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Think Tank Report. Communicating How UnionsContribute to Community.Association of College Unions-International,Bloomington, IN.Mar 9114p.; For a related document, see HE 024 694.Association of College Unione-International, 400 E.Seventh St., Bloomington, IN 47405 ($4.00).Journal Articles (080)ACU-I Bulletin; v59 n2 p18-30 Mar 1991

MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.*Administrator Attitudes; Administrators; *CollegeEnvironment; Extracurricular Activities; Highe:Education; Institutional Advancement; *InstitutionalRole; Meetings; Nonprofit Organizations;*Organizational Effectiveness; Social Organizations;*Student College Relationship; *Student Unions

This report presents viewpoints and arguments madeduring a meeting of higher education administrators who wereassembled to discuss ways that Associations of CollegeUnions-International (ACU-I) and its members can communicate theunion's mission as campus community builder. The overall focus of themeeting comes from the Carnegie Foundation's "Campus Life: In Searchof Community" which presents college unions and activities as with aunique opportunity to strengthen their position as the communitycenter and unifying force on campus. Participants were the following:Winston Shindell, Association of College Unions-International (ACU-I)president; Richard Blackburn, ACU-I executive director; WilliamBrattain, assistant vice-president for student services at WesternIllinois University; Frank Cianciola, director a the Michigan Unionat the University of Michigan; Ted Crabb, director of the WisconsinUnion at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; Martha Dawson, vicepresident of academic affairs at Hampton University; Larry Huffman,president of Kankakee Community College; William Johnston, directorof Southern Methodist University's Hughes-Trigg Student Center; BruceKaiser, director of Northwestern University's Norris UniversityCenter; Norman F. Moore, vice chancellor for student services atLouisiana State University; and Elizabeth Nuss, executive director ofthe National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.(GLR)

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Think Tank report

Communicating howunions contribute to community

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

Association of College

Unions-International

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

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What better time to communicate your role oncampus than when top administrators are discuss-ing how to create a sense of community? The Car-negie Foundation's Campus Life: In Search ofCommunity presents college unions and activitiesa unique opportunity to strengthen their positionas the community center and unifying force oncampus.

In this issue, a Think Tank of higher educationadministrators suggests ways ACU-I and its mem-bers can communicate the union's mission as cam-pus community builder. The January Bulletinreported the Think Tank's comparison of how theunion and activities profession views itself withhow others perceive it.

WINSTON SHINDELL: Now I'd like this group tofocus on what professional associations can pro-vide to educate those within and outside theinstitution on our role, our mission, the impactwe can make.ELIZABETH Nuss: Identify the audiences youwant to reach. Because of time, energy, andresources, you can't reach everyone. Pick a fewaad come up with a strategy for one year at atime.

NASPA has been doing more presentatioasat other people's conferencesthe AmericanAssociation of State Colleges and Universities,the American Council on Education, and someof those groups. Our people aren't doing thepresentations they normally do for their studentaffairs colleagues. We want them to do presen-tations designed for ax other audience, and thattakes and time energy.

SHINDELL: This gets back to one of the Task"Force 2000 recommendations: Is there any hopeof the professional associations linking theirefforts?Nuss: Yes and no. There are some combinedefforts, but our board wants the message to befrom NASPA. There's a pride 0? ownership, apride of identity.RICHARD BIACHEURN: I agree. In theory, morecollaboration among associations makes sense.But in practice, it gets difficult. You find your-self having to pick which eff,rts to make collab-orative. Liz and I are both involved in aconsortium group of about 20 higher educationassociations that can work together on somethings. But due to the unique nature of eachgroup, there are many things we cannot dotogether very well.WILLIAM JOHNSTON: Liz, you've talked about

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outreach. What's the end result of that and howdoes that impact sense of community and cam-pus climate? If you change the climate on cam-pus, will that result in a sense of community?Noss: I think the campus is looking for assis-tance in solving these difficult problems. Butwith some of them, particularly alcohol, studentaffairs didn't take an assertive leadership role.We said: "We can't change behaviors on thecampus" and "It's going to be difficult." Well, thewhole society has changed in the midst of that.and we're now responding late. People want usto take some leadership in the areas of' campuscrime and security, the raising of expectationsfor student behavior, and setting clear expecta-tions.JoHNsToN: One of the Task Force 2000s great-est concerns is who will be doing our work in thefuture. Where are they coming from and how arethey being trained? We're talking about achanging clientele; certainly the complexion ofour own profession needs to represent thechanging complexion of the students well beserving. How are we bringing persons of colorinto the field and what do we do to addresscurricular needs and changes in the graduatepreparation programs? I'm not sure a graduateprogram based on counseling theory is where weneed to be without some more pragmatic expe-riential requirements.SHINDELL: I'd like v; take a different tack. I ama director of a college union out there, and Ithink I can help establish a sense of' communityon my campus. People have been passingaround a hook on campus cornnlunity thatdoesn't speak about college unions or what I cando, yet I know in looking at my role statenwntthat there is a connection. My question is: Whatcan you do to help me communicate this mes-sage?FRANK CONCH/LA: We need to narrow our focusto two primary groups: t I ) the president of theinstitution and (2) the person we report to. Thatmay be a different individual; it may he a chieffinancial officer or an auxiliary person. Let'sFocus today on communicatMg the message tothat individual.

The second question deals with what are wetrying to communicate, Are we trying to commu-nicate the umbrellathe service station notion.the programmatic notion, the principles in ourrole statement? Or might we be better served tointroduce the sense of community in the contextof their pressures. I would submit that crimeand safety is one of today's pressures. Anotherone is alcohol. Pluralism: what are we doingactively? As Ted said. "I can point to every oneof these issues and we're doing some things on

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Think Tank participantsWinston Shindell, ACU-I president and

director of the Indiana Memorial Unionat Indiana University-Bloomington,chaired the Think Tank,

Richard Blackburn is ACU-I's executivedirector.

William Brattain is assistant vice presi-dent for student services at Western Il-linois University and an at-largemember of ACU-I's ExecutiveCommittee.

Frank Cianciola is director of the Mich--gan Union at the University of Michiganand an at-large member of ACU-I'sExecutive Committee.

Ted Crabb is director of the WisconsinUnion at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Martha Dawson is vice president of aca-demic affairs at Hampton University.

Larry Huffman is president of KankakeeCommunity College.

J. William Johnston is director ofSouthern Methodist University'sHughes-Trigg Student Center andACU-I's president-elect.

Bruce Kaiser is director of NorthwesternUniversity's Noriis University Centerwhere the Think Tank met last fall.

Norman F. Moore is vice chancellor forstudent services at Louisiana StateUniversity.

Elizabeth Nuss is executive director ofthe National Association of Student Per-sonnel Administrators.

our campus." The next question is how do thoseget communicated.

And the other one is undergraduate educa-tion. We've pressed Martha and Larry to answerwhy it's important to involve the faculty Onereason is that the union and the student activi-ties program can provide a vehicle for cross-dis-ciplinary activities. The literature departmentand engineering school can get together arounda lecture, a film, a dance program. or interna-tional education. It provides those we report toa tangible vehicle for improving the undergrad-uate experience. Rather than saying "Let's com-municate our entire mission." maybe we shouldfocus on these four.MARTHA DAWSON: To get back (in Wins to n 'spoint, you come to me. the chiefacademic officer.

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and say, "I've got some good things going in theunion, and I think I could be helpful," What didyou tell me you could do for the academic under-graduate program? You have to be specific. Youhave a lot in this role statement, but you haveto translate it into action. First ofall, you shouldsay to me, "On my staff I have persons withcertain expertise." You should say to me, partic-ularly when money is tight, "I or some of mystaff could serve as adjunct faculty." I'd like thatbecause I woulda't have to spend some money.NORMAN MOORE: What you need to do is do it..Lay it out as an action plan and involve thechancellor or the vice chancellor in the pro-grams. Get out of' your shells and start workingwith people in other divisions. If you have asafety problem, you run to the university andsay: "Get more police out here. Our parking lotsare full of thugs." Help yourself. Let the univer-sity know you're willing to put your moneywhere your mouth is. Hire students to patrol foryou. They don't have to car guns. They can betrained, carry walkie-talkies, have immediatecontact with patrol cars.

You're not going to do a lot of good with mychancellor ifyou walk in with an action plan andI sr e one part will cost $280,000 and another willbe $18,758. All you've done is give me a bill. Youhaven't said, "We're willing to contribute tothis."

I'm trying to get union people, housing peo-ple, and food service people to be in control of'what they're contributing to the institution be-cause then they can benefit from it.

What you need to do is go it. Lay it out asan action plan and involve the chancelloror the vice chancellor in the programs.Get out of your shells and start 'workingwith people in other divisions.... Let theuniversity know you're willing to putyour money where your mouth is.

DAWSON: Boyer I Campu:, Lk: In Search 011'0m -munityl and the Carnegie Foundation havecredibility. Presidents and vice presidents lis-ten. Translate the guidelines and principlesfrom Campus Life into your action plan andcome tell me how you can relieve some of theseproblems. And then get it out there in yourpublications and listed in the bibliographies.

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WILLIAm BitxrriuN: I might ask that union di-rector, "What's your strategy for reporting up?"We don't always communicate our successes.We communicate problems because we have tobring them up in weekly meetings with the bossor staff as we solve them. You have to arm yourauxiliary service director, the chief student af-

Moore and &attainfairs officer, who ultimately will get some ofyour successes to the president. The associationcan set up mechanisms through publications,through educational sessions, to make peopleaware they need to communicate successes tothe people they report to.TED CRAM One of' the most effective ways wecan communicate those programs to the presi-dents is to have the students involved in plan-ning the program meet with the president.Make sure they communicate that the unionsponsored it and that they're there as 1.;le chairof' a union committee.DAWSON: I would preferlooking at a crowdedschedulethat you send me a copy of' an articleabout something you had done that has beenpublished in a referred journal.MOORE: I can give you another communicationmechanism. I have a student advisory councilthat includes the president and vice presidentof student government, all the presidents ofcollege councils, presidents of the major livinggi oups, and the presidents of special interestgroups. It meets monthly during the academicyear. We let them know what we're working on,what we're worried about, what we're thinkingabout doing long range as well as short term.They tell es what they think we ought to bedoing, and then they just share information.

Chancellor Davis has a smaller council.Chancellm.s (lon't say the same things to stu-dent leaders that vice chancellors do. We're

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working on the day-to-day stuff and some long-range things with them; the chancellor is talk-ing globalstate budget, faculty problems. Weadded the Student Union Board president whois always charged up and talking about what'sgoing on over there, much of which ties to whatthe chancellor is concerned about: crime on cam-pus, the alcohol problem, the image of the insti-tution, non-caring faculty and staff. I tl.ink it'salmost impossible to get the union board presi-dent in to tell the chancelloror the president what a greatprogram it was.SHINDELL: It depends on howyour campus is organizedwhether you have a studentgovernment and a separateunion organization. Oftenthere is a formal arrange-ment so that student govern-ment can speak about what'shappening on campus. In alarger institution, studentgovernment doesn't alwaysspeak for what's happeningin the union board; some-times there is no connection.Our trustees have a StudentAffairs Committee that'sopen to the public. Tradition-ally, the student body presi-dent has spoken for theinstitution, but this year our union board pres-ident also attends. He has dominated the lasttwo meetings because the trustees are talkingabout issues the union is concerned about.MOORE: Get with your public relations people oncampus. There are avenues through that mech-anism to get your message out to different audi-ences, alumni and everyone else. TheUniversity of Illinois has a parents' associationthat's a tremendous mechanism for informiniipeople and developing a sense of community.LARRY HUFFMAN: Remember also that just a.;every student is a little different, every group,every campus, every president is a little differ-ent. The chancellors and presidents of theselarge institutions serve a different group of con-stituents. On the other hand, I'm out there try-ing to be involved. If an event is on the weeklyschedule, I may not see it. But if somebodyinvites me directly, I will go if I can.

To answer that earlier question, I do listen towhat students say because they don't have avested interest. It's a lot more important to meif a student say; , "We need to do more of this interms of student activities." I make sure our vicepresident of students knows that and gets to-

gether with the activities director to work onthat. On the other hand, if a student says, "Thisis an improvement over what's been done, etc.,"I also make sure that gets back to the people whoare involved. So much depends on your campusand on how accessible the people you report toare. You have to do what works for you.Num: How many of your union boards havefaculty members? How do you appoint them,who are they, how long do they stay, how are

they viewed byother faculty mem-bers?C8ABB: One of thetechniques I useand I worked withthe chancellor indoing thisis in se-lecting somebodywho has the chan-cellor's ear, some-body in the innercircle. When thereis some issue, youhave somebody youcan go to.Nuss: Limiting theterm is a good idea.One side says, "Ihave to get used toa whole new groupof students every

year, and it, is 1ice to have a faculty member whois predictable." That's a comfort level. If thatposition gets turned over every two years, that'sjust another challenge. It's a better challengethough because then you have a group knowl-edgeable about what you're doing. You can heara different voice from that perspective, arl asthings change among the faculty, you may getpeople who have different perspectives.DAWSON: What is it going to do for me when itcomes to promotion and tenure? What do you dofor me after I serve? Will you write my dean andindicate how I've influenced certain issues andso forth so at least I get a few brownie points?SHINDELL: That's something else that, as an as-sociation, we do not do. To give you an example,I wrote to the Er 3sidents and chief student per-sonnel officer? Jf institutions featured in CollegeUnion Facilities, expressing appreciation fortheir staff s participation and congratulatingthem for their particular union being selected. Iwas amazed at how many presidents responded.We ought to formalize that at the associationlevel rather than depending on volunteers.BLACKBURN: Before we move too far from stu-dent involvement, I think what we're hearing

One of the techniques Iuseand I worked with thechancellor in doingthisis in selectingsomebody who has thechancellor's ear, somebodyin the inner circle. Whenthere is some issue, youhave somebody you canturn to.

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here is a reaffirmation of the importance ofstudents in the union environment. As we'vebecome more fixated on income generation,we've tended to forget students. 'I:his brings usback to our basics.JOHNSTON: We're trying to address problemsthat go across a lot of different lines. We can addvolunteerism to Frank's list. We have a majorproblem with social cohesion. Socially, cam-puses are fragmented. Greeks are going one wayfor liability and alcohol reasons. There is nocentralized social force on the campus. Theunion has to be that.

When there's an initiative on campus, thefirst thing we ask is has it been by the legaloffice. Then, how does it impact the PR folks?How are the faculty going o respond? What arethe budget implications? Eventually we getaround to evaluating thf initiative basA onstudent terms. Maybe one of our goals is to put

Shindell, Ileum, and Johnston

students at the top of that filtration process.We need to look at community collegel, re-

gional universities, and smaller groups wherethe union director and president interact daily.BLACKBURN: I get calls from directors of smallcolleje unions who feel that ACU-I is shootingover their heads, talking about the Indianas andthe Wisconsins. I always discuss with them thatthe basics of "The Role of the College Union"have a much better chaace of implementationon a small college campus. In terms realizing"The Role of the College Union," ! came closerat Colorado College than we ever will at Indianaor any other large place. There is an inferioritycomplex among our small college members thatneeds to be corrected. The smaller college cam-puses need to improve their sense of worthbecause they're doing a lot of good things.DAWSON: If you talk about pluralism, you have

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to talk about size and regions. Therefore, youought to have a place in your meetings for howcolleges with enrollments of 1,000 contrast withschools of 30,000. That ought to be a consciousdecision by the Association in planning.Nuss: You also ought to communicate with Car-negie how your Association has used CampusLife. I'm now collecting from our members howthey are using the Hok. Some places are usingit for their convocati,ns, and Babson College isusing it for faculty development. If you use itand are quiet about it, Carnegie will not knowit made a difference. If you feed them someexamples of' how you've used the document,some of that will get incorporated in Boyer'snext iteration of speeches and examples.DAWSON: Give your constituent groups some di-rection in looking at this. Let us know how weought to be involved. It's your best opportunity.You won't get it again, not in this decade.

JOHNSTON: Yesterday wetalked about the student de-velopment theory and jargonrelative to finding a philosoph-ical home since we representmore than one discipline andthere's almost an embarrass-ment that we should be aboutsocial programming. I want toget back to that point. I don't

;t;,' think we're doing what we canin social development, in

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terms of interacting with peo-, ple and the skills inherent in

that and in ushig the social lifeof the campus to build commu-nity, to break down barriers,and to bring about the plural-ism we talk about. We need to

examine how to develop an alternative social lifewithout alcohol.DAWSON: Again look at your diverse institu.tions. You can get some examples from yourreligious institutions where alcohol may not beas much of a problem. It's not an issue every-where. Alcohol abuse is not as much an issue atsmaller universities as it is at larger researchinstitutions. Drugs may be more of a problem.You could get some examples from other univer-sities on coping with this, rather than alwayshaving the larger, comprehensive universitiestelling the others how to do it.BLACKBURN: I want to probe Norman's adminis-trative psyche a bit. You emphasize this i ie 1 of"Just do it!" As a person who's had several uniondirectors report to you, what do you want interms of communication from a director?MOORE: I can compliment Tom Lile in this re-

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spect because Tom really communicates theway I like it. At every staff meeting, with all thedirectors present, Tom highlights the union'sschedule for the next two weeks. Every directorthen knows what the union is doing.

I like communication on problems to be one-to-one. It can be very difficult for someone in myposition to deal with a problem brought up in ageneral staff meeting where I can't say somethino I'd like to say. I'd rather know in advance.It may be just a note: "So-and-so is coming hereto speak in two weeks. There may be some PRproblems."

I like action plans. I have 10 departments anda small staff, so I like an action plan that says,"Here's what we propose." I can jot notes on that:"Have you talked to Renee over in housing? Whoelse is involved in this?" I can say you can do thisor you can do that, or I can say, "I think it stinks;come see me if you want to defend it,"BLACKBURN: Each group reporting to you proba-bly has its own professional association thatgenerates literature. Does that work its way upto you, and if so, in what form would you like tohave it?MOORE: Ahnost all the directors who report tome send me their publications, with notes high-lighting what they want me to see. Sometimesthey just send a photocopied page.

I do the same with what comes from the

One thing I'd like to see comeof this is a cqfeteria-type listof action plans that you canfollow or adapt according toyour type ofinstitution....Someone might look at thelist and say, "I never thoughtabout sharing the Bulletinup the line as a way ofcommunicating theimportance of the union."

directors for the chancellor. It works, especiallyifyou screen it. It's your job to know how to reachme as a vice chancellor. I utilize the PR person,who knows everything going on around campus.

MARC/11991

Most of them learn things before I find out. So Iuse them as much as they use me.

A lot of what NASPA, ACU-I, ACUHO, and

Crabb amd Dawson

other associations send chancellors and presi-dents where I am usually gets shunted down tome.BIACKBWiN: I'd like to confirm the validity ofsending three copies of the ACU-I Bulletin toeach member institution with the hope that itwill percolate like you're talking about. We stillhave those who want to send back two and havetheir dues deducted accordingly.MOORE: I think the associations could do some-thing I've always wanted to do with financialaid. This is similar to the Reader's Digest cardthat comes in the mail saying, "You're going toreceive thus and thus." People read those, andthey wait for it to come. If you're going to sendsomething like Campus Life, send an advanceletter or note saying: "There's a new documento.ht, that has a lot of information. We want tobring it to your attention now because youshould be receiving it in the mail." I wouldn't usethis technique every time, but on special thingsit might be another way to get their attention.JOHNSTON: How about your annual reports?Where do you send those? We send to the chairof the faculty senate and others so that they seewhat's happening. Whether they read it is an-other matter, hut the fact is they acknowledgeyou're doing one. They may look to t he tables orread the introductory pert that says, "Hey,here's what we've done." The annual report hasbeen a good vehicle for us.Nuss: Annual reports are tricky because ifthey're done nicely and look good people com-plain about them looking flashy and costing toomuch money. We go through the same thing inNASPA. I think the executive summary, the onepage that goes on top, has a much better shot atgetting read.

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SHINDELL: One thing I'd like to see come of thisis a cafeteria-type list of action plans that youcan follow or adapt according to your type ofinstitution. Some could apply to schools withenrollments of 1,000, for example, while othersmight work for larger institutions. Someonemight look at the list and say, "I never thoughtabout sharing the Bulletin up the line as a wayof communicating the importance of the union."SHINDELL: Hoy/ long will Campus Life: InSearch of Community be hot?Nuss: I would think it has about 12 months. Myguess is it will stay hot because Boyer will begiving speeches on it, But clearly he wiil movefrom this to the next issue: the report on facultylife and faculty issues. He has already starteddoing speeches on that although the book iE notout yet. I think his view is to shoot out a few ofthese reports, all with some underlying themes,that will help presidents keep a dialogue going.Watch that reportas well becausesome aspects of itwill be useful to allof us in identifyingthe issues facingour presidents.DAWSON: The em-phasis ought to benot so much onBoyer; what he issaying repeatswhat we're aboutanyway. There-fore, it won't go outof favor. What hesaid is nothingnew. He just put itdown and he hasthe clout and cred-ibility to get it done.Nuss: Carnegie does have a bias. They look to acertain group of institutions, and you see it inthe examples. We took Harvard examples out inthe final draft. They have a hard time recogniz-ing there are other models. The other bias thatexists is that Boyer's personal Quaker style andcommitment comes through in his communityvalues. For example, we shouldn't be competi-tive. That strong underlying personal value sys-tem that comes through doesn't mesh with 99percent of the college and university presidentswha are into the competitive edge.CIANCIOLA: I think we can use "The Role of theCollege Union" as the core and complement itwith not only Campus Life: In earch of Com-munity but other things as well. I use "The Role"when I talk about our union's history. The prin-

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Kaiser

ciples in "The Role" statement were adopted byour union in 1904, by the Association on thisdate, by all our department heads, by the unionboard on this date, and on and on. There hasbeen an embracing of thia concept all along. Nowhere [pointing to Campus Life] is one more step.BRUCE KMSER: We should say to our folks:"Boyer put it together so well. He restated someof the concepts found in 'The Role of the CollegeUnion.'" That approach is better than our ten-dency to be a little defensive and say, "Well, ofcourse, we've been doing that for years."DAWSON: Let's take it another step. Be specificabout your activities in the universities thatcome under this umbrella. If you tell me you area community, I want to know what you really dothat makes you one, not just what you've put onpaper.KAISER: Driving out this morning, I had severalideas for campuses. The residential colleges

have been extremely effectiveand are highly respected bythe academic arm of the uni-versity. Perhaps we shouldhave "union masters," facultygiven the perquisites that gowith being a house master ata residential college, and havethem help structure some pro-grams to be "in residence"with the college union.

Another thing we could doto gain credibility and get therespect of academics is tap theretired faculty. We don't havecredibility with faculty andthat is understandable whenyou look at their arena andtheir values. When we tellthem we have talented people

who can help with a program, they look over andsee a delightful 27-year-old with a master's de-gree in student personnel.

There are all kinds of perquisites. For exam-ple, our faculty are concerned about not havinga: office or secretarial supportwhen they retire.We could give faculty some of the things wehave. They love to be invited to lunch or as thehonored guest. at a _iinner; they love a specialdiscount in the bookstore. We could use some ofthese things to make them feel important.

I'm thinking of taking Campus Life and "TheRole of the College Union" and having somelunches with some people. I'm not at all surethey will read them, but the fact that Boyer hasin fact embraced these principles will help.SHINDELL: What I'd like to do now is have peopleshare expectations or outcomes they would like

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to see as far as the Association is concerned.MOORE: You have your work cut out for you.You're not reaching some institutions becausetheir staffs either aren't sophisticated enough toknow they need you or they don't have thewherewithal in their budget to belong. Maybeyou could reach those folks by sharing one roundof publications with them every once in a while.Invite them to attend a regional conferencewithout having to pay terribly higher rates thana member.

I see shades of the '60s returning, not interms of issues but in terms of us not listeningto students, us not talking to students. We're nottalking to faculty and staff about what's goingon out there, what they see and hear. We'relisteningand I'm as guilty as anyoneto stu-dent advisory councils, who don't always reflectwhat theii constituents are saying.

Students still want what we call community.They need it and want it. I think they're findingit elsewhere. You mentioned the problem withalcohol in terms of programming. I'm remindedof arguments I used to have with staff over "Wecan't program on Fridays and Saturdays be-cause everybody goes home." Everybody goeshome because nothing is happening on campus.And the union directors are right in the middleof that because they're looking at it from acost-benefit ratio, saying, "I'm not going to putmoney into a program for Friday or Saturdaynight when only 50 people will show up." Well,you have to start somewhere. We ought to beable to find out what would bring students backby talking to them more.

I don't think alcohol is always it. LSU has25,000 students, I don't see 25,000 people in thebars on Thursday evenings. I see a bunch, andI see the reports the next morning. Everybodytalks about alcohol at the football stadium;there's more alcohol with the alumr, i than withthe students. I'm not sure we're communicatingto students that we are serious about makingsome changes to satisfy them and to providenew program opportunities.BLACKBURN: Norman, putting that back in thecontext of ACU-I, you're saying we need to refo-cus our regional organizations on students,which is how they were originally set up?MOORE: I think so. I don't think we have therelationship with students that gets us the in-formation we need, When I say I see us comingback to the '60s, my concern is that we're puttingon the blinders and saying we know what's best,we've done it this way, these kids are just lost,they dc n't know what they want.littArrium I would like to see us tackle this topicof reporting up and communicating what we do,

MARCH 1 9q 1

perhaps in workshops or in regional or interna-tional conference sessions.

I know we're limited on how many videos wecan crank out. This newest one is good; we'vemade a lot of use of it, but maybe we ought to belooking down the road at doing another one

We should say to our folks: "Boyer put ittogether so well. He restated some of theconcepts found in 'The Role of theCollege Union.' That approach is betterthan our tendency to be a littledefensive and say, "Well, of course,we've been doing that for years."

targeted to academic deans, vice presidents, andthe presidents.

I'm concerned about our growth potential. Weknow our new members will come primarilyfrom the small, private liberal arts colleges andthe two-year schools. We need some strategiesfor serving that population. When we talk aboutresults from an event like this think tank, weneed to keep asking: How am I going to perceivethis if I'm director of student activities atKankakee Community College or if I'm theunion director at Gettysburg College? Does thishave some relevance to me?

Lastly, I know there are some real problemswith interassociation efforts, but it seems to methat we do have some alliances with the auxil-iary service people and the business office peo-ple when we look at isF,ues like unfaircompetition. We have alliances with NACA andsome of the student personnel groups in activi-ties and programming. Sure, an associationneeds ownership, but several associations work-ing together can lend credibility. If we're talkingabout communicating the value ofstudent asciv-ities and student leadership to the president,that's something we could share with NACA. Asbucks become tighter, we will have to look afterthe smaller schools. Small community collegesor small liberal arts colleges may not be able tojoin all the associations they once did. To reachthem, we may have to look at cooperative agree-ments among associations.DAWSON: Coming in as an outsider, I've learneda lot from this group. I know much more aboutwhat you do than I did before, As an organiza-

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33 ways to tell your storyHere are some suggestions for better com-municating how your union or activitiesprogram contributes to a sense of commu-nity. Use the list as a springboard for devel-oping action plans unique to yourinstitutional environment.1. Work with presidents and vice presi- 11.

dents to get appointed to the prestigecommittees on campus where you willwork with people outside your divi-sion on issues not always related to 12.student activities. Urge your staff toparticipate in university activities, toserve on committees.

2. Plan how you report to your boss. Re-port successes as well as problems.Volunteer your expertise and that ofyour staff to assist the institution 13.

achieve its goals.3. Identify the problems your campus is

facing and communicate to top admin.istrators how you and your staff canhelp solve those problems. For exam-ple, if alcohol abuse is a problem, 14.volunteer union staff to facilitate alco-hol education in the residence hallunits or open a non-alcohol bar withentertainment that will attract a crowd.Take the initiative; don't wait to beasked.

4. Work with other student affairs divi-sion units to solve campus problems.

5. Communicate to "the top of the hill"about what might happen. Tell superi-ors when there's potential for things to 17.

get out ot hand.6. Have students participate on the

president's or chancellor's advisorycouncil. They can convey yourunion's successes and concerns aswell as establish ties to other officesand organizations.

7. Invite the president to union-spon-sored events. Sometimes all it takes isa personal invitation.

8. Get articles published about your facil- 19.ity, services, and operations. Thensend copies of the publication to thepresident, chancellor, other student af-fairs offices. Cultivate contacts at the 20.student newspaper, alumni magazine.and public relations offices.

9. Send the ACU-1 Bulletin up the ladder.Highlight what you want your superi-ors to look at or photocopy selected 21,

articles and route them.10. Send your annual report to the chair of

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the faculty senate and to key opinionleaders at win. institution. A one-pageexecutive suinmary of your annual re- 22.port is an ef ective way to showcasethe important elements of a lengthyreport.Enlist the aid of former student leaderswho are now in campus administra- 23.tion to articulate the union's role totheir colleagues. 24.Use your financial powers. Don't waitfor the institution to take your money.Instead, bring in speakers for variousacademic units or help fund scholar- 25.ships with bookstore monies. Invest aportion of your budget to advance uni-versity priorities.Nurture a bond between college unionand acts ities staff and faculty. Involvefaculty at the grass-roots level. Usepolitical science faculty, for example,as resources for student government 27,campaigns.Train the faculty you involve in yourprograms. Educate them about theunion's role on campus while teachingthem how to advise student organiza-tions.Offer incentives for faculty to be in-volved, remembering that people aremotivated by different things. 29.Lobby for community service to be amore important criterion for tenureand promotion.Reward faculty who serve on unionboard or in other capacities. Write to 30.the deans of their schools telling howthey have contributed to students' ed-ucation and the campus community.Provide a vehicle for cross-disciplinaryactivities. Bring together different de-partments and schools to plan and pro- 31.duce programs. This car unify thecampus while serving the iiistitution'sacademic mission.Bill the union as supplementing theclassroom not competing vOth it. Workwith faculty to select spe3ker, relevantto the courses they are teaching. 32.Document how your programs impactthe institution's goals. For example, ifyou have a tutorial program that hasimproved retention, tell people aboutit. Publish the research. 33.Hire a researcher or work with institu-tional studies to ctocument the impactof your operation and programs. Pub-

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lish the studies in education journalsand distribute the findings on campus.Select faculty to be "in residence" withthe college union. Involve them instructuring programs and give themthe perks of an office or secretarialsupport.Involve retired faculty in your pro-grams.Hire faculty as consultants. Us° busi-ness professors to assess staff morale Ordevelop marketing strategies, for ex-ample.Serve as adjunct faculty. Encourageyour staff to teach.Reconstitute your union board to makeit reflective of the student populationand to link it to faculty and alumni.Limit the term so that you build a poolof faculty and alumni who have had amajor commitment to the union.Combat the perception that the unionis a closed club by communicatinghow your operation and programs af-fect the entire student population, notjust the student leaders.Train student leaaerscampuswide, notjust those involved with your facilityand program. Offer your training ex-pertise to other divisions on camptis.Develop relationships with :tudentgovernment presidents and otnermajor campus leaders. This broadensone's perspective beyond union boardand expands the union's influence.Unify ethnic groups on campusthrough union programs planned andcosponsored with the Black CulturalCenter, the Latino Students Center, theJewish studies department, for exam-ple.Play up the value of student employ-ment in the union. Train student em-ployees and educate them about theunion's mission. Informal researchsuggests many union administratorsstart their careers as students workingin the onion.Develop a network of union supporters throughout the campus; involveadministrative aides as well as thepresident and chancellor. Integratealumni support into your efforts.U6e student leader alumni who arenow in prominent positions to tell theimportance of the union and activitiesin their development.

tion, you should decide who you want to serveYou serve the Big 10 and the comprehensiveuniversities, but you're also serving the smallerliberal arts institutions. How are you going todeal with that? I think you ought to tap thehistorically black colleges because they can givesome direction on how to deal with minoritystudents.

Next, how do you serve the university com-munity? Start with your "Role of the CollegeUnion." Who knows about it except you? Look atwhat you say you do, and look at it in terms ofdiverse student groups. How do you establish arelationship with your ethnic program direc-tors? For example, how does your organizationrelate to and involve Latino studies, Jewishstudies, and Black studies? You're all doingsome of the same things. You ought to think ofways to involve those persons if you're going tohave separate but unequal organizations.

How do you establish an en-vironment where a larger per- IIcentage of students think pos-itively about leadership roles?At our institution, the studentleaders are good students; wepick them by grade point aver-age But some stueents resentthem because thEy 'Jet them-selves apart. At comprehen-sive universities, you may findstudent leaders set apart byrace, but they're set apart evenin all-black colleges. How doesthis organization give some di-rection on being a leader?

How do you serve the in-structional component of theundergraduate education?How can I utiiize persons in Cianciola and Nuss

the student union to support the things we'retalking about? If it's a shortage of resources orpersonnel, are people on your staff willing to dosomething? Are you willing to offer courses?How does the speaker you're bringing in tie intoProfessor X's world affairs course? If your unioncan't contribute to the undergraduate program.I would ask how it would differ to hnve Marriottrun the Center than to have you run it. If youcan't tell me that, Marriott might be more cost-effecti ve. In other words, you ought to be lookingat your goals and identifying ways you reallyand truly can get involved. Develop linkageswith the academic deans and the vice presi-dents. be specific about what you can do toaddress the issues on your campus. If alcohol isa problem related to student outcomes and re-tention, what can you do about that? If drugs are

related to a security problem in the computercenter, how can you deal with it?CRABB: We must make believers of our mem-bers. We have union directors out there whodon't have the slightest idea of how the unioncontributes to the university's total educationalprogram, and we have to convince them that theunion is more than just a service station.

We need to identify the union as more thanjust an auxiliary. This is a communication prob-lem that extends across the boardto our ownstaffs, to our directors, and to a lot of the peoplewe report to. We get slotted in the universitybudget as an auxiliary and everything getsthought of in auxiliary terms.

We need to see how the union fits in to themission of our individual campuses and identifyspecifically where we can contribute to thatmission. We need to get faculty support. I wantto emphasize the importance of integrating

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alumni support into our efforts. We need todevelop a network of union supporters through-out the campus, trying to convert not only thepresidents or the chancellors sod the vice pres-idents but also those administrative aides whodecide what mail to pass on to the presidentsand vice presidents.

Union directors and people working with ourunion boards must seize the opportunity to re-spond Le university needs. Unions should takethe initiative, not wait for the chancellor or thedean of students or the vice presick at of busi-ness affairs to tell them to do it.

Directors need to urge their staffs to be in-volved in university activities, to get on univer-sity committees. This will gpread the word anddemonstrate that unions have some good staffmembers. We need to provide a steady flow of

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information and that brings me to my finalpoint. We need to develop a marketing plan,both at the international level for the Associa-tion and at the local level for our unions.JOHNsr N: Who defines the college union on thecampus? My hunch is that there are colleagues

My closing comment relates to collaborationamong professional organizations. We reallycan't expect student personnel groups to worktogether on campus initiatives if we can't talkas professional organizations on a nationallevel. I know there are territorial issues, but we

need to break down some of those barriers.We should be sharing programs and publi-cations; we should begin to function as re-lated professional organizations.HUFFMAN: As an outsider, I don't know ex-actly what you have as goals, but I wouldthink that they would fall in two areas:marketing ,ind students. Marketing is a loteasier to aeal with in some kind of prag-matic fashion. As an organization that de-pends on members, you know everyoneasks, "What have you done for me lately?"Their memories are short, their budgets aretight., and they ask it a lot more often thesedays. One of ACU-I's marketing themes

ought to be: "Regardless of size, location, stu-dent body makeup, you are our most importantmember." In terms of "what have you done forme lately," it might be useful to considernot acookbook approach where anyone anywhere canmix up the same recipe and it worksbut rathera big list of ingredients that you can choose from,depending on what you want to make at yourcampus, what your campus needs, and who yourconstituencies are.

The other focus we should all have is thestudent. What's in it for our students? Moreimportantly, who is our student today? Wehaven't adjusted to the fact that today's studentbody is different from what we had in the '60sother than in recognizing the need for moreremedial developmental courses because statis-tics show students who have traditionally notbeen involved in higher education come in lessprepared. In addition to them not havit,g hadopportunities for educational achievement be-fore they get to our institutions, these individu-als may also have been out of the mainstreamof the politics or power or the leadership posi-tions in their home communities.Noss. These are tough issues and what you'regoing through is an important process. Youought to feel good about that. I want to get backto Norman's advice to not spend so much timeand energy worrying about it, just do some-thing.

Relating to the institution's mission is impor-tant. It's probably one of our hardest struggleswith our own members. We say the academicmission is pre-eminent. That makes some of ourpeople very nervous because that has a tinge ofsem. 1-class citizenship. The answer is we are

We need to shorten the learning curve ofpeople coming into the field. They becomeunion and activities directors withouthaving any philosophical foundation. They

know how to do it; they're not sure whythey do it.

who can't articulate what the unkon is; theyallow the definition to evolve or to be defined forthem by the campus's business officer, for exam-ple. Nothing takea the place of professionalismand leadership in the person who represents theunion and student activities.

Just as the union should be talked about interms of individual students, ACU-I needs torest upon the individual professional. We needto prepare that person to develop and iid.Everything we do at the regional level s":1dtouch individual students as well as individualprofessionals, and our annual professional con-ference should provide programs and servicesfor the individual professional.

Standards. Some uniformity of standards hasto come of this. We talk as if all unions haveboards and committees, That's not the case. Ina lot of them, an individual runs it very much asa business and never thinks about building brid-ges to the faculty, never is really concernedabout the growth opportunity that comes fromstudents sitting as a board making decisions.That is a standard we believe in. It is a premiseof our being, yet it doesn't exist uniformly.

We need to shorten the learning curve ofpeople coming into the field. They find them-selves as union and activities directors withouthaving any philosophical foundation. Theyknow how to do it; they're not sure why they doit.

We need to reconstitute our boards to makethem reflective of the student population as wellas to tie them to the faculty and alumni. Ourboards must be constituted correctly and ourprograms and services must reflect the multi-culturalism that we're voicing.

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all educators; we just play different roles. Wereally have to keep our focus on what we do tocontribtae to the mission and not worry aboutquestions of status.

We must help our memivrs learn how todocument and measure assessment. We worryabout assessment and outcomes being viewedvery narrowly in terms of accounting. One wayis through alumni and some of the groups youhave access to. But some of it is measuring andwe have to teach people how to do that.

Then I come back to the faculty and thealumni supportthe alumni support particu-larly because unions have that as a mutualresource that student affairs doesn't have. Getpeople who are in key roles in lots of activities.It's a way of reminding the campus about peoriewho were once active in the unions and are nowimportant citizens.BaArrAIN: Do you think one of the solutions forstudent affairs divisions is to have their ownresearcher?Nuss: I go both ways. I'd ratherput more of the effort into it. TAmay well mean we have to put *-

some money into hiring or com-missioning people from institu-tional studies cr other placcq. Iworry that when you put the posi-tion in student life that it lets in-stitutional studies off the hook,and institutional studieswhat-ever you call itproduces the offi-cial university reports that gets tothe trustees and others. If you'redoing them separate and distinctfrom that, then the reports maynot be in the mainstream.CIANCIOLA: We should communi .cw our successes and failures inour pluralism efforts, and weshould identify what new effortsare in the pipeline. We shouldtrain staff how to prepare and de-liver action plans to those we re-port to and those who report to us.

We should encourage our relationship withstudent government presidents and other majorcampus leaders to correct the perception that wedeal only with the union board experience. Be-cause student government presidents and resi-dence hall leaders represent broader scopes, weought to concentrate specifically on those rela-tionships and develop cooperative efforts.

In the context of trying to solve theuniversity's problems, we should ask our mem-ber institutions what those problems are beforewe so presumptuously develop solutions to what

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we may not know. Perhaps the ACU-I CentralOffice could do one of those quick surveys it, doesfor other issues: "We, as union professionals, are'trying to remain mobile and flexible and helpful.Please tell us the top three hot issues on yourcampus." We do two things: (1) identify whatthose problems may be, and (2) communicatethat the union is standing ready to move on that.

These next ideas are not action plans; they'renotions we need to be conscious of. We shouldnot project ourselves as competing with classtime and academic endeavors, but as comple-menting them.

We should continue targeted focus groups insome way. The 10 people Martha will talk to,and the 10 people Larry and Norman and Lizwill talk to can help us. We need t.o be sensitivetoand not apologize forthe fun and gamesnotion. It's OK to have fun and it can be produc-tive to relax. We need to project that in a bal-ance.

Larry speculated yesterday that our campusexecutive officerscame up through theacademic side of the

Iversity and are notfrAmiliar with the ex-periences of a studentleader. It would beprudent for us to findformer student lead-ers who now occupythose executive posi-tions. They could helpus articulate our mis-sion to their col-leagues.

We need to create

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safe campus environ-ments and safe unionbuildings. That maytake re' hinking ourstaffing and it maymean acquiring secu-rity personnel. Weshould communicate

the value of student employment and what thatdoes for a campus and for the students. Weought to pass four focuses on to our EducationCommission for development as drive-in work-shops or conference sessions: crime and safety,alcohol, pluralism, and undergraduate educa-tion as defined in academic terms, not necessar-ily student developmental terms.

We can also develop formats for identifyingstaff expertise. What qualities would we wantto share with the institution to try and get oncommittees or adjunct professorships. ACU-I

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could develop a simple resume format,KAISER: We need to help students understandthat the union is their identity with the univer-sity. We don't need to apologize for the thingsthat make their lives easier, like the abUity tocash checks or use cash machines, get theirbooks comfortably and easily, but at the sametime we can say to them, "We're also going tocare about you."

I certainly think we should consult some fac-ulty about getting at this problem ofmhancingcommunity. Share Campus Life with the facultygroup and find out what they think.

We need to continue educating our peoplebecause a tremendous number of very youngpeople out there justfell into this profession.And some have neverhad the advantage ofworking in a large or-ganization where therewas time for profes-sional development.DAWSON: Maybe t h eAssociation could pro-vide some leadership intraining the new pro-fessional. Perhaps youcan arrange exchangeprograms where theycould come to a largeruniversity and spend aweek or two and attenda structured workshop.BLACKBURN: If Normanwere still here, I wouldwant to talk moreabout the Big A: Auxil-iaries. I still have thisconcern that auxilia-ries is not the box wewant to be put in. Once we get put in that box,we start to be treated that way, and that hasmany implications related to our role. It may notbe such an issue among the larger institutions,but at some of the smaller institutions the pro-gram has died, student involvement in theunion has died, everything is evaluated purelyon fiscal terms because that's what auxiliariesare supposed to do. This concerns me greatly.

Those of us in association staff positions arealways concerned about the quality of our vol-unteer leadership. Right now ACU-I is in a very

good position, but it comes and it goes. What wehave to ensure is that the association's basicmission does not also come and go as the lead-ership stream comes and goes. In that sense, ourrole statement has been the glue that has heldus together for a long time. Those of us who havebeen around this Association a long time tend toforget that role statement as having beenaround: It's so basic and so elementary that wedon't do much with it. Then we find ourselvestalking to someone who says: "Hey, those ideasare terrific. Where did this come from?" We needto keep reminding ourselves that what was doneback in the '50s still has relevance.SH1NDELL: As far as expectations, what I wanted

out of this was an opportu-nity to come together andtalk about what the Associ-ation could do more effec-tively to tell our story oncampus. I've learned thatalthough we have manypeople working very hardout there we are not doingour job of communicatingwhat we do. We are not get-ting the attention of thepeople we need to get theattention of. We have tomake sure people under-stand our mission and ourcontributions.

Another thing that camehome to me is that we oftensee ourselves in a negativelight as being powerless.But we have a lot of power,particularly when you lookat space and flexibility.

I hope we reach a pointwhere professional associa-

tions can work together on more. If we don't, Ifear it will be done for us through budgetcutbacks and things of that nature.

One thought that keeps coming back is"Never forget what our focus is." Being a servicecenter is part of our mission, and we should bethe best we possibly can. But isn't it great whenwe can be that service center and also have animpact on community and building community?In the long run, that is how we really serve theinstitution.

Although we have manypeople working very hardout there, we are notdoing our job ofcommunicating what wedo. We are not getting theattention of the people weneed to get the attentionof We have to make surepeople understand ourmission and ourcontributions.

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