THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE
Janet Coffman. Ph.D.
Jean Paratore, Ph.D
The campus design or ecology concept offers an exciting shift in
perspective and attitudes in Student Affairs. The concept not only provides a
theoretical framework for intervention strategies but can also serve to focus
the development of the mission and goals of Student Affairs' programs
(Banning, 1980; Banning & Kaiser, 1974; Kaiser, 1975). At Southern Illinois
University, the Student Affairs operation under the leadership of Vice
President Bruce R. Swinburne, is attempting to incorporate and operationalize
the ecology concept into its mission. This past summer at the fourth annual
Campus Ecology Symposium at Pingree Park, Colorado, interest in the work
now underway at SIU was stimulated as a result of a session presented by the
authors of this article. It is evident that many institutions, while committed to
the notion of the ecological perspective are finding progress to be very slow
or even non-existent. Perhaps a review of the SIU experience will assist those
in need of direction.
The acceptance of the ecological concept has been a slow process. At
SIU, the process began in the mid-1970's when the Vice President for Student
Affairs directed that annual studies be conducted in the attempt to evaluate
services and programs within the institution and to seek student opinion
regarding their collegiate experience. This effort was undertaken by a
Research and Evaluation Committee which existed within Student Affairs at
that time, but was eliminated for budgetary reasons in the late 1970's. In 1979,
Counseling Center Director Dr. Kathy Hamilton, formerly of Colorado State
University where the campus ecology movement was well ingrained, designed
a student satisfaction study which, along with the Director of the Career
Development Center, Dr. Janet Coffman, has been implemented biannually.
The instrument design obtains student evaluations of campus programs and
functions and student perceptions of the environment along twenty different
dimensions. It also allows students to rate their satisfacton with each
environmental item and to comment regarding the rating of each item.
Valuable information provided by these early studies enhanced the
attractiveness of an environmental perspective.
Interest in campus ecology took stronger root at SIU following the
attendance of the Vice President at the 1983 and 1984 Campus Ecology
Symposia. Swinburne recognized the potential of the ecological perspective
and sought in 1984 to operationalize it within Student Affairs through the
creation of a Campus Environment Team. The Team is comprised of
individuals from Student Affairs and the campus at large who are
knowledgeable about the ecological perspective and committed to student
development and Student Affairs' research. The Team's initial task of
identifying the goals and functions of Student Affairs was aided through the
adaptation and modification of the WICHE ecosystem model for translating
the ecological perspective to practice (Western Interstate Commission for
Higher Education [WICHE], 1973). The modified model has over the last two
years helped to stimulate extensive discussions which have culminated in the
development of a Student Affairs' mission statement, the exploration of the
values inherent within the organization, the formation of a research and
evaluation team, and the definition of the staff development role of the
Campus Environment Team in promoting the ecolgical perspective within
Student Affairs. This Fall the Campus Environment Team coordinated a staff
development retreat. Each senior administrator participated in an exercise to
discuss and prioritize the values held by Student Affairs. Following the retreat
the program directors were asked to look at how the values identified may or
may not be operationalized within each of the units within Student Affairs.
The goal of this process is for each administrator to begin an exploration of
the values being expressed by his/her unit. Additionally, an evaluation of
existing programs, activities, and services is being encouraged. Evaluations
will be coordinated by the Student Affairs Research and Evaluation Team
(SARET), a committee which serves as the research arm of the Campus
Environment Team.
Organized in January, 1986, SARET is comprised of six members of
the University staff, including one faculty member and the director of the
University's Office of Institutional Research and Studies. The Team has been
charged with the task of coordinating and encouraging research efforts within
Student Affairs. The goals of the Team include: (1) to improve the
student-environment fit through assessment of programs, facilities, services,
policies, and practices; (2) to consult with staff within Student Affairs to
assist them in the conduct of their research efforts; (3) to establish a linkage
with Academic Affairs' units in order to refer research questions for graduate
students to pursue; and (4) to conduct research and evaluation to determine if
the values espoused by Student Affairs through its mission statement are
being expressed within the programs, facilities, services, policies, and
practices of the units within Student Affairs.
Within its initial ten months, SARET has generated its own research and has served in a consultative role, assisting units within Student Affairs with their reserch efforts. Further, liaison with academic departments, including Higher Education, Health Education, Sociology, and others has been established in order to refer research questions which are beyond the scope of the immediate priorities of SARET to graduate students to pursue within their masters or doctoral programs.
To date, SARET has completed four major studies. Two of the studies
were conducted to evaluate the success of a mentoring program and a course
designed after University of South Carolina's Project Ahead. Both programs
have been in place at SIU for several years and are designed to positively
impact retention. A third study undertaken by SARET involved an analysis of
the reasons for withdrawing expressed by students who had withdrawn during
the Fall of 1985. The data obtained through the American College Testing
Programs's Withdrawn Student Survey were compared with the reasons given
by the withdrawing students at the time of their withdrawal. Finally, a survey
of agency use patterns of nontraditional students and needs assessment for
future programming was conducted at the request of a task force established
to formulate an office on nontraditional student service. In addition to these
completed studies, five projects have been initiated and are currently at
various stages of completion.
The Campus Environment Team and the Student Affairs Research and
Evaluation Team have become integral to the promotion of the ecological
perspective within Student Affairs. Constituted at the Vice Presidential level,
these two groups have the administrative sanction needed to take an active
role in educating staff and in promoting reseach and evaluation activities. The
development of the two teams utilizing existing personnel and with minimal
budgetary outlay has made it possible for Student Affairs to begin to examine
formally the interaction of students and the environment. The model that has
been adopted at SIU allows all of the participants within Student Affairs to
examine their values, to evaluate their programming, and to begin to design
environments which will more positively impact the students' experience on
campus. The process has been a laborious one and has only begun to be
understood and accepted by the staff. The exploration of values and self
assessment are difficult and not always welcomed tasks. However, they are
exercises in which we must be periodically involved. This effort, along with
the assessment of our students, is an essential component of the campus
ecology concept.
References:
Banning, J. H. (1980). The campus ecology manager role. In U. Delworth, G.
R. Hanson, & Associates (Eds.), Student services: A handbook for the
profession. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Banning, J. H., & Kaiser, L. R. (1974). An ecological perspective and model
for campus design. Personnel and Guidance Journal. 52, 370-375.
Kaiser, L. R. (1975). Designing campus environments. NASPA Journal,
13(1), 33-39.
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. (1973).The ecosystem
model: Designing campus environments. Boulder, Colorado: Western
Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Editors Note: Janet Coffman is associated with the Career Development Center of the Southern Illinois University campus and Jean Paratore serves in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.
A new survey developed by an Indiana State University professor
emeritus of social psychology identifies and measures stress among college
students. It also pinpoints factors in the loss of student motivation and
alienation from the role of college student.
At a time when administrators in higher education grapple with
retention-related issues, Dr. Charles Nelson's research indicates that measures
of overall stress from college life correlate significantly with several criteria
of stress such as alienation, burnout, aspiration level and self-control.
Significant correlations with public health measures of health hazard
habits and with students' self-reported symptoms of serious potential illness
also surfaces.
The Qualtiy of Life Stress Survey's (QLSS) results are based on 1,245
college students' ratings of their organizational environment. It measures
stressors specific to particular lifestyles and the level of stress coming from
various aspects of the student environment. QLSS also provides anonymous
computer feedback to individuals to guide them into suggested stress reducing
relationships in their role as students.
"Stress arises for the college student when role demands conflict with
basic lifestyle needs and the student loses motivation and becomes alienated
from the role of college student," Nelson contends.
Beyond lifestyle needs, the QLSS identifies and measures four areas of
stress-organizational climate, role conflict, coping resources and stress
reaction symptoms.
The most striking results, according to the researcher, are the
correlations showing that when certain lifestyle needs are frustrated,
symptoms of both emotional and physical illness arise.
"The university is a major intervention in the lives of its students as it
seeks to socialize them into society's future needs. Organizational climate or
culture has a major impact on the lives of students as it designs their role
requirements through its organizational requirements," he says.
"Of, course we all recognize that environment can be stressful and that
we must learn to live with it-but what are we doing to help students live with
it or change it so it is more livable?"
Citing national statistics for state universities such as ISU which
suggest that only 40-45 percent of entering freshmen graduate within eight
semesters, Nelson says perhaps there's too much stress in the role of college
student.
"We haven't looked at role stressors enough-haven't modified role
demands to serve the needs of students during this transition period of life
from home to work.
"If we could do this well, we could turn these students into more
effective people for themselves and for others. Nationwide, drug and alcohol
problems indicate that we haven't succeeded. Use of alcohol, sex and power
are very confused in this age group," he reports.
"The college residence hall is an excellent place to begin work on the
person-environment fit to resolve lifestyle conflicts through far greater role
satisfaction here and in the future," he says.
Statistical information is available in an 80-page report Nelson has
completed for the Indiana State Board of Health: A Systematic Work-Site
Approach to Stress-Related Illness (A Quality of Life Guide to Health
Maintenance).
Editors Note: Article was submitted by Indiana State University News. For
further information contact Charles Nelson (812)894-2559.
Are aesthetically pleasing buildings and superior landscaping merely
icing on universities' scholarly cakes-or does the physical appearance of
college campuses enhance the overall quality of academic life?
The results of a recent study conducted at The Ohio State University
show that the university community believes the physical environment of the
campus positively affects the quality of teaching and learning. According to
Professor of Architecture Paul E. Young, Jr., who chaired the study, a campus
that reminds residents of its roots in human history offers sense of historical
place which is basic to a setting for scholarly inquiry. Further, Young says,
"Campus buildings and grounds can support learning directly by serving as a
'repository' of information, and indirectly by encouraging a spirit of creative
discovery among students and faculty."
Young shared the results of the study, which includes specific ways to
use landscaping and building design to enhance the quality of academic life,
at a three-day symposium sponsored by The Ohio State University Office of
Business and Administration.
The idea for the symposium grew from the realization of the
importance of facilities and grounds to the total learning experience,
according to John R. Kleberg, Assistant Vice President of the OSU Office of Business and Administration. Sixty-six university architects, faculty, administrators and facilities planners from 16 states and 11 foreign countries attended the October 1-3 event in Comlubus.
Among the topics addressed at the First International Symposium on Preserving a Quality Environment for Learning were adaptive use of campus buildings and harmonious new design, labratory modernization and adaptation in the United Kingdom, managing and caring for the campus landscape, and measuring the value of campus architecture. After the symposium, internaational participants were taken by the OSU Office of Business Administration on a two week architectural tour of a number of college campus in Ohio, Michigan and Virginia.
For additional information, contact John R. Kleberg, Assistant Vice President, Office of Business and Administration, The Ohio State Univrsity, 108 Bricker Hall, 190 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210. An exchange tour to Europe is planned for September, 1987.