From the President's Desk

Students as Partners

A few weeks ago, I joined three other university and college presidents on a panel in Seattle at the annual national conference of student affairs professionals. The theme for our panel, and for the entire conference, was the importance of nourishing a broad array of “new partnership opportunities” in order to support the lifelong learning of our students.

My colleagues on the panel identified such new partnerships at their respective institutions as outreach to Native American tribal communities, arrangements with local banks to help address the financial needs of students, and improved articulation agreements between community colleges and baccalaureate-granting institutions. I took a different approach, though, preferring to focus less on new partnerships that affected students than on ways of approaching partnerships that engaged students.

We have a strong story to tell at Chico State in these regards. Moreover, it is related to some fundamental understandings of what it takes to develop an effective and sustaining partnership.

First, partnerships are contextual; that is, they are related to institutional values, needs, and priorities. For us, this involves a regular affirmation of our two most important roles: to foster student success and to serve the needs of our community and region. What we aim to do at Chico State is to fashion a learning experience for our students that accomplishes both.

This is why civic engagement and community service are such integral elements of the Chico experience. This is why our students help rebuild neighborhoods in Concow and New Orleans; why they have made the Up ’til Dawn fund-raiser for children’s cancer research at St. Jude’s one of the most anticipated events on our annual calendar; why the lists we are now making focus on promoting sustainability and the virtues of a democratic society, not drinking and partying; and why the recent WASC visiting team called us an “extraordinarily focused and successful institution.”

Second, partnerships work when the parties share a sense of purpose and direction and appreciate what each brings to their attainment. We know our students have almost unbounded energy. Yes, sometimes this exuberance is manifest in disappointing ways, as, for example, when a party or a celebration gets out of hand. More often, though, we have found productive ways to tap into the energy of our students and to mobilize it for the good of our community. We have increasingly found common cause with our students, such as the “green” movement, campus and personal safety, and community service, because we have given them credit for their good inclinations and created high expectations for their behavior.

As a result, we have a partnership that is renewed every year with each new matriculating class. In addition to some of the good works of this partnership noted above, we reap so many other dividends, including improved town/gown relations, re-engaged alumni, and a better story to tell to the future employers of our students, to the University’s donors and friends, and to prospective students, their parents, and high school counselors. This is the story of an institution which clearly recognizes that our students are not only the focus of our attention but also the key to our success. They are partners, not clients or products or raw materials, as Mario Savio decried on the steps of Sproul Plaza at Berkeley in 1964.

Third, partnerships succeed when the parties learn from one another and grow together. In this regard, I am reminded of Derek Bok’s lament about Harvard undergraduates when he was that university’s president. “Our students bring so much to us as freshmen,” said Bok, “and take so little away from us as seniors.” How sad.

Harvard can learn a little from Chico State about engaging and respecting students. We witness every day the positive consequences that flow to our University and community when our students and their energy are channeled and aligned with our institutional values. For when we provide good examples for our students, when we encourage their initiative and better intentions, and when we challenge them to reach new levels of performance, more often than not, we will not be disappointed. Rather, we will witness the manifestation of a true partnership of purpose and performance that focuses on students and depends on them. We will come away more determined than ever to accomplish our mission and to marvel at what our students achieve in our company.

—Paul J. Zingg, President