What is it? Why does it exist? And, where does it fit in the organizational structure?

 

What is Student Affairs? According to the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, "the work done by student affairs professionals helps students begin a lifetime journey of growth and self-exploration" (NASPA, 2015).

If you compare student affairs organizations from one campus to another, the likelihood is you'll not find two alike. Currently at SVSU, the student affairs departments consist of the dean of students, campus recreation and fitness programs, military student affairs, residential life, student conduct programs, student counseling services, the student life center and student wellness programs. Two years ago, the configuration at SVSU looked slightly different, which suggests that the mission of student affairs may be relevant to other institutional resources. A comparison to our sister institution, CMU, reveals that their student affairs organization excludes the departments of recreation/fitness, military student affairs and student wellness programs, but adds career services and sexual aggression services.  If we move on to GV, no surprise, we find yet another completely different org chart.

 

It might be of value to also contrast student affairs with student services, as they are sometimes used interchangeably. Student services are typically those departments where students manage some type of transaction related to their enrollment, such as admissions, financial aid, registrar's, etc. Student affairs departments focus on student development topics and concerns. To add to the confusion between the two, some institutions combine student affairs and student services departments in the same division of the university, as was the case at SVSU from 1996 - 2010.

 

Why does student affairs exist? On to a very brief lesson in history: In 1870, Harvard named Professor Ephraim Gurney as its "dean of students". The President of Harvard appointed him in order to take the task of disciplinarian off of his desk (Cook, 1999). But even before that, colleges acted "in loco parentis" (in place of the parents) when it came to dealing with issues outside the classroom (Nuss, 1996). Student activities, such as debate clubs and campus publications became part of the culture in early institutions of higher education. While faculty may have been the initial advisors to these, the emergence of other extra-curricular student activities, such as recreation, saw higher education institutions hiring non-academic personnel to oversee most out-of-class programs.

 

To quote our Provost, "Students are not just learning robots that shut down once they leave the classroom." Universities have embraced the fact that we can and should guide students to make use of their time outside the classroom to expand their professional and personal development. It has become our job as student affairs professionals to foster and promote these opportunities.