Students Recruitment Strategy of Ardyn College - Paper Example

As matters diversity takes center-stage in the multi-racial democracy of the United States, Ardyn College - a small liberal arts college located in Pennsylvania - is at crossroads following recent developments that began with an argument among two students, developing fast into a campus-wide concern and later into an issue that gained an entire community's attention. As the school continues to struggle with issues of diversity within its student's body and faculty composition, it must address the immediate problem where an argument between two students eventually spurred media and community-wide discussion on the efforts the school has taken to ensure that it is committed to creating a welcoming educational and learning environment for students from various backgrounds.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Ardyn College is compromised by its very location and previous students recruitment strategy. The school is located in affluent areas of Pennsylvania where it gets most of its 3,000 student population from the upper-middle-class. It emerges that the school has, in the past, failed to adhere to the guidelines on diversity, such as employing faculty members or admitting students from different ethnic, religious, cultural, and social backgrounds. As a result, the students have not been used or exposed to these issues in and around diversity, and this was one cause of a hot argument between students. Actually, one black junior student was concerned about the insensitiveness of a book by one of the faculty members that presented people of his background as somewhat inferior. Concerned about making things straight in this particular issue, the student argued that African Americans were equally able as Whites and that the faculty member's publication was outdated. On the reactionary, another student picked the issue and argued against the African-American student and this boiled down into a campus-wide debate. A later fight during a party organized by the students would be the result of this argument and would thus attract media attention.

The outcomes of the events described in the foregoing were far-reaching for the small liberal arts college that, otherwise, claims high-level of academic performance besides owning some of the best liberal arts physical science departments in the nation. First, the President's reputation is at stake. The events has led to a cast of aspersions on his character as the head of the institution. The community is also becoming very sensitive to what the school is doing to curb such embarrassing encounters in the near future. The whole nation is looking at the school and its administration, especially following its drop in the ranking solely on matters of diversity. Finally, the school is likely to fail to recruit its targeted number of students as it has a long way to go to reinstate its lost reputation. Parents and students want to be assured that the students are not only safe from discrimination along background lines but also get a welcoming environment that promotes their learning and growth.

Based on abovementioned, the school must address its diversity matters along a few decision points. First, the Principal is concerned about clearing the air about the immediate problem - that about the school failing to contain such a sensitive matter and letting it erupt and paint it negatively in the public eye. Second, the school administration must seek ways to address issues of diversity more aggressively than it has ever done before. In any case, the African-American student just came to realize he was one of the few students from minority groups. Besides, as the Dean of Admissions, there is the challenge of addressing the negativity among prospective students as seen in recent fairs and high school visits following the ugly developments. Moreover, the selection staff are not yet to respond to this issue in terms of recruitment strategy. Change is an issue that, therefore, must begin with the selection board and then down into recruitment strategies, and probably end with the inclusion of students and other faculty members in decision-making.

Theoretical Framework

Development Challenges

Solution to the current crisis at Ardyn College calls for a careful examination of the developmental challenges among its student body and then development of a course of action based on these challenges. Otherwise, it would be difficult to adopt a framework that would eventually deliberate the immediate dilemma while keeping abreast of changes. A good understanding of the developmental challenges will enhance adoption of a student development theory/theories that is/are more relevant to the current situation, from which others milestones may be achieved and critical decisions reached.

Ardyn misses the point at more than one of these phases of the W-Curve that result in a number of challenges including problems with developing competence, managing emotions, developing mature interpersonal relationships, and establishing identity. While students of Ardyn College students are well developed in terms of intellectual and physical development through its competitive programs and experienced staff, there seem to be a problem with their interpersonal development. Interpersonal competence entails such areas as listening, cooperating, and communicating effectively. Moreover, the interpersonal development also includes the other aspect of having the ability to align personal agendas with the goals of an entire group. This is probably where the students are missing the point, and this may be attributed to the school's failure to sensitize students about operating within a diverse environment that call for cultural sensitivity. As such, some students have failed to trust their abilities, receive the results they expect from others and be in a position to integrate the skills of interpersonal competence for their own stability in terms of self-assurance. Mike Fellen and John Lake both failed this test, just as their junior-level English literature professor.

On managing emotions, students seem to have a big challenge because they have not admitted that certain emotions exist and must be dealt with appropriately. John Lake, for instance, reacted with anger to Fellen's remarks without considering that such emotional feelings as Fellen's exist and must be met with appropriate reactions. Students seem to have failed in their management of emotions in that they left their anger to turn into rage, did not deal with their wounds of being hurt before they interfered with other relationships, and did not deal with their fears before they immobilized and turned ugly (Le Masson, Hatchuel, & Weil, 2011). These failures also apply for the students' failure to develop mature interpersonal relationships that would later contribute to the conflict that left some students hurt.

Developmental Theories of Significance to Ardyn College

Three models of theories that are applicable to tackling the problem presented in this case include cognitive-structural theories (Kohlberg's theory of moral development), humanistic-existential theories (Sanford's Challenge and Support Theory and Schlossberg Mattering and Marginality Theory), and person-environment interactive theories (Astins theory of student involvement) according to Long (2012). These theories will give the framework upon which the team of Dean of Admissions will make decisions.

Moral development is important in affecting what behaviors student exhibit and how students conduct themselves generally. Kohlberg provides that students need to face moral dilemmas in order to develop through his proposed six stages of moral development (Long, 2012). Most importantly, students presented in this case have shown a missing link in terms of learning from their moral dilemmas and being able to adopt conducts and behaviors that would best solve their differences. As such, their behaviors and conduct instead fanned the anger, and this turned into a rage that went along way to cast aspersions on the institution and its administration.

Similarly, Sanford's Challenge and Support, in combination with Schlossberg Mattering and Marginality Theory form the basis for student development theories that help to explain the significance of the need for Ardyn College's administration to create a supportive environment for all its students from all backgrounds. Sanford provides that a supportive environment enables students to develop leadership and cultural competence which are important in building a community of diversity in the campus. In the case of Ardyn College, a scenario where Fellen failed to get his course professor's support when he failed to agree with his majority classmate, created an environment fueled anger and rage. As a result, the scenario made Fellen and his fellow minority students feel more marginal in this environment. This feeling or perception of not fitting well into the new environment is what Schlossberg explains makes students feel withdrawn and serves to create a perception of an environment that does not fit them. Such an environment has no norms or if it has, deviates much from a student's old environment.

Finally, student involvement theory provides that students should be actively involved in decision-making on certain agenda issues in order to become part of the programs initiated by the administration (Long, 2012). In the case of Ardyn, there is an Inclusion Club which has otherwise had no positive impact in shaping student's ideas of diversity. Students require to be involved in various programs that call their active participation in the affairs of their learning environment in order to share in the mission and vision of their institution (Tsai, 2016). This also calls for professionals and staff to be at the watch for how students participate in these programs and encourage mass participation to have an impact.

Recommendations

There are a number of ways in which the admissions office can assist the school to solve its dilemmas with diversity. The first and most obvious decision point is that of adopting innovative and progressive practice models that support the institutional college while advocating for policies and programs that support the institution's commitment to diversity at all levels including the admission of new students. This new model of practice should virtually be the whole model of high selective approach that emphasizes other aspects of admission that may undermine diversity. This will ensure that the school does not host a large number of students from one social class as is the case today.

The model of practice abovementioned should also help the admissions office to liaise with various departments to come up with programs, including both elective courses as well as general student involvement programs, that will ensure that the school's commitment to diversity does not stop at admission, but is a continuous process that entails part of student's life once admitted Suntil their time of graduation. A program such as that which cultivates cultural competence as a core skill among the student body could help in enhancing student's psychosocial development alongside intellectual development, stabilize their moral development to tackle matters of diversity is the most appropriate, and make students part of the decision-making to make them part of the change.

References

Long, D. (2012). Theories and models of student development. In L. J. Hinchlie & M . A. Wong (Eds.), Environments for student growth and development: Librarians and student aair s in collaboration (pp. 41-55). Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Zeller, W. J., & Mosier, R. (1993). Culture Shock and Thr First Year Experience. Journal of College and University Student Housing, 23...