student is the case with other profes-
leadership-development seminars, to the sional fields, student affairs has
inter-group relations retreats, values- grown increasingly specialized
development workshops, and programs academic process. in the past 35 years. While some of this
to improve academic integrity and honor may be healthy, it too often has resulted
codes. But if such activities represent in a proliferation of professional associa-
only an isolated component of students' tions, each representing a particular
experiences, they likely will be viewed as little more agenda in student affairs.
than curious diversions from the main academic program This fragmentation is not only self-destructive; it also
of the campus and achieve far less than they otherwise makes it increasingly difficult for student affairs to have a
could. consistant and coherent voice on campus. Of course, this is
One area that particularly cries out for more mutually exactly what happened to undergraduate education decades
supportive links between faculty members and student af- ago; as academic departments multiplied and fragmented,
fairs officials is the set of problems created by student students' general education lost coherence.
stress and mental health. These difficulties can signifi- The exciting and challenging efforts now being made
cantly affect the quality of the educational experience on throughout the country to improve undergraduate education
any campus, and there is no escaping the fact that in 2004, can be seen largely as reactions to this academic fragmenta-
many students arrive on campus with serious medical, tion. Indeed, it is the driving force behind the growing co-
psychological, and family problems. Any college that ig- operation between student affairs and academic affairs at
nores these facts or denies their reality is likely to face se- many institutions.
rious difficulties. The collaboration now taking place on most campuses be-
Student affairs staff should be expected to be on the cut- tween faculty and student affairs leaders has become the
ting edge in handling such matters, but their academic col- dominant theme in student affairs in the past few years. At
leagues also must be willing to engage in, and be drawn into, many institutions, this has resulted in some administrative
32 Change • May/June 2004

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reshuffling, so that student affairs now reports to the
provost's office. Such new arrangements will only en-
hance student learning, however, when there is a gen-
uine commitment on the part of the provost, the
academic deans, and the faculty to an expanded view of
undergraduate education.
Equally as important, student affairs staff must
demonstrate with their knowledge, insight, and organi-
zational skills that they have something real to con-
tribute to the academic process. Even where the
student affairs division has remained apart from aca-
demic affairs, cooperative efforts between academic
and student affairs have become very common in such
areas such as admissions, orientation, student academic
support, international programs, housing, counseling,
and career planning.
New reporting arrangements or organizational struc-
tures may be useful, but the knowledge and skills of
student affairs staff and the willingness of academic af-
fairs staff to view undergraduate education as the total
life experience of students during their college years are
far more important to improving student learning.
"The total student experience" - this defines the
quality of undergraduate education, and most colleges
and universities now recognize this and are working
hard to foster improvements in and out of classrooms
and laboratories. This situation provides student af-
fairs the best opportunity in its history to become a vi-
tal contributor to the education of students throughout
their academic careers. @

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Change • May/June 2004 33

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