Dive Brief:
- Only 55% of student body presidents surveyed said they are very or extremely influential in being able to create change on their campuses, according to a survey by the National Campus Leadership Council, a national student leadership group.
- The survey of 200 Student Government Association presidents found two-thirds are positive about their role in decision-making and three-quarters believe they can "raise issues before they get out of hand." But just 27% said students had speaking and voting rights on campus leadership boards and only 38% said they "feel respected by the governing board."
- The council listed steps the research showed that universities and colleges could take to improve student perceptions about their influence, including regular student-leader engagement with the governing board along with speaking opportunities at meetings and regular sessions with institution leaders, especially the chief student affairs director. Many student leaders who said they meet with the vice president of student affairs reported effectiveness and satisfaction with the frequency of the meetings, but fewer reported satisfaction with the outcomes of those gatherings.
Dive Insight:
A national survey of more than 140,000 freshmen published two years ago by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the University of California, Los Angeles indicated that student interest in political and civic engagement was at the highest level in five decades. One in 10 freshmen surveyed said there was a very good chance they would participate in a student protest, an increase of almost 3% from 2014.
In addition, about 40% said they want to become community leaders and 22.3% said they hope to influence the political structure. Nearly 60% said they expect to vote during their college years, up almost 10% from 2014.
Too often college presidents don't view student affairs as one of their top responsibilities, but a report from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges recommends that they pay attention and have approaches to address student concerns and a structure to get their input to avoid freedom of speech concerns.
The issue of student voice relates to the highly relevant topic of free speech on campus, which one report says students value so long as it does not threaten diversity and inclusion. Another report from Georgetown University suggests that the number of cases in which free speech has been restricted on campus has been exaggerated.
Marcia Chatelain, associate professor of history and African American Studies at Georgetown, told participants in an Aspen Institute summit on student activism recently that critics of student activism or those who downplay it should understand such involvement is a core mission of college education and is inevitable.