Transcript StudentAffairs. com Virtual Case Study Competition Grand Valley State University Team Leader: Ashley Maloff Team Members: Abby Johnson & Erin Ash February 20, 2013

2013
StudentAffairs.
com Virtual
Case Study
Competition
Grand Valley State University
Team Leader: Ashley Maloff
Team Members: Abby Johnson & Erin Ash
February 20, 2013
Background information:
•
Who are the principal decision makers and
what roles do they play?
• Dean of students, Directors of Res Life, Directors of Student
Life, and Deputy Mayor task force must decide how to
improve relations between Sunnyvale University and the town
Background information
Continued:
What are the decision issues presented in the
case?
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Plan must be presented in 3 weeks (How will the time constraint of 3 weeks affect
the ability of creating a plan?- is there time to survey and assess populations?)
Plan must utilize social media (How will the committee use it?)
How long will the campaign/plan be executed?
How will the committee/town/university assess whether or not the plan is effective?
Who should the plan target and how (students and community members) Should
both sides of the issue be addressed, separately or differently in content and or
method of outreach?
Background information
Continued:
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What facts are essential for understanding
and dealing with the issues?
Who are the populations involved?
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Students- both on and off campus residents? non-student visitors? Undergraduate
students? Graduate students? Alumni?
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Community- which areas of the city have the most problems
What constitutes “late night” partying?
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Does the town or university enforce quiet hours?
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Problem is identified as “roaming groups of students... during weekend hours”
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Problem identified during the “last decade”
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Specific problems during “last year’s Sestercentenial celebration”
Where in the town is the problem? maybe around townhouses?!
What methods are in place to reach the students/community through social media?
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Does the university have social media accounts already in existence?
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Are there any formal community meetings in place?
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How are the students bothering the community?
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trespassing?
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Noise?
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alcohol/drugs?
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littering?
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Budget for the project?
Additional information to be
collected:
-What is the mission statement of the university?
-What are the specifications of the complaints?
(Trespassing? Loitering? Noise? Alcohol/drug use?
Littering?)
-What methods are in place to reach students and
community members through social media, if any?
-Are regularized community meetings in place?
-What is the budget for the project?
Additional information to be
collected:
-What is the geographic area like surrounding
Sunnyvale? Can another housing complex be built in
a more secluded area with public transportation to
and from the campus?
-Which areas of the town have the most problems?
Are the complaints coming from those who live
directly around the townhouses?
-Is there current availability in residence halls, living
centers, apartments, or townhouses on-campus,
further from the town borders?
Who are the principal decision makers
and what role do they play?:
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University President, Bill and a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees
The Mayor and the Town Council
The Town’s People
The Board
The Dean of Students
Deputy Mayor (friend to assist in brainstorming)
Directors of Residence Life and Directors of Student Activities (seasoned staff
members to assist)
Students- will they make different decisions on the weekends after the plan is executed
Community- will they be willing to accept certain behaviors of students and be satisfied
with any change/progress made?
Relevant theories:
-Astin's Involvement Theory (Astin, 1999)
-Gilligan's and Kohlberg's Moral Development
theories (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton &
Renn, 2010)
-Chickering's Theory of Identity Development
(Evans et al., 2010)
-Human Ecology Theory (microsystem,
mesosytem, and exosystem) (Renn & Patton,
2011)
-Campus Ecology Theory (Renn & Patton,
2011)
Selected short-term course of
action:
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Show that we understand their complaints, value their input, and
will make their concern a campus-wide priority.
Make community members feel they have a say in their situation
and give them a voice coming up with potential solutions
Encourage that they think about the responses from all involved
parties
Implement a public relations position to handle town-gown
relationship
Begin a formal, monthly community meeting between
community members and university heads
Selected short-term course of
action:
-Ask the town council, "what would you like to see happen?"
-Would they recommend greater selectivity in the number of
students admitted?
-Are there specific policies they would recommend the university
to implement for University Housing?
-Would they be willing to help fund another on-campus living
center? Would they be willing to help fund a public
transportation system for students? Would the students be
interested in living on another living center on campus even if it
became available?
-Remind the town council that the Sestercentennial celebration only
happens once every 150 years
Selected short-term course of action:
-"We are One: School. Community. Home." Campaign
slogan for all publications regarding the new town/gown
relations improvement plan
-Meet with the University Senate to address campaign at weekly meeting;
Encourage Senate executive board to full-heartedly support the initiative
and encourage their constituents to do the same
-Create a short-term marketing campaign centered around the new
campaign slogan
-Launch social media, posters, and presentations on the new campaign by
the end of the month
-Contact school newspaper, local publications, and university magazine to
cover proposed solution and means of implementation
-Send campus-wide e-mail to students, campus partners, community
members, and alumni
Selected long-term course of
action:
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To maintain a symbiotic relationship between the community
and student body, students will be encouraged to become more
involved in community service work. Such engagement will
foster a sense of agency within the students and will yield a
greater affiliation to the surrounding area and institution
Create community service opportunities to bring community and
students together
Calculate the economic costs to the town if the number of
admitted students were to be cut or kept more distant from the
community
Begin a monthly newsletter to inform the community of recent
events and current successes and advances
Selected long-term course of
action:
• Create a student culture that respects the needs of local
community members (ie. encourage one another to be
considerate of late night parties, noise disruptions, and group
roaming in residential areas)
• Explore the possibility of reconsidering the values and mission of
the institution if there is no mention of giving back to the
community
• Focus attention on the importance of tradition and the university’s
foundation; ie. the integral role the university has had in shaping
the New England town and the appreciation the university
accredits to the town for allowing it to progress to the successful
and growing institution is has become. Such messages may be
more beneficial coming from the students themselves as opposed
to the President, Dean of Students, Board of Trustees, Directors,
etc.
Selected long-term course of
action:
-Work with University Housing professionals and Campus Police to better
enforce quiet and courtesy hours
-Heighten emphasis of student behavioral expectations
-Hold a meeting with the local police to collaborate in reigning in unruly
and disruptive behavior
-Encourage police to make a public statement of their intention to followthrough and take the initiative seriously
-Frame the heightened police enforcement as being in the best interest of
the community and the study body
-Have intentional conversations with the study body informing them of
these stricter policies, regulations, expectations and inform them why
such practices are being implemented
-Begin assessment to retrieve quantitative data from students and
community members
Selected long-term course of
action:
-Designate a portion of on-campus student housing for
upper-classmen and graduate students
-Implement a free bus system for students to get from
off-campus residencies to campus
-Speak with Student Life department to increase oncampus, alcohol-free weekend programming.
-More effectively utilize the spaces on campus to
create alternative events to keep students
purposefully engaged within on-campus facilities.
Compromises and Areas to
Continuously Assess :
-Both the university and the community will
have to make sacrifices in order to improve
the town/gown relations
-In order to fund our proposed campaign, the
town and the university will have to adjust
budgets to allocate funds towards the goal of
improving relations
Positive Impact on the
community:
- Sunnyvale residents, businesses and
nonprofits will benefit from student service
- Positive partnerships and events with the
university will attract residents to live in
Sunnyvale
- Sunnyvale residents will feel more connected
to the town and the university through being
heard in community meetings and
assesments
Positive Impact on the student body:
-Tensions with the town could cause students to
leave the university
-Students who violate new policies will engage in
educational experiences to learn from their
behavior
-Engagement with the town through service and
events will attract and retain students
-Positive engagement with Sunnyvale will
encourage students to give back to the
Sunnyvale Community when they graduate
-Students will engage in collaboration with town
residents through community meetings
Could any preventative measures
have been taken to alleviate the
situation before it happened?
-The purposes of attending the higher education
institution and selecting Sunnyvale in particular should
have been reinforced during orientation and in mail sent
to prospective and admitted students to create a
campus culture built around respect and giving back
-If public relations position had looked to the long term
solutions a decade ago, the town-gown relationship may
not have gotten so bad
References
Astin, A.W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of
College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308
Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F. Patton, L. & Renn, K. (2010). Student development in
college: Theory, research and practice (2nd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Renn, K.A., & Patton, L.D. (2011). The development of student affairs. In Schuh, J.H., Jones
S.R., Harper S.R. (Eds.), Student services a handbook for the profession (pp. 61-79). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Thank you
for your
time!