I am a longtime proponent of ensuring that all collegians have equitable opportunities to benefit from participation in campus clubs, activities and leadership roles. But as consistently noted across the first three editions of my best-selling book, Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Approaches for Diverse Populations, they do not. There are myriad explanations for this. One is the unavailability of meaningful out-of-class experiences that diverse groups of undergraduates deem sufficiently responsive to their cultural interests.
Disengagement and low attendance rates are two powerful ways that collegians furnish feedback to campus activities professionals and to their student leader peers who are responsible for programming. Two weeks ago, a colleague told me that Black and Latino undergraduates at her university are often asked what they want, but they do not subsequently show up to events. It could be that too few of them are being surveyed about their interests, I speculated. Or that not enough of those students’ programmatic recommendations are being implemented. It also could be that student leaders are designing and delivering programs that too heavily reflect their own personalities and preferences, not those of peers who spend most of their out-of-class time isolated in residence hall rooms, scrolling social media or playing video games.
Maybe some student athletes really are too busy to participate in anything other than academics and sports commitments—but it also could be that what is being offered is just not reflective enough of their interests beyond athletics. Maybe they have not been explicitly asked via surveys, focus groups and individual interviews what kinds of activities would compel their attendance and higher levels of engagement.
Students of color who participate in my research studies frequently report that campus events that are supposedly designed for all often miss the mark for them. As a former student body president, I take this feedback seriously. I recall desperately wanting to maximize the engagement of my peers when I was largely responsible for programming three decades ago.
Also, my first job in higher education was in a student activities office. Hence, I have long valued and appreciated the importance of high-quality educational, social and cultural experiences offered outside of classrooms. Student development and learning have always been my highest priorities, but I also want collegians to have fun. I have long insisted that access to fun should be equitable. Durable disengagement patterns among particular student populations make painstakingly clear that it is not.
To address this, I typically advise student activities offices to broaden their intelligence-gathering efforts. I understand that student leaders on union boards and campus activities programming councils are primarily responsible for planning and executing events. However, casting a wider input net beyond that small group of student leaders would be advantageous. One way to approach this is via the establishment of programming advisory councils comprised of undergraduates whose participation rates in campus activities are routinely low—Black undergraduate men, international students, first-generation collegians, students who work off-campus jobs, commuters, students with disabilities, veterans and student athletes, to name a few.
There should be a separate council for each group, and every effort should be made to maximize within-group diversity—meaning, ensuring there is not an overrepresentation of student leaders or an underrepresentation of men, LGBTQ+ students, conservatives or collegians from faith groups beyond Christianity. If asked, there is a high likelihood that members of advisory councils will offer ideas that appeal to significantly higher numbers of peers who are like themselves. Also, if their ideas are ultimately implemented, more of them will surely participate in those activities and help recruit others.
YouTube Live and Twitch are the world’s largest live-streaming platforms. Lots of college students, including content creators and gamers, spend numerous hours in these and other digital spaces. Given this, contemporary efforts to increase student engagement must extend the boundaries of out-of-class activities to online environments in which undergraduates already spend large portions of their time. Doing so will possibly appeal to neurodivergent students for whom coming to large in-person events would be overwhelming. Social and digital media can be more creatively leveraged to foster sense of belonging for them and many other groups. Contemporary collegians undoubtedly have exciting, innovative ideas about how to do this, but they must be asked. Creating makerspaces for them to sketch and prototype such experiences is another idea worth trying.
In addition to widening opportunities for diverse student input, it is essential to explore what about recent campus activities inspired healthy attendance and enthusiasm, and to understand why some events resonate. Outside of higher education, the most recent Grammy Awards is one example of this. Music’s biggest night has been critiqued in previous years for lackluster tributes to Black superstars who had recently passed away (for example, its 2012 Whitney Houston tribute—which, to be fair, occurred just one day after she tragically died). Aretha Franklin passed away nearly six months before the 2019 Grammys. Its tribute to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s first woman inductee was widely criticized for being too short.
Last month, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences earned significant praise for its spectacular Grammy tributes to Roberta Flack and D’Angelo, two Black musical standouts who died last year. It was clear that Black people were substantively involved in determining how those 11 minutes and 30 seconds should be spent and who should be involved, as well as how it should sound and feel. Lauryn Hill’s vocal contribution and leadership during the experience was especially praiseworthy. Social media timelines and several news articles specified what Black Americans and others loved about these two tributes. Grammy producers should make good use of these lessons in future years.
Similarly, when campus events attract unusually high numbers of diverse collegians and their appraisals are especially positive, it would behoove campus activities professionals and student leaders to probe what about those experiences garnered such positive responses. And then, obviously, they should attempt to adapt the best of what they learn in the design and delivery of future programs.
Shaun Harper is University Professor and Provost Professor of Education, Business and Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where he holds the Clifford and Betty Allen Chair in Urban Leadership. His most recent book is titled Let’s Talk About DEI: Productive Disagreements About America’s Most Polarizing Topics.
