Community | Diversity | Equality | Accountability | Success for Students | Suggestions
"For those that were involved in the creation of the Campus Compact, it maybe has a different meaning than for those who came here after it was written. The ideals of the document were seen as aspirations and they are still aspirations. People that weren't involved at the beginning may see it as something we have achieved and then are disappointed or angry when we fall short."
"We need to go page by page and read the Compact out loud in order to discuss the points to understand how they should be implemented. That way nobody has an opportunity to say 'I didn't get a chance to read the document,' and we can address the challenges of new employees learning about it."
"One of the things we have to be careful about is to see how these values are infused into the day to day operation of how we do thing. Right now the university is going through a budget crisis which results in layoffs and peoples' employment can be uncertain at times. How are we going to handle that and maintain our values caring, being open and just? ... If your values can't hold up at the most stressful of times, then we have to question what they are there for. We can't only pull them out on a sunny day, they have to be as firm and appropriate on the darkest and gloomy days."
"I would just like to see the rest of campus embrace the good work that Student Affairs has done in creating the Campus Compact. It could be done through testimonials about how people feel about it, how the Compact has improved their lives, and the quality it has brought to there positions... It is a tremendous piece of work that has been done. In my mind the ideals of the Compact are what the entire university should be about."
"Goals of initiatives have to be tangible to be able to assess any achievement."
"I remember a few years ago Larry Roper sent out questions to be used in discussions within the departments. That would be helpful if he did that a little more often. The structure made people participate that maybe would not have."
"It's nice when you're working towards goals for anything it's nice to have a structure to work from and I think we have it in the Compact. I don't know if there are formal annual reviews for individuals or the organization in its entirety, but if they are existent using some of the tenets of the Compact can help us measure if we are getting there. The standards are already here."
"We need to be better at making sure people understand our expectation is that people are going to be participatory managers on whatever level they are in the organization, with the acknowledgement that not always can everybody participate. Sometimes decisions need to be made quicker or sometimes decisions can be made and more discussions about those decisions can occur later."
"The aspirational aspect of the document needs teeth. People at the bottom of the totem pole are not getting the rights they deserve, evaluation may help achieve that... The assessment committee needs more attention."
"As a department, one year we spent several hours at a staff retreat talking a lot about the Campus Compact and giving ourselves a grade on how we are doing and how we could do things better. In that way, I think you have to give it attention in order to give it life. Like a garden, you have to water it, you've got to talk about it, you've got to ask about it, and you have to acknowledge that there are weeds. Otherwise it just becomes a paper in a folder."
"I would like the words of the Compact to mean something, more than just words. I'd like to see it be used more across the campus so that campus can be safe for everyone."
