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I’ve had my fair share of memberships to national
professional associations in my four+ years in student affairs, namely ACPA and
ACUHO-I.  I’ve had the privilege to
attend the national meeting of both organizations at least once.  Although I value what the national orgs
do for our profession (especially publications and job placement), I must confess that at the moment I’m getting more
professional development from my state association, WCPA.  Many of my colleagues belong to
UMR-ACUHO, and likely feel the same way.

Why I ♥ My State
Professional Association

 No membership fee.  Yes, I know this is not a benefit that comes with many
associations, but our state association eliminated the membership fee about a
year ago.  However, most
state/regional associations have membership fees that are significantly lower
than national associations.

Shared experience.  Most of the people in the association can immediately relate
with my professional experience, and I with theirs.  We all have similar types of students, are working under the
same state budget (those of us in public institutions, anyway), and are
impacted by the same local events.

Small, powerful network of professionals.  The membership to my state association
is currently a little over 300. 
Although that pales in comparison to the thousands of people that belong
to national organizations, it’s a powerful group for me.  Should I try to get a job at any other
institution in this state, knowing just a few of those 300 may help me get my
foot in the door.

Involvement opportunities.  It took me approximately 30 seconds to
join the Professional Development Commission; all I had to do was walk into the
meeting.   Some of my
colleagues have been on the Executive Board since they were in grad school or
their first entry-level position. 
All it takes to become a leader in this association is to announce that
you’re willing.

Easy-to-attend conferences.  The conference is short (2 days) and
held in a central location each year. 
Also, it’s affordable. 
Registration was $150, which included 4 meals, and hotel rooms were well
under $100 per night.  The yearly
Professional Development Institute is always at a campus within driving
distance; this year it’s on my campus. 
That sure makes me likely to attend.

Positive, engaging membership.  This year I presented at the conference
for the first time, and I met a number of grad students and professionals eager
to talk about my area of interest. 
They provided lots of positive feedback, and ideas I could bring back to
my campus.

Are you a member of a state/regional association?  What types of experiences have you had?  How has it compared to your experience
with national associations?   

If you cannot view this poll click here.

four tracks of sessions designed to give a range of options;

Three session blocks,

Two student governments joining up to “host” the event,

…and one big day of programs from 9:30 am – 4 pm.

We had our Student Leadership Summit here on campus this past weekend
in conjunction with another area institution.  My colleagues and
friends at our neighboring campus were also experimenting with more
leadership offerings and so we decided to work together and host one
conference for both campuses.All this went into the event, yet one of our most active student leaders (and a student I trust and respect immensely!) can only say “this didn’t suck as much as I thought it would.”

I know it’s a challenge to recruit participants in events that are “for your own good” events carrying no credits or other types of merit awards.  However, our employers and graduate schools are calling for our students to arrive on their doorsteps with “leadership skills” and we have to answer that call.

Our event today offered some seriously high quality topics and, I believe, met students at a variety of levels.  But, I think that in our effort to be “all things,” we probably lose some focus.  It leads me to wonder, what’s it going to take to get the “average student” out of bed on a Saturday morning if one of my “frequent flyers” is already expecting it to “suck” even before it starts?

If you are in the same boat as we are and are currently wondering where to begin, I’d like to offer a few thoughts:

• Think about leadership training, leadership education, and leadership development as three separate things.  Your campus should figure out if the true goal is to focus on just one of these or on all three.
• Do you have to choose “a model?” 
   I had a great conversation with my colleague from the other campus today about this.  Choosing a model offers ability to gain consistency between programs and departments around campus.  However, it doesn’t mean just throwing programs together organized around the 7 C’s of the Social Change Model or doing one workshop in each of the 5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership.  You can still teach what you need to teach, but use your models as a framework for writing your learning outcomes for your program as well as a litmus test for knowing whether your programs are truly “comprehensive.” 
• Look at a long term plan to establish a comprehensive effort over time, presenting programs with multiple points of entry for students.
  If a junior suddenly realizes they are interested in some leadership programs, make sure they can jump in just as easily as a freshman can. 
• Decide if your programs are for positional leaders or for every student on campus.                           
  If your campus activities office is sponsoring these leadership workshops, you may have to work to adjust a perception that these programs are only for those in positional roles.  This has been a difficulty for us and, based on today’s event, is still something we need to address here.

Not every campus has the luxury of having one office or even one staff member who can devote time to leadership education.  So, here’s our “money question.” 

If you had to choose one area of focus for your leadership programming and could only offer 1 or 2 programs a year, what do you choose?

• Leadership training?  (train your club/organization/positional leaders)
• Leadership development? (cultivate more of your students to be involved with leadership experiences)
• Leadership education?  (educate your students about what leadership is)

I hope to hear your comments!

(commercial: Join us on Twitter for #sachat on Thursdays at 7 Central Time.  It was all kinds of fun last week!)

One of my personal areas of interest in sustainability.  This morning we had a staff meeting in another area of campus.  I left my reusable coffee cup at home asuming we would have ceramic cups at the meeting (sometimes our director splurges and provides us with drinks at these meetings), and I was saddened to find paper cups instead! I dejectedly used my first disposable cup since July!

This got me thinking about the things we are doing at Penn State to educate students about sustainability and whether or not they are actually making a difference in the long term. For example, two weeks ago was Penn State’s “Great Recycling Challenge.” This is a very exciting project where we encourage students to recycle as much as possible. Staff members from the Office of the Physical Plant actually audit the garbage for the week and determine which residence hall area recycles the greatest percentage of their recyclable trash. Students get daily updates on their recycling efforts, and there is a lot of friendly competition from the areas to see who can win the Great Recycling Challenge trophy. (For laughs, here I am with the trophy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bck134/3945667667/ ) The area I supervise is the three-time defending champions . . . . but are my students more likely to recycle when they graduate? I don’t know (and I doubt it).

What sorts of sustainability projects are going on in the student affairs offices at your institution? How do you assess their effectiveness, and how do they contribute to student learning at your institution?

 
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Shows like So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars
and have created a resurgence of interest in dance. Capitalizing on
this trend, our Student Association’s Activities Coordination Board decided to
tap into this energy by creating a homegrown
show that captured the trend but made it our own: Plattsburgh’s Best Dance Crew
(PBDC).

The campus was a buzz about PBDC, but even so, we were wondering how successful
the program would be. To add to our anxiety, on the night of the event the skies
opened up and panic pervaded our already tightly wound nerves as we waited with
baited breath to see what the turn-out would be. Since this was a non-ticketed
program, we had no clue as to the number of people who would be in attendance. Facebook
numbers hardly ever reflect reality, but we would have been happy with the 200
FBers indicating an interest. Additionally, we built into the show a raffle,
campus celebrity judges (people like Penny our Dining Hall card swiper) and
opportunity for the audience to vote for the overall winner. The question was:
would it be enough to get those 200 people out on a night like this?

The doors opened, our preshow started and the audience poured in. They just
kept coming, and coming. To put it into perspective, our undergraduate student
population is 5,736. When the show was over, we recorded just over 800 in
attendance. That’s roughly 14% of our student population! (Our comedy series
typically brings in between 200-300.) The result, as my students have put it,
was an Epic Show.

Twelve student leaders worked for months to pull this show together. During our
Monday Quarterback session everyone concurred this was a special program for
our campus that yielded results beyond our wildest expectations, and while not
proven scientifically, be believe that the homegrown infusion of a current
interest got folks to buy in. I encourage you try to it.

Some of elements we use:

• Created
  a limited edition shirt for committee and give-aways
• Required
  Auditions
• Prize
  $100 Mastercard Gift Card Per person on Crew
• Held A
  Teaser Show Day of PBDC (61syx Teknique also performed in at show)

  (hope to post a link with more photos and video – soon)

   
  Photo with ACB Entertainment Committee and Winners of PBDC

Working in Residence Life I have seen this scenario play out numerous times. The roommate A comes in and sees roommate B doing the nasty or Roommate B is sleeping while Roommate A is getting her kicks. It happens. However, now Tufts has placed a policy ban of sex while your roommate is in the room. Is this going too far?

The Tufts University policy is as follows:

Host Responsibilities:

Any resident student who will be hosting an overnight guest must adhere to the following expectations:

• You must obtain permission from your roommate(s) before your guest arrives to campus.
  
• If you live in a staffed residence hall you must obtain an Overnight Guest Registration Form from your Resident Assistant…
  
• You may not allow your guest (whether Tufts affiliated or not) to occupy your room without your presence or give your room key or building fob to your guest(s) under any circumstances.
  
• You are responsible for the behavior of your guests at all times and are liable for any damages incurred to your room or the residence hall as a result of your guest’s behavior/actions.
  
• You may not engage in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room. Any sexual activity within your assigned room should not ever deprive your roommate(s) of privacy, study, or sleep time.

Many times it is hard for roommates to have these and other tough conversations; they are coming from home with their own room and now they have to share a space with someone. In Residence Life, we want to be able to give the residents skills that will help them in the future. I know when many of my residents had to have these conversations, it was probably the hardest thing to do; but it gave them conflict management and other skills that have helped them out in the future.

(Wayne State)

And thinking like a typical resident, what would be considered as “sexual activity?” Making out? Hugging? In today’s society, that is ambiguous; it’s not necessarily the actions, but the motivation behind them (in my opinion). If you are going to tell them not to do it, then I believe then you should define what that is for them. I can see how this could lead into some potential problems. And if a resident was to engage in this type of an activity and the roommate was present, what would happen? Would they get kicked out of the room? It’s their room too and they have a right to use it as they see fit. With that said I like MSU’s residence hall policy; it splits it between primary and secondary rights.

Michigan State’s residence hall policy is that as a resident your primary rights are to read and study without interference, sleep and have access to belongings, and the right file grievance in your room. Any secondary rights, like having guests or having sex, cannot override those primary rights. Yeah there are some grey areas, but that allows the roommates to set the tone in their room for themselves, not the college or university. You could also do things like Wayne State’s Roommate Agreement, where there is a list of questions and answers that help facilitate those conversations.

(My roommate and I at MSU in 2003)

For more articles related to Tufts’ Policy, click here!