Instillers of Hope: Similarities Between A Caped Crusader and Student Affairs Professionals

Has anyone seen The Dark Knight Rises yet? I really enjoyed the movie, although I’m not surprised, since I’ve enjoyed every Christopher Nolan movie I’ve seen. Without giving away any spoilers, I’d like to revisit the concept of Batman and the main reason that I fell in love with the character from Christopher Nolan’s interpretation.

Batman provides the city of Gotham with Hope. Yes, that’s Hope with a capital ‘H,’ because it is such an everlasting and powerful Hope that he instills in people. Even through the darkest of days, members of the city believe that it is going to get better, mainly through the hard work and dedication that Batman has put into saving the city. Batman is Gotham’s savior; he continues giving and giving until there is nothing left for him to give. At the end of The Dark Knight, he goes into recluse and takes the fall for Harvey Dent because he thinks that it is what the city needs to move forward (with Gotham eventually developing the Anti-Crime “Dent Act” we see in The Dark Knight Rises).

In addition to Hope, Batman also provides inspiration to Commissioner Gordon and Detective John Blake. In “Batman Begins,” Bruce Wayne states “I’m going to show the people of Gotham that the city doesn’t belong to the criminals and the corrupt. People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can’t do this as Bruce Wayne. A man is just flesh and blood and can be ignored or destroyed. But as a symbol… as a symbol, I can be incorruptible, everlasting” (Nolan, 2005). Talk about providing the ultimate Hope so that the people of Gotham have something they can truly believe in! Similarly, Batman can inspire us to do what’s best in our institution. Through our interactions, we become symbols of Hope for our students.

Whether it’s Hope for a relationship, Hope for a promotion, or Hope for the future; Hope is one of the most powerful things that someone can be given. As student affairs professionals, we provide a similar service to our students. Whether they come to us in a time of need, or are mandated to come to us because of their actions within the community, we are ultimately providing them with Hope that they can get reintegrated into the community and succeed within their time at college and life. We comfort students in need through conversations, provide mentorship, and even provide sanctions to engage students in learning and higher level thinking about themselves and their behavior. Whenever students are getting ‘in trouble,’ (I don’t like that term, but students often use it to describe having to come and talk to us), we are ultimately showing them that someone at the institution cares about them and their wellbeing, even though they may not immediately see it this way.

While it is not likely that we will remember every one of our students in the future, our acts of compassion and kindness serve as masked reminders to the individual that there are some people (even though they may not always show it) that care about them and want them to succeed. We will not stay in most of our residents lives long after they graduate, and yet we are still able to have a huge impact on them. Like Batman instills Hope in the civilians of Gotham, we instill Hope in our students so that they can believe in themselves and others.

Our institutions are like Gotham; there are a lot of opportunities for people to get involved with the wrong things. Our conduct systems are similar to the court system in Gotham, but our institutions need more. Our institutions need caped crusaders to become symbols of hope for our students. We need to be the ones to become these symbols. I know it can be frightening at times, especially helping students that are going through extreme situations and circumstances. “But a [student] is not complicated. What you really fear is inside yourself. You fear your own power. You fear your anger, the drive to do great or terrible things” (Nolan, 2005).

It is a lot of responsibility to be the beacon of light for our students, but there is something within us that is attracted to it. For whatever reason (call it fate, destiny, a higher being’s desire), we are in this field. We may not always be in the best of moods, or always excited about working with our students, but I urge you to embrace your own power. We all have the power to do great things within the field, and through leading by example, we can show students how to become great.

We can become the instillers of hope that our students need. “[We’re] not their heroes, [we’re] their silent guardians; watchful protectors…[Student affairs professionals] (Nolan, 2008).

References:

Nolan, C (2005). Batman begins. Based on characters created by Bob Kane. DC Comics, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films, Patalex III Productions. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Nolan, C (2008). The dark knight. Based on characters created by Bob Kane. DC Comics, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Student Development v. Customer Service

A friend of mine recently sent me a facebook message about someone he knows being frustrated with the customer service climate that many institutions of higher education and divisions of student affairs have adopted. In particular, he said that this person gets frustrated with “having to put customer service over student affairs at times (such as not being able to have as many developmental or diversity programs because they’re against the general ‘climate’ or ‘attitude’ of the school, or not having the ability to suggest roommates stay roommates even though their religion or sexuality is different).”

This brings up a great point, and I think it is something that a lot of people in my grad school cohort, including myself, have struggled with. Right now, a lot of us are encouraged to make the students happy by providing good customer service. In many ways, this is extremely important; from the hall office, other student staff members, etc. But the whole motto of good customer service is “the customer is always right,” and I don’t believe this is always true in our case.

If the customer is always right, then how do we successfully challenge them and help them develop? If we are consistently giving into students’ wants and desires, then how do we provide opportunities of growth for them? After all, a lot of growth comes from working through uncomfortable situations. Even though it might be easier to move someone when a conflict arises, what good is this providing them for their future? It simply re-encourages the notion that they can just go and complain to someone, and the other person will fix all of their problems. It does not encourage confrontation, compromising, nor conflict resolution.

As a society, we are willing to pay for better service. Think about it, some people will pay the extra money to fly with an airline that has better customer service or will choose one product over another similar one because of the difference in service provided by the company. I understand the fear that students may go to another product (or institution) if we don’t give them what they want, but I wonder at what point we are supposed to provide resistance toward our students. What impact does giving in consistently have on our field? Will we be forced to simply suggest things to our students, but ultimately be forced to give into many of their (or their parents’) demands to ensure we are providing a good service? How do we balance this aspect of service, with trying to develop our students?

Question of the Week 07.09.12

How do you balance customer service and student development in your interactions with students?

Happy (belated) 4th of July!

Happy (belated) 4th of July! We hope you had a great holiday, and keep a lookout for a new post next week!

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Question of the Week 07.02.12

If you could pick any superhero power to help with your role as a student affairs professional, what would it be, and why?