Abstract
With campus leaders requesting college campuses return “back to normal” after nearly three years of overwhelming trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff, faculty, and especially students have struggled to transition to this new normal. With this in mind, we take an intentional moment to pause and reflect on this case study and thoughtfully consider their social, mental, academic, financial, and physical circumstances. In addition, we focus on graduate students, an understudied population in need of support and holding vulnerability as both students and employees.
Keywords: Graduate Students, Food Insecurity, Wellness/Well-being, Student Affairs
The Case
How do institutions consider the needs of graduate students outside of their academic experience? How can student affairs administrators and faculty members create partnerships to support graduate students outside the classroom?
The Setting
Hope University (HU) is a mid-size, public, land-grant institution in the Northeast United States. HU is a historically white institution (HWI) actively working to remedy the exclusionary practices that disproportionately impacted historically and presently marginalized student populations through recruitment, attrition, and retention initiatives. This case takes place in the context of the fall semester of 2021. For HU, fall 2021 is the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic and first semester fully back on campus for staff, faculty, and students. The president of HU and their cabinet members consistently communicate with faculty and staff about “returning to normal.” Still, campus units struggle to reinstate programs provided prior to the pandemic while managing the transition in person with limited resources and staff.
Key Players
Laura (she/her): Laura is a cis-gender Latina woman who identifies as a first-generation student from California. Laura is in her second year of the M.Ed. student affairs graduate program and is employed as a graduate assistant in the Leadership Development unit in the Division of Student Affairs but in the context of the pandemic, her graduate assistantship decreased from twenty to ten hours a week.
Nelson (he/him): Nelson is a cis-gender Latino man who has served as the Coordinator of Graduate Student Life at HU for the last two years.
George (he/him): George is a cis-gender white man who has served as the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at HU for the last 17 years.
Catherine (she/her): Catherine is a cis-gender Black woman who has served as the Academic Program Director for the Student Affairs Graduate Program for the last five years.
The Situation
Nelson finished cleaning up from the Graduate Student Life (GSL) “Grad HU Welcome Back Event” on campus. He worked non-stop to implement health and safety precautions, such as providing individually wrapped food at the welcome back event which is the first in-person program for this academic year. Nelson was locking up the office when Laura arrived. Laura attended a few GSL events online last semester but seemed frazzled today.
When meeting Nelson at the door, Laura asked him if the event was over and if there was any leftover food. Nelson let her know there were a few cookies left on the table. She quickly pulled her Tupperware out and grabbed the last few. She then asked if there were any more GSL events that week.
Nelson handed Laura a flyer of the upcoming events, which included a movie night and a meditation session. “Will there be any food at these?” Laura asked. Nelson responded that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on financial budgets at the institution, GSL would not have any other events with food this week. Laura quickly responded with, “Ok, thanks!”
A few weeks later, at a Latinx welcome event, Nelson saw Laura on a panel for incoming graduate students. Many Latinx graduate panelists were discussing their struggles as first-generation graduate students. Laura mentioned that it was hard socializing in the area because she is from California and has few family or friends in town. She added that she has found community in GSL. Laura also highlights the financial challenges she faces as a result of limited work hours. These challenges present difficulties as she readjusts for a healthier financial balance since her assistantship hours were cut during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has searched for a new assistantship, but many offices were not hiring because of HU’s hiring freeze as a result of budget cuts.
Nelson was happy to hear that Laura found a community in GSL and appreciated the shout-out. He was walking over to thank Laura when he saw that she was filling up Tupperware with the leftover sandwiches. He decided to wait until she was done.
When exiting, Nelson stopped Laura to thank her for sharing her positive experiences with GSL. Nelson said, “Laura, I am so glad to hear you found a community at GSL. You know our offices have services that extend beyond programming, and we are here to support graduate students overall.” Nelson invited Laura to sit for a quick chat. Nelson took this opportunity to check in with Laura about her assistantship, courses, and how COVID-19 has impacted her and her loved ones. Nelson continued, “I noticed you mentioned things have been hard. If there is anything I can do to help you, let me know.” Laura thanked him and shared, “I’ve got to be honest with you; things have been hard for me during COVID.” Nelson remembered Laura’s vulnerability and honesty during the graduate student panel.
Nelson spoke to Laura about the challenges she was facing. As the conversation concluded, Laura began walking out when she turned around and said, “There is one thing… could you talk to Dr. George about opening the campus food pantry? It has been closed since last May. I’ve emailed his office several times but haven’t gotten a response yet.”
Options
Nelson identifies four options in terms of how he can help Laura and other students affected by the closure of the food pantry:
Option 1: Nelson contemplates connecting with his supervisor about reopening the food pantry.
Option 2: Nelson schedules a meeting between the Leadership and Service Office and the GSL to discuss potential resources to address food insecurity for graduate students.
Option 3: Nelson develops a list of campus partners and community resources that may support graduate students. While Laura is a graduate student, most of the partnerships in Nelson’s division center around the undergraduate experience. Aside from Nelson’s office, there are not any other university-wide graduate offices that provide support outside of the classroom experience.
Option 4: Nelson could reach out to Catherine, Laura’s student affairs graduate coordinator, to learn more about graduate student support in the college and graduate assistantship processes. Nelson has had limited interactions with Catherine. Nelson and Catherine’s connection has been through admitted student days in the assistantship matching process for newly admitted graduate students.
As Nelson makes his way across campus, he considers his options. He does not have a strong relationship with the AVP, George, but knows George will be instrumental in reopening the pantry. Nelson does have a team of dedicated colleagues who helped to establish the pantry and who have been making efforts to get that resource open for students this fall, but other projects have taken priority at the beginning of the term. Additionally, Nelson is connected with community agencies that provide resources to students, but he is frustrated by the lack of institutional support for graduate students.
Questions
- What additional information/resources would be helpful for Nelson as he works to devise a plan to address food insecurity for graduate students?
- What is important for institutions to understand about graduate students’ experience to properly address their financial well-being and assistantship opportunities?
- What assumptions do we make about graduate students and graduate students’ experiences?
- In considering Laura’s situation and her social identities, what other issues or concerns could be present for her? How would you engage in conversation with this graduate student regarding other issues that can impact their holistic well-being? How could you address these issues?
- As a field, how do we balance the staffing concerns and needs of graduate students through an equitable lens?
Author Bios
Nancy Camarillo (she/her/ella): Nancy Camarillo is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. Nancy currently serves as the assistant director in the Center for First-generation Student Success at NASPA.
Di-Tu Dissassa (she/her/hers): Di-Tu Dissassa is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. Di-Tu currently works as a project coordinator for the Center for Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education.
Marinel Martinez-Benyarko (she/her/ella): Marinel Martinez-Benyarko is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy Program at University of Maryland, College Park. Marinel also works at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union as a Coordinator for Curriculum, Training, & Development.
Dr. Ashley H. Clarke (she/her/hers) Ashley H. Clarke is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education, Student Affairs, and International Education Policy Program at University of Maryland, College Park. She currently serves as the senior associate director for diversity and inclusion at the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University.