by Ryan Taylor
It’s been six (can you believe it, six years!) since the pandemic impacted how we do this work. Remember the Zoom 1:1s, the virtual curriculum strategies, and for some, the closed residential communities? It’s just wild to think that was now 6 years ago – it still feels so recent. Six years ago, I was still a student leader in undergrad, serving my community as an RA.
I took a class in the Fall 2021 semester titled “Sociology of Higher Education” and I remember distinctly bringing up the conversation of how our praxes have changed and will continue to evolve in the coming years as we see the generations attending an institution of higher education evolve with it. What a pivotal conversation, even in 2021. No one knew or could even predict what would happen to our field or how it would change. No curriculum, no student development theory, no community standards updating (remember those days where “Devious Licks” rampaged our residential communities?), nothing could have predicted where we would be years later.
Well, here we are… it’s years later! We are just beginning to see how this generation is changing how ResEd professionals show up in this work every day. As professional staff, we know that our day-to-day work shifts every day – it’s Student Affairs, we knew this coming into the field. Student Development theory, as we know it, shows us how students from the early 20th century engage in these environments and how their environments engage with them (thanks, Astin, for this one – you’re a real one!). However, be this as it may… there’s still so many unanswered questions about how we can support and adapt our practices to meet the needs of this generation (and future ones!) in our functional area! Let’s take a look at how our praxes have changed in the past few years as a result of identifying what students need…
This blog series features different writers responding to the prompt, “How is the rising generation of college students changing residence life practice?”
Programming & Engagement 🍕
Remember the days where we could host a community program and the lobby would be filled with students all coming to attend because they wanted to build relationships with their peers (let’s be honest… they wanted the food available too…)…? Those days seem to be less and less common. The pizza parties, the craft nights, the movie showings, they’re still done – but has anyone checked on our friend the attendance data? They’re down with something… the quantitative data scaries. Less and less students seem to be interested in these pieces. But… what we’re seeing more requests for now is purposeful engagement! Résumé building workshops, time with faculty, how to create a budget, identity-based workshops and more! We’re seeing more of a commitment now to these initiatives which is perfect if you’re a curriculum nerd like me! All this to say though, every campus is different – so we really need to hear what our students are saying. They’re calling on us for something different now and it’s up to us to answer the call.
Communication, Boundaries, and Conflict… Oh My! 💬
In my undergraduate season, students could engage in and navigate through conflict using healthy coping skills they had developed over time. Isolation likely created a point of inflection in students’ development of these skills. This has caused the mediators in us to be more present and mindful of how this impacts our day-to-day work. The copy of “Little Book of Restorative Justice for Colleges and Universities” (Karp) has really gotten its use during my time as a Hall Director because I’ve found the need for it – with processing the what-seems-to-be never ending stream of Room Change requests whose rationale are “Roommate Conflict”.Whether it’s the form itself or you’re finding out in a Conduct meeting, when you ask the student “Did you bring this issue up with your roommate?”… the answer is…
“No… it’s just too uncomfortable so I just wanna move”. We’re seeing that this is much more common now than pre-2020. We’re seeing a need to better train our student leaders (and, truly, our professional staff) on conflict management, restorative justice, and mediation facilitation because students are aiming to navigate around their conflict rather than through it. Luckily, there’s strategies that address this – Roommate Bingo events ring a bell, anyone? This pulse check during the first 6 weeks is also SO crucial. We’re still working through this one but slowly but surely, ResEd departments everywhere are always finding ways to be innovative with roommate matching and roommate agreement facilitation!
There’s a Fine, Fine Line between a Counselor and a Hall Director 👓
Have you ever seen “Avenue Q” the musical? There’s a song that talks about there existing a fine line between being a lover and a friend… in many ways, I think about this connected to being a Hall Director. This generation of students has expressed its need for support and yes! We are equipped to provide support but there’s a HUGE asterisk there. Students come to their Hall Director’s office and share so. much. information. about not only the conduct case they’re meeting about but what’s going on in their personal lives. This is a beautiful but complex relationship. While we’re so glad our students trust us, how are we being mindful of our own wellness? ResEd staff go through so much training year to year but what trainings don’t we go through? A Masters degree in Counseling leading to licensure. We’re helpers all the way, but we’re finding our functional area needing to be more strategic in identifying who handles what, when? and, importantly, how can we express care but still manage to protect our wellness! This is a journey we’re all on together but it’s certainly touched our practice and will continue to – our trauma-informed care trainings have been helpful here, but there’s more to unpack with how our offices communicate with our Counseling Centers on Campus to find a groove that works for both offices but ultimately uplifts our students when they need support. Also, hey, who knows? Maybe we’ll start seeing an increase in institutions who have Counselors in Residence!
Students have shown us what they want, what they really really want… and need. Our practice has definitely shifted given how our world has. As much as we want to push ourselves to adapt as quickly as humanly possible since there’s always that pressure, it’s important to take a pause and reflect on what we currently have. What worked 20 years ago will likely not work now, that’s true. However, there might be some element in that 20 year old process that could work or help us find that lightbulb idea that will work for the current and future generations. At the center of it all, though, remember to listen to your students’ and your staff members’ stories whether it’s from data collected via assessment, a conduct meeting, or even an off-handed comment a student tells you about their challenging roommate, these always help us refine our practice in the long run and contribute to a better student experience!
