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Study leads administration to improve student life
By Kezia McKeague
Old Gold and Black Reporter

The Division of Student Life thinks campus may need a face-lift. Ken Zick, vice president for student life and instructional resources, and Mary Gerardy, assistant vice president for student life, just need to figure out exactly what needs to be done.

Listening sessions with various student groups, a survey of student satisfaction and a comparative study of other universities were conducted by the Division of Student Life, which generated ideas and made recommendations for improvement last year.

"We have a responsibility to examine what we know about student life on campus and make sure there are sufficient opportunities for interaction among all student groups and for the creation of new friendships," Zick, said. "In other words, we want to cultivate a healthy sense of community and school spirit."

Listening to Students

In an attempt to hear a diversity of student opinion, Zick and Gerardy organized sessions with seven different groups: athletes, Greeks, Huffman House residents, Resident Advisers, Student Government representatives, off-campus students and Old Gold & Black editors. The sessions took place from October 2001 to April 2002.

They posed two primary questions to spark what Zick described as "open-ended" discussions: What are your primary concerns about the university? What could we do better? According to Zick, results from a survey done in March largely echoed what was said in the listening sessions.

Designed by an independent consulting firm called The Planning Edge, the questionnaire assessed overall satisfaction with the university and the reasons for satisfaction levels among both on-campus and off-campus students. Out of 1,360 students, 30 percent completed the survey.

Students said they were more satisfied with their academic experience than they are with their student life experience. For example, over 80 percent of on-campus students rate their academic satisfaction at least 7 on a 1 to 10 point scale, while two-thirds rate student life 7 out of 10. The difference is even greater among off-campus students.

"The most important reasons students are not completely satisfied with life outside the classroom are concentrated in a relatively few areas," Alan Cox, the consultant for the Division of Student Life, said.

The primary reason cited was a sense that student life is "dominated by Greek life."

Other reasons mentioned included lack of diversity, strict party rules and nothing to do in Winston-Salem.

When asked both in the listening sessions and the survey, by far the most frequent recommendations were for more social activities on campus.

More than half of the comments focused on more events and longer party hours.

To better understand how they prefer to spend Friday and Saturday nights, students were asked to rank seven choices. Results indicate that the first choice is clearly "hanging out with friends," while on-campus activities (such as theater and the Student Union) are the least popular choices.

The survey also addressed likelihood and reasons for moving off campus.

Students who currently live on campus rated more space as the most important reason to move, with more accessible parking, cooking and greater freedom as secondary reasons.

While many of these results were no surprise to those who work on student life, Zick was impressed by how commonly held some feelings were across different campus groups.

He noted, for example, that there seems to be a broad consensus on a need for more casual interaction space on campus. "We do not have a lot of venues except for Benson, which is principally for organization use.

Students would like hangout space that is less institutional, more inviting," he said.

Impact

The findings of the listening sessions, survey and a comparative study have been gradually shared with additional groups since they were first presented to the university cabinet in late spring.

In July, the board of trustees received "Student Life at the Millennium" at its annual summer session, which had student life concerns as its thematic focus. The booklet included the recent research.

Zick said that most staff members involved with student affairs already know about the studies, but a meeting will be scheduled soon to formally present the data. In addition, student leaders in attendance at the Presidential Leadership Conference this weekend will be made aware of the findings.

More difficult is making changes to address perceived student needs, Zick said. "The pragmatic question is how to translate the findings into recommendations of value. Before you make an investment you want to make sure it works," he said.

Nevertheless, the studies have already resulted in some specific changes. A new initiative, modeled on a tradition at Elon University, seeks to foster greater communication between different campus groups in a casual manner, according to Gerardy.

Beginning next week, "Coffee Talk" will be a time for faculty, staff and students to gather with refreshments every Tuesday at 11 a.m.

"There will be a different theme for each week, such as football or international studies, with people represented from those areas. But it’s not like a ‘message of the week.’ It’s just an informal time for everybody in the campus community," Gerardy said.

Some students have responded positively to the idea, yet question its effectiveness.

"In theory I think the idea of professors and students interacting and building relationships out of class could create a more enriching environment," sophomore Rebecca Cook said. "It will be interesting to see how well attended it will be."

Also based in part on the trips to other universities is a new provision concerning reporting of judicial records.

After discovering that several schools do not retain records of minor offenses after graduation, Zick introduced a similar proposal to the judicial committee last spring. It was approved and is in effect for the class of 2003.

Commonly called a "sunset" provision, the new policy means that the university will only disclose those records that involve academic dishonesty, sexual misconduct, drugs and controlled substances, alcohol abuse and felonies.

"We found that removal of certain records was a fair thing to do for students. Most violations occur while students are freshmen, and the vast majority only commit one," Ricardo Hall, assistant dean and judicial officer, said.

As a result of repeated suggestions in the survey and listening sessions, the student life committee approved an extension of party hours to 2:30 a.m.

"It was a wise decision because students are going to party late anyway," said sophomore Samantha Larkin. "And if the parties are in the lounges they’re more under control."

A new unit of student life staff has also been recently organized to strengthen programming on campus and awareness of programming off-campus.

It consists of James Buckley, director of Benson University Center; Michael Ford, director of student development; Sally Sue Brown, coordinator of volunteer services; and Kathryn Arnett, the new head of the Student Union.

"We’re exploring ideas for late-night programming and continuing our efforts to assess student interest," Arnett said. An additional idea sparked by the listening sessions will soon result in a student advisory board for student life staff, which Gerardy hopes will include "voices not typically heard."

Student Life Road Trip

Zick cautioned that it is important not to draw causal conclusions from statistical studies alone. Interpretation of data is also benefited by comparison, he said, "In context with other schools, our overall satisfaction rates are very high."

In order to obtain ideas from other universities, student life staff made campus visits throughout the Southeast last fall, meeting with faculty, administrators and students at Davidson, Emory, Furman, Elon, Washington & Lee, William & Mary and the University of Richmond. The study compared nineteen different aspects and policy areas of student life, including judicial systems, traditions, alchohol/drugs and orientation.

"The road trip was very helpful. I learned that Wake Forest is not alone–the issues we’re talking about are what peer institutions are talking about. Some are ahead of us in ideas, others behind," Gerardy said.

Obstacles to Long-term Change

Many ideas for improvements to hangout space exist, but Zick said that each specific plan requires further study.

The creation of more public space requires large funds, while the physical constraints inherent in the present layout of the campus impose certain challenges.

Zoning also presents a problem for plans for off-campus space. "People often wonder about making Reynolda Village more student-friendly. But it’s an historic place. You can’t just plop down a nightclub," Zick said.

Decisions about investment of resources also entail tradeoffs on other areas to spend money. Each group on campus – the student body, the faculty and the administration – operate on different "mental model" or perceptions of what life on campus should be like, according to Zick.

"Finding a balance is the question," he said. Yet student life staff members remain optimistic that significant changes will be achieved. "We’re very hopeful that we’ll continue to make changes and improvements over the next few years," Gerardy said.