Institutional Effectiveness: Beyond the Classroom (Resources and Capacity)
Sonny Ramaswamy, President, NWCCU
Sunday. October 7, 2023.
I woke up as usual at 5:45 am. I started my morning routine. Set the coffee pot to brew, turned CNN on, and did some stretches.
What I saw on CNN was horrific. Several kibbutzim, military bases, and a music concert venue in Israel had been attacked by Hamas-led militants. The brutality was mind-boggling. The images were horrific. Heartbreaking. There were reports of significant casualties and that several had been taken hostage.
Sure enough, Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza. Over the next several days and weeks, entire blocks of buildings, schools, hospitals, United Nations refugee centers, churches, mosques, and other areas were destroyed by the airstrikes and ground incursion. The scenes of the death of civilians, particularly women and children, were heartbreaking.
Then the protests started. Across America. Across the world. Pro Israel. Pro Palestine. Mostly peaceful. Some violent.
In America we saw antisemitism and Islamophobia rear their ugly heads. Contentious conversations about free speech. People who wanted thoughtful discourse caught in the middle. We saw community and religious leaders calling for calm discourse, trying to create a path forward.
Protests across universities and colleges across America continue, including on the campuses of Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities’ (NWCCU) member institutions. Students of Jewish and Arab/Muslim descent feeling threatened and insecure.
Some institutions have dealt with the protests and counterprotests in a thoughtful manner. A few others, unfortunately, did not. At these latter campuses, campus and local police had to be called in to quell the protests. Many protesters were arrested.
In some instances, the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated investigations, including against some NWCCU members. Alumni and donors at some of these institutions have either pulled or threatened to pull donations.
Even the United States Congress insinuated itself into these protests and hauled up a few university leaders to testify. Then, the calls started for the presidents of these universities to resign. From alumni. From donors. From politicians and political hacks. Indeed, one resigned.
Student protest groups are being banned in some states and on some campuses, totally against the constitutionally protected First Amendment right of assembly and protest.
As I have watched the unfolding events in America since October 7, particularly the heartbreaking and traumatizing incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia, I have wondered, how is it that some institutions seemed to have been caught completely unawares and become reactive, while others appeared to take this in stride and managed the dissension with constructive engagement of the various factions. What we have learned is that these latter institutions take a proactive and long view of such situations and deployed planned and thoughtful approaches that included hosting dialogue and constructive discourse, which brought groups together focused on the similarities, rather than on differences, as a way to address extant challenges.
I have mulled over these differences in approaches, i.e., what’s in the DNA of the institutions that created a vision, environment, and infrastructure that encourages civility and an interest in protecting the wellbeing of the entire community and not just particular groups?
For example, NWCCU member institution George Fox University has created the Civility Project, in partnership with Newberg-Dundee, the area in Oregon where it’s located.
The George Fox University Civility Pledge reads: “I will be kind and respectful to everyone. I will listen to understand the views and values of those with whom I disagree. I will work to solve problems by seeking common ground. I will refrain from mocking or ridiculing those who disagree with me. I will seek to trust, and be trustworthy and truthful, in my interactions with others.”
George Fox University’s Professor Emeritus Ron Mock and President (and NWCCU Commissioner) Robin Baker offer an essay in this issue of The Beacon, entitled Advancing Political Civility, on their efforts to promote civil discourse and engagement in dealing with extant, fraught issues. The university’s Civility Project takes a multipronged approach to create an environment where everyone has a stake regarding the well-being of the institution and community by: promoting relationships with others, including opponents; treating disagreements as gifts; and encouraging collaborative decision making. The intent in George Fox University’s efforts is to create a safe environment, where every member of the community is involved and every member is afforded the opportunity to thrive.
NWCCU Standards for Accreditation, Eligibility Requirements, Policies, and Procedures articulate an expectation for institutions to ensure the safety of the campus community.
Indeed, the preamble to NWCCU’s Standard Two – Governance, Resources, and Capacity reads:
The institution articulates its commitment to a structure of governance that is inclusive in its planning and decision-making. Through its planning, operational activities, and allocation of resources, the institution demonstrates a commitment to student learning and achievement in an environment respectful of meaningful discourse.
When we consider student success, we immediately think of how best to enhance cognitive and subject-matter knowledge and skills via student learning experiences, i.e., the instructor-facilitated learning that occurs in the classroom.
Institutions that are highly successful know that student success requires the creation of a safe and secure environment that is student-centric and ensures students have access to outstanding in- and out-of-classroom experiences, promotes a sense of belonging, and supports achievement of their aspirational educational goals and success. These institutions ensure that they are providing a combination of relevant cognitive, subject-matter learning experiences and inculcation of noncognitive skills in a transformative educational ecosystem, along with relevant services and student support.
Based on extant research and literature, in a recent issue of The Beacon, I wrote about several best practices to help create community and belonging leading to student success, including: the creation of multiple paths to access education; facilitating creation of community via relevant social networks to enhance belonging and promoting their success by offering tailored advising and classroom and experiential learning; inculcating noncognitive skills; incorporation of high impact practices; ensuring basic needs are met; using multimodal communication platforms; involving peer mentors; providing opportunities for students to share their experiences and follow through with appropriate support; engaging parents and families; facilitating collaboration; demonstrating care and compassion; providing just-in-time and emergency financial aid in the form of grants; ensuring availability of support services such as housing, food, physical and mental healthcare, and daycare for students who are parents; and rendering other critical support.
There’s no magic formula to creating transformative education. It will require a concerted, collaborative, all-hands-on-deck campus effort to create a student-centric ecosystem to promote success. In the classroom and outside the classroom. It is context and mission dependent. Highly successful institutions promote constructive discourse and engagement in a safe and secure environment, so students may achieve their goals and succeed. The complete moral, emotional, intellectual, and civic transformation of the individual – succinctly captured by the German word, bildung – describes the framework for promoting the environment where students succeed.
Let’s hope that the protests we see on our streets and on our campuses will be channeled to promote civil discourse and engagement in dealing with extant, fraught issues. The experiences of George Fox University and others offer lessons.
Let’s hope peace prevails in Israel and Palestine and that Jewish people and Palestinians can create a path of co-existence, where both can thrive.
I am reminded of the African American approach, “making a way out of no way,” which may offer a potential path, relying on promoting agency, creativity, and resilience, and challenging oppression and discrimination to create ways out of no way.
