Purposeful | Open | Just | Disciplined | Caring | Celebrative | Suggestions
It seems that overall, interviewees felt that the Division of Student Affairs is much more open that it was before the implementation of the Campus Compact. Departments continue to aspire to be more open and according to the comments of some individuals, have made significant achievements in doing so.
"Being new here, one of the things that seems to be very clear is the desire to be open on a number of different levels. Not only to students, which was to me pretty fundamental anyway, what was unique and distinctive to me was "open" as it related to how Student Affairs staff related to one another. One of the things that I have noticed here is that we are less hierarchical in nature. Anyone, regardless of whether they are classified, non-classified or professional faculty, is encouraged to share ideas, be open and participative. Whereas the previous (institution) I was at, your participation depended upon what your role was with the university. Not to say that it is practiced widely, but I think that is definitely a goal that we try to accomplish."
"My personal productivity is greater, because I am heard. I feel cared for in an open community where if I have a question or if I have a problem or if I have an idea, we can go with that. It's not just that traditional hierarchical model. I feel that because of the Campus Compact there are a lot of people in classified positions or other positions that wouldn't have necessarily been heard. I've heard horror stories from coworkers in other divisions of the university that don't have the opportunities that we [Student Affairs employees] have. I have a direct line to Larry Roper anytime I feel that I need one and I think that everybody in Student Affairs feels that way."
Regarding the Minority Education Office coordinators, Sandy Tsuneyoshi shared,
Of the commitments section of the Campus Compact, "openness" was the principle that was most frequently commented on for being challenging to implement. Although there have been achievements in this realm by different departments, there seems to a general dissatisfaction with the level of openness throughout the division. Specifically, risk-taking was often mentioned as concept that many are still uncomfortable with because of the repercussions.
"I feel that we are still struggling to be open to different people and different ideas. We just aren't there yet, this isn't a comfortable place for everyone. There is a tension between being an open place that really does allow people from different perspectives and different cultures to come in and be a part of the whole, and then at the same time having standards for thinking or speech that we try to aspire to."
"I don't think that the openness is there as much as it should be. My sense is that there have been some people that have taken risks and they have been hurt by it."
"I think often times in the Division of Student Affairs, the openness is not where it should be or could be. I think sometimes specifically at department head meetings, I don't think we can be as open as we would like to be. I think there is some fear in sharing opinions that may not be popular. I just don't think the division is as open as we could be."
"There are situations in which state law prohibits us for being "open," for example, a disciplinary action for an employee, a contract not getting renewed, or a union issue. By law a supervisor cannot say what happened. What we have experienced here is that our staff members are completely jolted by these types of actions because it is so different from how we otherwise operate. It can temporarily make people lose trust when they were expecting managers to operate on the 'openness principle' with these types of actions... However, when there have been these types of ripples from lack of trust, it has been generally short-lived."
