Message from the Vice President

Thank You Rowdy Travels Across Student Affairs

Kudos

The title of his essay is “On Stupidity” with a subheading, “A cartload of recent books suggests that it’s time to reverse the customer–service mentality plaguing academe.”  He also lists as concerns “amenities” and “administrative bloat.”  The article struck a nerve for me but in trying to acknowledge the places where the author and I agree – education happens best in small classes, with full-time teachers who hold and foster high educational standards – and acknowledging that it’s possible to go to extremes in residence hall or facilities design, it all kept sounding a bit strident.  And yet there are some points I want to make related to his comments.  So I’m going to spend less time trying to write about both sides of the equation and just share my various thoughts.

Customer-Service Mentality

• No, the customer is not always right – even the retail world doesn’t really think that.

• As staff we aren’t expected to put up with rude and abusive behavior or say yes to everything a student (or anyone else for that matter) asks for.

But

• We are expected to be courteous and respectful to the people with whom we interact at all times. (If they are rude, we ask for help rather than try to out-rude them.)

• We should provide accurate information in a timely manner and try to solve problems as efficiently as possible no matter who ‘caused’ them.

• We should get input from students, parents, and the community in developing services, programs and in growing this university.  And then we make the best decision we can while taking the multiple relevant factors into account.  (A student once asked me very sincerely, why I would ever say no to a student initiative.  My answer, in part, was that students, while highly important, are only one of the constituencies I represent.)  The student voice is critical, particularly in the work of Student Affairs, but it’s not just about meeting their stated needs.  If we don’t invite them into the discussion and listen carefully, we can’t know if we’re achieving our objectives.

Amenities

• Yes, I know “we” didn’t have it so “lush” in our day.  As my husband put it, he had to walk to school – 10 miles – in the snow – backwards!  But let’s be honest, most of us like amenities.  It’s nicer to be in an office with fresh paint and new carpet than a small office down a dark hallway.

• Let’s also acknowledge that when people talk about amenities, many, if not all, are in the student life arena.  News articles about residence halls that rival luxury condos and multi-million dollar stadiums with luxury boxes do make it seem as if institutional priorities are mixed.

So we need to be thoughtful as we design new facilities and renovate older ones to balance costs and expectations and sort out needs from wishes.  Even more than that, we need to be thoughtful in our decision-making.  Is this ‘amenity’ the best way to meet our education and strategic goals?  And yes, students enjoying their experience on campus is a legitimate goal, but we also need to make sure we keep things in perspective.

Administrative Bloat

• This is more of the same really.  Yes, we need competent talented staff to work with our students.  But what is the right number?  Ideas of what is enough or too many will vary widely depending on the person’s experiences. The issues are very stark on our campus.  If we believe we need smaller classes and more full-time faculty to make that possible, we have to direct resources to our academic functions, and some other interesting, even exciting ideas, may not receive funding.  We’re lucky in Texas that our fee structure allows us not to compete directly for resources, but our ability to raise our fees will likely be curtailed in the short term by our need to maximize tuition resources to meet our educational goals.

• So, it is important that we make decisions about our expenditures carefully.  It is important that we provide enough staff to be able to deliver excellent customer service in our frontline service programs.   It is important that we deliver excellent programs that meet the personal, social and educational needs of our students. It is important that we have facilities that are attractive to students so we are able to continue to recruit students to UTSA.  It is important that we consider the educational and strategic goals and that we are able to articulate them clearly to others as we plan and make decisions.  And we will never have enough money to do everything everyone thinks we should do.

If we are thoughtful and strategic in our planning, if we are effective money managers, if we identify the appropriate constituencies to consult, I believe we can find ways to do what we need to be doing and to do it well.  Then, we administrators are useful and helpful rather than so much "administrative bloat." Then amenities add to the holistic educational experience rather than pull it off center.   Then a customer-service mentality is a positive attribute and contributes to a positive experience at UTSA for everyone, not just our students.  And that’s not ‘stupid’ at all.

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