2013 StudentAffairs Virtual Case Study Competition

1. 2013 StudentAffairs.com Virtual Case Study Competition Grand Valley State University Team Leader: Ashley Maloff Team Members: Abby Johnson &Erin Ash February 20, 2013

2. Background information: • Who are the principal decision makers and what roles do they play? • Dean of students, Directors of Res Life, Directors of Student Life, and Deputy Mayor task force must decide how to improve relations between Sunnyvale University and the town

3. Background information Continued: What are the decision issues presented in the case? • Plan must be presented in 3 weeks (How will the time constraint of 3 weeks affect the ability of creating a plan?- is there time to survey and assess populations?) • Plan must utilize social media (How will the committee use it?) • How long will the campaign/plan be executed? • How will the committee/town/university assess whether or not the plan is effective? • Who should the plan target and how (students and community members) Should both sides of the issue be addressed, separately or differently in content and or method of outreach?

4. Background information Continued: • What facts are essential for understanding and dealing with the issues? • Who are the populations involved? • Students- both on and off campus residents? non-student visitors? Undergraduate students? Graduate students? Alumni? • Community- which areas of the city have the most problems • What constitutes “late night” partying? • Does the town or university enforce quiet hours? • Problem is identified as “roaming groups of students... during weekend hours” • Problem identified during the “last decade” • Specific problems during “last year’s Sestercentenial celebration” • Where in the town is the problem? maybe around townhouses?! • What methods are in place to reach the students/community through social media? • Does the university have social media accounts already in existence? • Are there any formal community meetings in place? • How are the students bothering the community? • trespassing? • Noise? • alcohol/drugs? • littering? • Budget for the project?

5. Additional information to be collected: -What is the mission statement of the university? -What are the specifications of the complaints? (Trespassing? Loitering? Noise? Alcohol/drug use? Littering?) -What methods are in place to reach students and community members through social media, if any? -Are regularized community meetings in place? -What is the budget for the project?

6. Additional information to be collected: -What is the geographic area like surrounding Sunnyvale? Can another housing complex be built in a more secluded area with public transportation to and from the campus? -Which areas of the town have the most problems? Are the complaints coming from those who live directly around the townhouses? -Is there current availability in residence halls, living centers, apartments, or townhouses on-campus, further from the town borders?

7. Who are the principal decision makers and what role do they play?: • University President, Bill and a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees • The Mayor and the Town Council • The Town’s People • The Board • The Dean of Students • Deputy Mayor (friend to assist in brainstorming) • Directors of Residence Life and Directors of Student Activities (seasoned staff members to assist) • Students- will they make different decisions on the weekends after the plan is executed • Community- will they be willing to accept certain behaviors of students and be satisfied with any change/progress made?

8. Relevant theories: -Astin's Involvement Theory (Astin, 1999) -Gilligan's and Kohlberg's Moral Development theories (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton & Renn, 2010) -Chickering's Theory of Identity Development (Evans et al., 2010) -Human Ecology Theory (microsystem, mesosytem, and exosystem) (Renn & Patton, 2011) -Campus Ecology Theory (Renn & Patton, 2011)

9. Selected short-term course of action: • Show that we understand their complaints, value their input, and will make their concern a campus-wide priority. • Make community members feel they have a say in their situation and give them a voice coming up with potential solutions • Encourage that they think about the responses from all involved parties • Implement a public relations position to handle town-gown relationship • Begin a formal, monthly community meeting between community members and university heads

10. Selected short-term course of action: -Ask the town council, "what would you like to see happen?" -Would they recommend greater selectivity in the number of students admitted? -Are there specific policies they would recommend the university to implement for University Housing? -Would they be willing to help fund another on-campus living center? Would they be willing to help fund a public transportation system for students? Would the students be interested in living on another living center on campus even if it became available? -Remind the town council that the Sestercentennial celebration only happens once every 150 years

11. Selected short-term course of action: -"We are One: School. Community. Home." Campaign slogan for all publications regarding the new town/gown relations improvement plan -Meet with the University Senate to address campaign at weekly meeting; Encourage Senate executive board to full-heartedly support the initiative and encourage their constituents to do the same -Create a short-term marketing campaign centered around the new campaign slogan -Launch social media, posters, and presentations on the new campaign by the end of the month -Contact school newspaper, local publications, and university magazine to cover proposed solution and means of implementation -Send campus-wide e-mail to students, campus partners, community members, and alumni

12. Selected long-term course of action: • To maintain a symbiotic relationship between the community and student body, students will be encouraged to become more involved in community service work. Such engagement will foster a sense of agency within the students and will yield a greater affiliation to the surrounding area andinstitution • Create community service opportunities to bring community and students together • Calculate the economic costs to the town if the number of admitted students were to be cut or kept more distant from the community • Begin a monthly newsletter to inform the community of recent events and current successes and advances

13. Selected long-term course of action: • Create a student culture that respects the needs of local community members (ie. encourage one another to be considerate of late night parties, noise disruptions, and group roaming in residential areas) • Explore the possibility of reconsidering the values and mission of the institution if there is no mention of giving back to the community • Focus attention on the importance of tradition and the university’s foundation; ie. the integral role the university has had in shaping the New England town and the appreciation the university accredits to the town for allowing it to progress to the successful and growing institution is has become. Such messages may be more beneficial coming from the students themselves as opposed to the President, Dean of Students, Board of Trustees, Directors, etc.

14. Selected long-term course of action: -Work with University Housing professionals and Campus Police to better enforce quiet and courtesy hours -Heighten emphasis of student behavioral expectations -Hold a meeting with the local police to collaborate in reigning in unruly and disruptive behavior -Encourage police to make a public statement of their intention to follow-through and take the initiative seriously -Frame the heightened police enforcement as being in the best interest of the community and the study body -Have intentional conversations with the study body informing them of these stricter policies, regulations, expectations and inform them why such practices are being implemented -Begin assessment to retrieve quantitative data from students and community members

15. Selected long-term course of action: -Designate a portion of on-campus student housing for upper-classmen and graduate students -Implement a free bus system for students to get from off-campus residencies to campus -Speak with Student Life department to increase on-campus, alcohol-free weekend programming. -More effectively utilize the spaces on campus to create alternative events to keep students purposefully engaged within on-campus facilities.

16. Compromises and Areas to Continuously Assess : -Both the university and the community will have to make sacrifices in order to improve the town/gown relations -In order to fund our proposed campaign, the town and the university will have to adjust budgets to allocate funds towards the goal of improving relations

17. Positive Impact on the community: - Sunnyvale residents, businesses and nonprofits will benefit from student service - Positive partnerships and events with the university will attract residents to live in Sunnyvale - Sunnyvale residents will feel more connected to the town and the university through being heard in community meetings and assesments

18. Positive Impact on the student body: -Tensions with the town could cause students to leave the university -Students who violate new policies will engage in educational experiences to learn from their behavior -Engagement with the town through service and events will attract and retain students -Positive engagement with Sunnyvale will encourage students to give back to the Sunnyvale Community when they graduate -Students will engage in collaboration with town residents through community meetings

19. Could any preventative measures have been taken to alleviate the situation before it happened? -The purposes of attending the higher education institution and selecting Sunnyvale in particular should have been reinforced during orientation and in mail sent to prospective and admitted students to create a campus culture built around respect and giving back -If public relations position had looked to the long term solutions a decade ago, the town-gown relationship may not have gotten so bad

20. References Astin, A.W. (1984). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308 Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F. Patton, L. & Renn, K. (2010). Student development in college: Theory, research and practice (2nd Ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Renn, K.A., & Patton, L.D. (2011). The development of student affairs. In Schuh, J.H., Jones S.R., Harper S.R. (Eds.), Student services a handbook for the profession (pp. 61-79). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

21. Thank you for your time!