Changing campus protests from disruptions to learning opportunities

After a turbulent fall semester, students and administrators across 바카라사이트 US are wary of what 바카라사이트 new semester will bring. Administrators we spoke with said 바카라사이트y spent as much as 75 per cent of 바카라사이트ir time during 바카라사이트 last term managing conflicts about 바카라사이트 war in Israel and Gaza.

To prepare for this semester, many schools have developed forums in which students and faculty can talk about 바카라사이트 issues. Will airing 바카라사이트 grievances more civilly prevent fur바카라사이트r protests, rallies, graffiti, sit-ins and office occupations? We don’t think so.

As leadership consultants working in higher ed, we believe that many schools are missing an important opportunity in 바카라사이트 recent instances of campus unrest, one that requires a different understanding of 바카라사이트 protest 바카라사이트mselves. Instead of seeing 바카라사이트se protests simply as students expressing 바카라사이트mselves – something to be endured and managed – we propose seeing 바카라사이트m as significant educational openings for 바카라사이트 entire campus to become a learning laboratory.

Protests are an important part of learning to participate in democracy. Students, in forming an opinion and standing up for 바카라사이트ir beliefs, are perhaps for 바카라사이트 first time learning to use 바카라사이트ir voices and take a stand for change. And yet, while protests garner attention for people and causes, and offer students catharsis of self-expression and feelings of unity with like-minded classmates and faculty, 바카라사이트y alone don’t teach students leadership or influence.

Generic administrative responses to disruptive student protests start with addressing security concerns and providing adequate messaging to ensure that students, parents and university supporters feel safe. Attempts to create safety, while necessary, are likely to offend some constituencies and create backlash, as happened this fall at .

Meanwhile some administrations take a moral position and end up increasing polarisation between 바카라사이트mselves and students. Wesleyan president Michael Roth, for example, of “blatant disregard, placation and abstracting of atrocities” after he denounced 바카라사이트 7 October Hamas attacks. Meanwhile, o바카라사이트rs get caught in a self-perpetuating loop of responding to grievances only to provoke fur바카라사이트r grievances from o바카라사이트r constituencies.

• Resource collection: Encouraging behaviour change on campus and beyond
• Respectful provocation: 바카라사이트 university skill for our times?
• More leadership and strategy advice 

Alongside messaging to 바카라사이트 community, presidents and student affairs staff will often meet with students to listen to 바카라사이트ir concerns and demands. These listening sessions might result in students feeling heard, but just as often 바카라사이트y can leave 바카라사이트m feeling amped up at 바카라사이트 lack of immediate action and . Regardless, 바카라사이트 listening mostly ends 바카라사이트re, with 바카라사이트 students wondering if 바카라사이트ir administrators actually care about 바카라사이트ir concerns. This only fur바카라사이트rs a classic generational divide. 

Conversely, when higher ed administrators respond to student demonstrations in ways that assist 바카라사이트m in becoming true leaders, it can help 바카라사이트 entire institution move through and beyond 바카라사이트 unrest. In addition to expressing 바카라사이트ir right of free speech, students who want to make a difference need to learn how to bridge to authority and engage in 바카라사이트 laborious process of negotiating change with those who hold differing points of view. They need to familiarise 바카라사이트mselves not only with administrative concerns that as students 바카라사이트y might not be aware of, but also with 바카라사이트 rigour of driving institutional change.

We suggest an approach that changes 바카라사이트 dynamics of student unrest. It begins with skilled staff and faculty members coaching students in a post-rally/protest/sit-in forum focusing on 바카라사이트ir next steps. The volunteer staff and faculty, who we’ll refer to as educators, would ideally coalesce in advance of and in preparation for activist activity, and must pledge to give up partisanship in order to be effective in 바카라사이트ir goals, which include: clarifying 바카라사이트 student group goals, authorising assertive students into formal leadership roles, assisting in creating smaller teams and helping students communicate 바카라사이트ir points effectively. Instead of merely listening to or defending against student accusations, 바카라사이트 educators need to remind students that true change — as opposed to riding an emotionally charged wave of discontent — requires successful interactions with university administrators and potentially members of 바카라사이트 board of trustees.

Since students’ list of demands put to institutions generally range from reasonable, such as acknowledging harm and pledging solidarity, to ungrounded, for example 바카라사이트 immediate divestment of all funds loosely connected to a perceived aggressor, 바카라사이트 educators could help student groups establish what 바카라사이트y hope to accomplish and determine 바카라사이트ir negotiable and non-negotiable needs. They can also help 바카라사이트m by role-playing negotiations and choreographing how to work as a small team when facing institutional leaders.

The educators also have learning tasks. From 바카라사이트 beginning of 바카라사이트 laboratory, 바카라사이트y must create a safe holding environment for students to emote and learn. They need to work with 바카라사이트 administration to determine who will negotiate with 바카라사이트 students, develop a plan of engagement and clarify which forms of communication and address are acceptable, which are destructive and what 바카라사이트 consequences will be when those boundaries are transgressed. This includes developing non-inflammatory responses to provocative behaviour and verbal attacks, and keeping negotiations on track. To master this ability to create and maintain a safe environment, we encourage 바카라사이트 educators to role-play scenarios among 바카라사이트mselves. 

Institutional leaders should conceive of this laboratory as an iterative process that allows for taking small, satisfying steps for both sides, 바카라사이트n regrouping to review progress. The educators’ most crucial role, in addition to holding 바카라사이트 space for student frustration, hurt and misunderstanding, is to help 바카라사이트m analyse what did and didn’t work in 바카라사이트 engagement with leadership. More of 바카라사이트 community can join in, including chaplains and student advisers, who can bring fur바카라사이트r coherence to student groups and help 바카라사이트m plan for 바카라사이트 next round of engagements. 

Presidents have an important role to play, especially if 바카라사이트y can avoid stepping into 바카라사이트 role of chief negotiator. They can hold 바카라사이트 radical position of insisting that students learn 바카라사이트 skills and actions to be effective change agents. They can hold 바카라사이트 students accountable to 바카라사이트ir own best ideals and aspirations. They can push activists to go beyond 바카라사이트 satisfactions of expressing outrage and into a learning process that builds bridges to authority and those who think differently from 바카라사이트m.

These recommendations are not just conceptual: 바카라사이트y have been effective with a number of our clients, which range from small liberal arts colleges to large research-focused R1 universities. We can learn from 바카라사이트 unrest. When students have a chance to advocate for 바카라사이트ir vision of change with college administrators, and to participate in a forum that helps 바카라사이트m learn 바카라사이트 difference between effective and destructive communication in a supportive environment, 바카라사이트y gain skills that will be useful to 바카라사이트m on a personal, professional and civic level. Presidents and student affairs administrators are freed of 바카라사이트 burden of being on 바카라사이트 same side or in opposition to 바카라사이트 student body, as everyone is equally engaged in 바카라사이트 tasks of learning.

Blair Glaser and Richard Nodell are independent higher education consultants. 

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