Texas A&M University
Group Leader: Thomas Harwell
Group Members: Kathleen Duffy & Leo Young
StudentAffairs.com 2013 Case Study Competition
Assumptions for the case
• Public institution
• The Department of Student Activities
has some staffing who regularly
interacts with chartered student groups
Outcomes
• Students will develop an understanding of citizenship
• Community members will appreciate the symbiotic
relationship between the university and the town
• University event policy will foster reasonable care for
students and townspeople
• Students and townspeople will effectively interact
with one another and the institution through various
forms social media
• Decrease number of complaints reported to the
university
Domains of Learning
Environments
• Social Context -
Students as group membership and the intergroup connection between citizenship
• Academic -
awareness to bring about reflective judgment and critical
thinking
• Institutional Context -
changing our campus culture:
conduct codes & norms of behavior
• Individual Student -
Cognitive development, meaning
making, behavior
• Learning Outcomes -
construct knowledge, meaning, self
in society
NASPA/ACPA, (2004). Learning Reconsidered: A campus wide focus on the student experience.
Relevant Law
• Bradshaw v. Rawlings, 464 F. Supp. 175 (E.D. Pa. 1979) and
Bradshaw v. Rawlings, 612 F. 2d 135 (3rd Cir. 1979).
• University’s no longer operate within the scope of
en loco parentis and cannot be held accountable
for the actions of all individual students
• General Order on Judicial Standards of Procedure and
Substance in Review of Student Discipline in Tax Support
Institutions of Higher Education, 45 F.R.D. 133 (USCD W.D.
Mo., EnBanc, 1968).
• “The student voluntarily assumes obligations of
performance and behavior reasonably imposed by
the institution of choice relevant to its lawful
missions, processes, and functions”
More Relevant Law
• Healy v. James, 92 S Ct. 2338 (1972); 33
L.Ed. 226.
• “a college administration may impose a
requirement…that a group seeking official
recognition affirm in advance it’s willingness to
adhere to reasonable campus law”
• Soglin v. Kauffman, 418 F. 2d 163 (7th Cir.
1969).
• “vagueness…it contains no clues which could
assist a student, an administrator or a reviewing
judge in determining whether conduct not
transgressing statutes is susceptible to
punishment by the University…”
Relevant Theories
• Implicit goals of Higher Education
• Civic Engagement, Humanitarianism,
Interpersonal Competence
• Baxter-Magolda
• Effective citizenship as a component of
Self-Authorship
NASPA/ACPA, (2004). Learning Reconsidered: A campus wide focus on the student experience.
Baxter-Magolda, M. B. (2004). A theoretical framework to educate for self-authorship. In M. B. Baxter-Magolda & P. M. King,
Learning partnerships: Theory and models of practice to educate for self-authorship (pp. 1-43). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Plan of Action
• Create a chartered student organization
event planning policy
• Integration and Inclusion of Community
and Student relationship
Chartered Student Organization’s
Event Planning Policy
• Organizations submit all events through
an online event planning process
• Exercise reasonable care for student
groups
• Alleviate strains put on town by student
organization events
Event Planning Components
•
•
•
•
•
•
Open vs. closed events
On vs. off campus events
Alcohol presence
Food distribution
Amplified sound
# of participants and security
Event Planning Social Media
•
•
•
•
@sunnyevents
Sunnyvale Reddit
Policy compliance memes
Facebook fan page
Community and student
relationship
•
•
Our goal is to revive the town gown
relationship
2 part plan of action:
1. Us engaging students in the community
2. Us engaging the community in the
university
•
Deputy mayor engaging students and alumni
into the community
Students Engaged in the
Community
• Day of service for students to give back
to the community
• Feature local restaurants and shops
during alumni weekends and other
large events
• Frist Fridays: opportunity to highlight a
variety of arts and culture related
activities and demonstrations
Social Media
• Day of service: utilize Twitter
(@TheSunnyEvent), Instagram,
Snapchat, Facebook and Flickr
• Feature local businesses: Pinterest,
4Square, Facebook and Twitter
• First Fridays: Vine, Facebook, Twitter
Community to Student
• Invite community members to events
on campus
• Local mentor program
• Safe ride programs
Social Media
• Invite to campus: YouTube, Facebook,
Twitter
• Local mentors: LinkedIn
• Safe ride program: Facebook, Twitter
Long Term Goals
• Establish monthly meetings between the university
and town representatives
• Establish a long-term marketing campaign promoting
unity amongst the university and townspeople
potentially called “We Are Sunnyvale”
Assessment
• Quantitative and qualitative feedback via surveys on
Facebook and otherwise
• Tweet comments and suggestions to a certain
@twitter or #
• Quantitative (number of tweets) and Qualitative (relevance
and helpfulness of tweets)
• Reddit post for forum feedback on policy
• Ongoing discussion in community/ university
partnership committee
• Quantitative analysis of history of incidents versus
how many we have now
• Climate surveys for citizens and students