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This article is Part 2 of a two-part series focused on Campus Environments and Student Behavior” – before reading, check out Part 1 here:
Proactively Shaping Behaviors
Student development professionals can, and certainly should, participate in environment-building for student success and formation. Both macro- and micro-level participation helps ensure that the student experience is placed at the forefront of any campus space or place, something that, at times, seems to actually take a “back seat” in master planning. Below are a few examples of ways that student development professionals can involve themselves in shaping environments to help promote student behaviors that ultimately connect with the institutional mission.
Campus Master Planning
Student development staff should be involved in campus master planning (CMP). While ultimately under the direction of the President and Board of Trustees, campus leaders should heed the call to include student development staff that are consistently student-centric. CMP includes the actual physical construction of buildings, but also other broader elements of institutional resource allocation. This indicates why it is paramount to consistently be asking how students can best be served through the CMP process to support both learning and holistic development. Larry Moneta puts it well: “The role of student affairs in designing a building offers an opportunity to consider what forms of human interaction are desired in a building… and to influence the myriad details that support the desired student and community experience” (Moneta, 2021).
Ultimately, we want our campus facilities to be beautiful, enjoyable, and usable for students. Building designs, layouts, furniture, social spaces, food and drink, and a host of other considerations will influence whether students enjoy their campus buildings, which impacts a student’s impression and opinion of their own institution. If students can enjoy and take pride in their campus, they are more likely to better enculturate the mission of the institution and the behavioral expectations of being rooted within a particular community.
Residence Halls and Residence Life
This is an aspect that student development professionals have direct oversight of, and residence halls are perhaps the most formative physical spaces on campus as it relates to student behaviors. The interaction with roommates, hallmates, resident assistants, and area coordinators or resident directors can often be make-or-break experiences for students. The physical spaces themselves matter greatly, and in the construction of new campus housing or the remodeling of current units, student development professionals should be involved to ensure living quarters are comfortable and conducive to student success.
However, beyond the brick and mortar and furniture, the residence life programming for residents and commuters helps enliven the buildings into communities. Students are actually given a chance to live and learn together and practice “life” with each other as they continue to mature into adults. Our programs, services, and physical housing should all be carefully cultivated to help inculcate healthy habits, lifestyle choices, and peer-accountability for success. This is easier said than done, but it serves as a reminder that the redemptive work student development professionals partake in helps students learn practical and relational skills that can benefit them in all of life.
Student Social Spaces
Student social spaces are also an important consideration when discerning environmental impact on student behaviors. Coffee shops, TV lounges, game rooms, recreation spaces, fitness centers, and many more social spaces are highly impactful for a student’s perception of their campus. At many institutions where physical spaces are at a premium, where new buildings are few and far between, and where various departments jockey for control over space, it is important for student development teams to advocate for the importance of quality student social spaces. Institutions should, within reason, resist the urge to readily remove or reapportion student social spaces for other uses, especially if some perceive them as underutilized.
Environment Matters
I think all student development professionals recognize how important a vibrant environment is to student success and formation. We can all probably think of our own higher education experiences and the ways that places and spaces on campus influenced our feelings of belonging, our relationships, our interactions with faculty, and our perceptions of the institution. If behavior is a function of person + environment [B = f (P, E)], then we would do well to think through how our campus environments actually influence behavior.
I can think of a few questions that student development teams can brainstorm before the start of every academic year:
- Are we creating a campus experience that is enjoyable and fun? Or are students clambering to get off campus every weekend because campus life is dead or uninspiring?
- Do our residence halls and social spaces help foster an uncommon community where students see the institutional mission lived out? Or are these just spaces to sleep and study? How can roommates, suitemates, and whole halls regularly participate in campus life together?
- Do we actually inculcate our values through the very experience of living and learning on campus? Do employees model those values? Are faculty invited to participate in campus life beyond business hours? Do staff know the ways they can mentor and teach students (something faculty have more naturally in their roles)?
- Are student development voices speaking into how we construct and resource our campuses? Is there always a voice at your institution in the room where it happens that will lead with a “student first” mentality?
- How do students from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, domestic and international, male and female, athlete and non-athlete, (and many more demographic groups) experience campus environments differently? How does our thinking need to change to respond to these varying needs?
These questions are just a starting point. These types of conversations have to be iterative and ongoing. These conversations also have to move beyond just financial resources, constructing new buildings, and investing money in flashy amenities. There is much work to be done in cultivating a thriving student environment that does not (and probably should not) cost exorbitant amounts of money, or really any money at all. These challenges are also not all solved in one academic year.
Our goal is to serve our students well, and to help them live and learn within and through our Christ-centered missions through their whole educational career. Perhaps even small changes can help our students experience an environment that is enjoyable, beautiful, and motivating. Perhaps we can cultivate a community that shapes behavior and points students towards Christ-likeness, little by little, every day of their time with us.
References
- Moneta, L. (2021). The Business of Student Affairs: Fundamental Skills for Student Affairs Professionals. NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
