In the absence of humane human resource policy statements, campuses often have engaged in privatization efforts that have treated long term employees poorly and threatened core values of loyalty and care so embedded in a people-intense setting. Advocates of outsourcing point to enriched services, cost savings, and stimulus in the local economy as advantages to these methods. Many campus administrators are finding they need new competencies as writers of RFP's and managers of contracts. The nature of valuing employees is taking new forms Colleges have long paid lip-service to the value of employees often seen by the broader college work force as a disproportionate attention on faculty with less attention to the concerns of professional or classified staff. For Practice These trends can be summarized as a commitment, a more diverse, adaptable work force valuing collaborative practices in a time of financial stress and a reaffirmation of the centrality of student learning leading to an examination of faculty roles and a broader view of who are campus educators.
Space precludes a detailed explication of implications, but several are of note.
Particular implications for student affairs practice and the student experience should be explored. Strategies for recruiting and retaining a diverse work force at all levels and in all units of the institutions. The renewal and developmental needs of the long term core group of employees to stay adaptable, engaged, and expanding their capacity to address complexity. Practices that value multidisciplinary perspectives in all forms including multi-level and cross functional involvement in shared problems which would bring student affairs professionals and students into campus decision making arenas. Experimental learning in all forms with a particular emphasis on how the design of such experiences can use the talents of both student affairs educators and counselors along with discipline based faculty.