Abstract:
This case focuses on the Student Crisis Fund established at Queensborough State University during the COVID-19 pandemic and what its future looks like. Nora Bloom is the new Director of Student Care Outreach and served under the founder of the Fund (and former director), Joanna Serkis. A potential donor, Bruce Hadler, has reached out and offered a significant donation to the Fund to name it after Joanna, but has asked for Nora’s team to review their protocols to ensure funding is going to students with the greatest need. There is also a need to mitigate scandal as nearby Kingstown College’s student emergency fund is under intense scrutiny after recent student protests for alleged bias in their application process. Nora is charged with preparing a presentation for Mr. Hadler on how her team plans to move forward.
Keywords:
Student Care, Emergency Funds, Donor Relations
Primary Characters:
Joanna Serkis (she/her) – As the long-time Director of Student Care Outreach at QSU, Joanna recently retired in 2022 after 25 years at the institution. Joanna was a key staff member behind the creation and facilitation of the Student Crisis Fund.
Nora Bloom (she/her) – Nora is the new Director of Student Care Outreach at QSU. Nora previously served as the Associate Director for Student Care Outreach for five years under Joanna.
Bruce Hadler (he/him) – Bruce is an alumnus of QSU, Class of ’86 and the father of Kayla, a QSU, Class of ‘21 graduate. Bruce is a potential major donor to Student Crisis Fund.
Kayla Hadler (she/they) – Kayla is an alumna of QSU, Class of ’21 and the child of Bruce Hadler. Kayla worked closely with Joanna Serkis after being hospitalized due to COVID-19 during her junior year.
Context and Case:
Queensborough State University is a large, public institution located in the southeast United States. It is considered a metropolitan campus, nestled in the heart of the city, and located within a few blocks of the main tourist district. Queensborough is made up of 70% in-state students. 35% of students attending QSU self-identify as first-generation college students. Many QSU students work part time in the food and beverage industry or other tourism-driven work in order to make ends meet.
In the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic, QSU students were significantly impacted by business closures and changing health and safety protocols. As social distancing became the expectation and restaurant dining areas closed, many students were let go from their jobs and then had to move home unexpectedly as QSU transitioned to online learning. Joanna Serkis, long-time Director of Student Care Outreach at QSU, received a number of phone calls and emails from concerned students and their families about how to navigate the unanticipated costs of relocating, sudden job loss, and often, compounded medical expenses from students who became ill from COVID-19.
Joanna, in collaboration with the Office of University Development, launched the Student Crisis Fund and facilitated a hugely successful fundraising campaign. In the first four months of the Fund’s creation, QSU was able to raise and then distribute over $150,000 to students in dire financial need due to the pandemic. This initiative mirrored work being carried out at peer and aspirant institutions at the time, and Joanna capitalized on the knowledge of colleagues at other universities in the state to make the early days of the Fund a success.
In 2022, Joanna retired from QSU after 25 years at the institution. After a rigorous search process, Nora Bloom was selected as the next Director of Student Care Outreach. Nora had served as the Associate Director for Student Care Outreach under Joanna for the previous five years. Nora has had a successful transition into the role over the past year but has also been navigating a concurrent reorganization of the Division of Student Affairs at QSU in addition to taking on this new role.
One of QSU’s peer institutions, Kingstown College (KC), is located a few hours away in the same state. Kingstown is a mid-sized, public institution with student demographics similar to those at QSU. The Student Crisis Fund at Kingstown – Kingstown Cares – has existed for almost 15 years. However, it recently gained some notoriety when the student newspaper published an article accusing the crisis fund of bias and disproportionately allocating funds to white students. As a result, Kingstown has been experiencing student protests outside of their administration buildings, calling for greater transparency in student support services, including Kingstown Cares, and a comprehensive audit of how to mitigate bias in supporting students at KC.
Nora received an email from the Office of University Development this week. Bruce Hadler, an alumnus of QSU ’86 and the father of a QSU ’21 graduate, is interested in providing a significant donation to QSU to name the Student Crisis Fund after Joanna Serkis. His child, Kayla, contracted COVID-19 in April 2020 and was hospitalized for several weeks while she recovered. Joanna Serkis was instrumental in supporting Kayla and the Hadlers through the rest of the semester and ensuring Kayla stayed on track to graduate on time the following spring. While Kayla did not need to apply for assistance through the Crisis Fund, the Hadlers are interested in honoring the work that Joanna did to support Kayla and many other QSU students during her tenure as Director.
Mr. Hadler is aware of the recent scandal at Kingstown and has asked to meet with Nora prior to finalizing his gift to QSU. Mr. Hadler would like Nora and her team to evaluate ways that the Student Crisis Fund application review process can be improved to ensure that funding goes to students with the greatest potential need. The Office of University Development has asked Nora to prepare a presentation for Mr. Hadler at the end of the month, prior to finalizing Mr. Hadler’s donation to QSU.
Nora is reviewing her notes from the launch of the Crisis Fund as well as their distribution data from the last three years. When the program was launched, the Crisis Fund application gathered basic contact information from students as well as asked questions related to how much funding the student were requesting, what it would be used for, what other entities the student had reached out to for support, and a summary from the student about their current financial circumstances. Applications were reviewed by the Student Care Outreach team to confirm that each requesting student was enrolled for the current semester. A team member would also request a summary of the requesting student’s financial aid package to confirm that Crisis Fund disbursements would not impact the student’s federal aid eligibility. This process has remained unchanged in the intervening years, although the pace of Crisis Fund applications has slowed significantly as students adjusted to the “new normal.” Beyond enrollment status and financial aid information, Nora’s team has not tracked any additional demographic data or added additional offices to the review process.
Nora has a staff meeting in two days where she is able to ask for her team’s help in gathering data and conducting benchmarking in advance of her presentation. She will develop an action plan with her team to identify goals for the presentation, gaps of knowledge that will require research, and a timeline for preparing the new protocols based on their research and the meeting with Mr. Hadler.
Discussion Questions:
- What are some of the key factors Nora should consider when preparing for her staff meeting? For her presentation to Mr. Hadler?
- What connections or areas of knowledge could Nora leverage? (e.g., other offices on campus, her professional network, etc.)
- How might a reorganization within Nora’s Division impact her team’s ability to collaborate with other offices?
- Should Nora address the differences between the QSU process and that at Kingstown in her meeting with Mr. Hatteberg?
- Are there other data points Nora’s team should be gathering in the application review process? For example:
- Can students to apply more than once? Is there a limit to the number of times they can apply for this fund?
- Does a student’s disciplinary or academic standing affect their eligibility for funds?
- Should students be asked to self-report certain demographic markers in their application? Should this data be gathered from their student profile within the campus’s enrollment management system? (Consider both, one, or neither of these options)
- How might this review of the Crisis Fund application process be used to acknowledge and potentially address historic systems of oppression (race, ethnicity, first gen status, national origin, gender, LGBTQIAA+) at QSU and in higher education more generally?
Author Bio
Molly Jean Callahan (she/her) serves as the Student Support Coordinator and Office Manager for the Office of the Dean of Students at the College of Charleston. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of South Carolina and her master’s degree in Counselor Education (Student Affairs) from Clemson University. She is a proud first-generation college student and prioritizes service to the profession. She is a past president of the South Carolina College Personnel Association (SCCPA). Outside of work, she loves to read, spend time with her spouse, and try to keep her two cats out of trouble. She can be reached at [email protected].