With all the changes happening at the college and under the new Trump administration, Columbia students need someone to answer their questions or at least to talk through all of the disruption.
This is a perfect opportunity for school leaders to have open conversations with students to reassure them that they have someone in their corner.
On Friday, Feb. 7 the Chronicle Editorial Board met with Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David to discuss a variety of topics like the changes in the school’s academic programs and the upcoming student information system that will be implemented to put admission, advising, degree audits and financial aid all in one place.
Not only did David acknowledge that students had questions, she also had possible solutions to some of these issues.
Concerning questions about registration and advising — an office that was impacted by staff layoffs last May — she suggested that RegFest could be reworked in order to give students more time and resources. She also told the Chronicle that the college was in the process of hiring new staff to help ease the load of the remaining advisors, a problem the college created with its hasty cuts.
Also during the interview, David wanted not to focus only on the downside of some of the recent cost cutting measures but also to recognize that students are still accomplishing great things.
It’s true that students have left the college. More may leave. But there are a lot of us who continue to be here and pursue their degree, even when their major will eventually fade out.
The college does have to be careful, as it tries to rebuild. David and other campus leaders run the risk of gaslighting members of our community who have lost their jobs and their programs. Bigger class sizes impact faculty and students as well as prospective students promised small class sizes. Reduced lab hours and fewer frontline staff in offices that serve students is a hard sell. The measures Columbia is undertaking may be necessary for it to survive, but it’s important to acknowledge that this is a very painful time in the college’s 135-year history. Leaders like David can do that while also offering reassurances and a vision for the future without false hope for returning everything back to the way it was.
“I want to believe that the school has the student’s backs, but they have a lot of rebuilding trust to do within the student body,” Jenna Davis, president of the Student Government Association, told the Chronicle.
Proper communication between school leaders and their students is a very effective way to rebuild that trust. Students have asked for transparency from the college before and it is only fair for students to have distrust when those needs aren’t met.
School leaders have met with the student body in the past, but this hasn’t been effective. Big town halls with the president of the school seem like they are reaching out to students, but feel disingenuous to many of the student’s individual and small collective needs. Sit-downs with smaller groups will give students the time and attention they need. One suggestion is for school leaders, including interim directors, to attend events, visit classrooms or hold small discussions that open the floor to students. How will students rebuild trust if their school leaders are far removed from the people they are doing this for?
David reached out to talk to the Chronicle, and that is a step in the right direction. But we need more of these conversations to establish trust again.
Copy edited by Trinity Balboa
