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10
Aug 09

Thompson v. Monroe College: Whose job is it, anyway?

 There is no denying that times are tough for recent college graduates. With many terminal degree holders out of work, or working in positions typically populated by bachelors recipients, undergraduates are entering a tumultuous job market to say the least. It was and continues to be difficult to help students navigate the waters of the recession climate, but who's responsible for doing the navigating?

By now you have probably heard about Trina Thompson, the May 2009 graduate of Monroe College who is suing her office of career services because she has been unable to find a job in her first three months as a bachelors degree recipient. Thompson claims that the career professionals at her alma mater haven't done enough to help ensure her post-graduation employment, and that the focus of their efforts is unfairly placed on students with 4.0 GPAs. For these offenses, she is suing Monroe to the tune of $72,000, the cost of her college tuition. 

Many things are troubling about this situation. Are career counselors at fault when the students they advise are unable to find employment? Where would a student like Thompson get the impression that she is not inherently responsible for her own career future, but that it is her college's job to find her a job? One has to wonder where Thompson received the message of guaranteed employment within a few months of graduation, and further, whether her lawsuit will inspire other frustrated, unemployed graduates to follow in her footsteps. 

As a career advisor at Michigan State, I do everything I can to assist students in the career search, but the student is always in the drivers seat. This means never promising students jobs, internships, or admission into graduate schools as a result of using our services. That, in my opinion, is not my responsibility. Career advising should provide students with tangible tools for crafting their own success, and certainly, career advising offices should work to build relationships with employers, graduate schools, and other agencies for the benefit of the students they serve. Above all, my work in career services has led me to believe that its essential function is to empower students to seek and achieve their post-graduation career aims.

So is Thompson at fault for her lack of employment, or her college? There are lots of arguments on both sides, but I'd like to take the middle ground. The alumna may be taking her unemployment angst too far, but she had to get the message of guaranteed jobs from somewhere. Students need to be realistic about the outcomes and associated expectations of receiving their degrees, but colleges have to be wary of what is promised along the way. 

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Campus Issues / Risk Management — 1 Comment
20
Jul 09

Student Affairs and Campus Crises- A View from New Orleans

When I get in bed at night, I can look out my window and see the Superdome, one of the most recognizable features of the New Orleans skyline. Its brilliant white facade is a point of stark contrast at night against the darkened skyscrapers and blinking rooftop lights. 

Ssuperdome I bring up my view of the Superdome because much of what I do at night during my NODA internship is turn over and over in my head the experiences I am having as an outsider in post-Katrina New Orleans. The Superdome, for many outside observers, was the epicenter of Katrina's wrath; a roof over thousands of displaced and battered New Orleanians. My work with new first-year students and parents this summer in orientation programming at Loyola University has become just a part of a larger whole of understanding what happened in this southern pocket of the country nearly four years ago. 

I have talked with people in my office, as well as neighboring campuses, about what it was like to be here in student affairs roles before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. The narratives that have unfolded in these conversations are tinged with pride for the city and life as a New Orleanian, coupled with a profound sense of loss. One of my supervisors, a near 30-year resident of the city, lost his home, church, and sense of community that can only be built over the course of a lifetime. But still, he came back here because more than 20 years of service to the university had made Loyola his community too, and perhaps the only one he had left here. 

In the wake of disasters, both natural and manmade, student affairs professionals play a major role in response efforts. They coordinate evacuation efforts for domestic and international students, operate command centers for calls from the media and concerned families, coordinate mass counseling and support services for their communities, and in general, provide the glue that keeps our colleges and universities together. Crises are sorted through by student affairs administrators, and often, it is this group of people who become the architects of recovery on campus. 

In my work, I have experienced student and campus crises on a smaller scale. I've made late night calls to parents whose children have been sent to the hospital for injuries and alcohol poisoning, done rounds through darkened halls during storms and power outages, and been part of the conversation about campus grieving when students have passed away. But hearing the stories of New Orleanians who work in student affairs has given me a renewed and profound respect for our work and the caliber of people who take part in it. Because just as the Superdome was pieced together by great community and national efforts after the storm, the colleges and universities of this city been rebuilt and renewed by the hands of dedicated student affairs and faculty colleagues. 

Do you have stories about student affairs colleagues and their work in times of crisis? If so, please leave them in the comments section to continue conversation on this topic.

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