Purposeful | Open | Just | Disciplined | Caring | Celebrative | Suggestions
"Before the Compact we didn't care enough about peoples' well being. The Compact gave us permission to care for people, not only in their professional lives, but in their private lives as well... and, I think as a result the Compact has exceeded all of its expectations."
The commitment to caring made by the Campus Compact was referred to as one of the most significant achievements of the document. Almost every interviewee mentioned the topic when framing the stories that they had to share. Most people felt that they had been nurtured and respected by their coworkers more since the implementation of the document.
"The Compact has allowed me to move beyond myself and allowed me to bring others along by recognizing the value of pushing people forward through providing the support they may need at any given time. This allows people to move their careers and personal lives in a positive direction and there is a lot of self reward in that. You feel good about it and that is returned... If you want to help create community or enable individuals to be successful you need to be open and caring."
"We are working toward a point where we are connected with each other. I see a lot more collaboration between departments. So there is caring at a professional level, but I also see that translating to the students. If not in action, at least in conversation we are starting have in the front of our thinking that we need to be more caring as a division and departments."
"I feel that people back each other up here. Our department had an event one time and all of the people I've been involved with, on committees from different departments in the division, came and asked 'What can we do to help?' They worked registration tables and even pumped up balloons. I don't think that would happen at other places. I haven't seen the same openness and caring. We are a caring community."
"If someone makes a mistake with something or is late with something, you don't get yelled at for it, it is accepted and we move on. So it [Student Affairs] is a good atmosphere to be in."
"I feel that I can show up in Larry Roper's office and fall apart if I need to. The caring piece has been quite extraordinary to me."
"The Campus Compact has changed how we deal with student discipline. In the past it was more like rule enforcement, if you broke a rule here was your punishment. The ideal of student success has changed the way we operate. We talk more with students about how there are doing in their classes and their life then we work our way around to dealing with the consequences of the rules. We incorporated that into helping the student become successful as a whole person, not just seeing the rule violation as over-magnified and somehow representative. That focus on the whole student was really part of our effort to focus more on the whole person in our staff relations. That's something that I have taken very seriously."
"In Student Affairs we are all in the compassion business, we are trying to help people. As long as we are in the compassion business these things (the principles of the Compact) all fit."
While most people felt cared for by their coworkers, some individuals had encountered instances where they felt that that same level of caring had not been extended to those outside of the division. Some felt that the level of caring was not quite where they would like it to be.
"Even in basic conversation between some coworkers some of these values are not operating. Sometimes I walk up to counters here and I know that the values are not operating. Sometimes people are not welcoming and caring and it's a struggle."
"Caring has been a concept folks have had difficulty with, understanding the differences that exist in different offices. It's not that we don't care about each other it's just that sometimes people do things without thinking about the consequences. We do and say things that may seem like a good idea, but effective group communication doesn't always happen. It can be kind of political sometimes, people are looking out for their own special interests and that can be uncaring. However this is happening less, which has shown me that we are all open to growing and learning."
Michael Henthorne of the Memorial Union felt that the challenges associated with dealing with organizations and businesses outside the university were ascribed to the sense that, "Outside entities don't have the value of relationship and caring that we do..."
