This is the future of higher education and student affairs

My heart hurts. It hurts for all the people who have been negatively affected by Covid-19 and the long-term impacts of this pandemic. My heart hurts for the Bloomsburg University faculty who have worked very hard to convert from in-person to on-line teaching in a matter of 14 days. My heart hurts for the undergraduate students whose lives have been upended and dramatically changed. But mostly, my heart hurts for the College Student Affairs graduate students whose lives are also disrupted and who are squeezed by additional pressures.

CSA students still have their academic responsibilities. For most, this is three courses but a few are enrolled in four courses. All are online…all have new approaches to learning, perhaps new assignments or replacements for class time, very different dynamics. But the learning work remains.

All CSA students now have “remote” graduate assistantships, which means they can complete their responsibilities (perhaps somewhat adjusted) without being on campus. Some are in apartments in Bloomsburg; some have returned home…to Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. We are fortunate that the university is providing this option, that the financial support continues.

And who are undergraduate students turning to? Why, the CSA students who have graduate assistantships in 25 different departments across the university. Having developed relationships with undergraduate students since August 2019, CSA students are an integral part of the service network at Bloomsburg. Yet, this is another pull on their emotional state as undergraduate—as never before—need CSA students, need their support and insight, their guidance and expertise.

In addition, each CSA student has a life. They have family and friends who are affected by the pandemic. Take the student who is at home in the Pittsburgh area with three family members who are essential personnel. She is alone all day. When they come home, are they infected? Will someone get sick? Will she get sick? Or the student whose mother has been laid off. Will they lose their house? Or the student who is here in Bloomsburg while mother and grandmother are in NYC. Mom is essential personnel and grandmother is vulnerable to any infection. What happens if she is ill? Or if mom gets ill?

And yet…and yet…. My heart and my spirit are uplifted by their positive attitudes. Their drive to aid undergraduate students. Their concern for their faculty members. Their interest in assisting their GA supervisors as they collaboratively develop new ways of supporting and interacting with undergraduate students. They have not yet finished with their graduate education but are confronting challenges most seasoned professionals are not prepared for. But CSA students’ goals remain the same—regardless of location or technology or their own very pressing and difficult circumstances—to help students succeed in college.

I am humbled by Bloomsburg’s CSA students and the contributions they will make to higher education, student affairs, and college students’ experiences. This is the future of higher education and student affairs, and my heart sings.

— Denise L. Davidson, Ph.D., associate professor and program coordinator, Educational Leadership and College Student Affairs, #SAPro