Duke students are famous for being highly motivated, resourceful and thorough. Perhaps due to these facts, but more likely in spite of them, faculty advising for student groups is uniformly weak. Duke students can get things done on their own, but this should not excuse faculty advisors from taking an active role in engaging the groups over which they now only loosely preside. Advising on campus is simply unsatisfactory.
In an effort to improve the relationships between faculty advisors and student groups, the University will offer advisor training sessions later this week, during which two vital purposes will be served. First, current advisors will be probed for feedback on the pros and cons of their positions. Secondly, they will be exposed to a uniform set of guidelines and expectations for student advisors, as well as reading and discussing published works concerning student activity facilitation and management.
This two-pronged effort is exactly the remedy that is required to raise the level of advising from its dismal state.
The primary problem with the current situation is that many advisors simply serve as figureheads for student organizations. They write checks and sign necessary forms, but do not take an active interest in the groups' activities. While certain student groups can operate effectively without a strong faculty presence, any organization would benefit from the added knowledge, guidance and friendship of a faculty member. One of the primary selling points of a university like Duke is the opportunity for students to get to know professors outside as well as inside the classroom--faculty advisors need to make sure this idea translates into reality.
The lack of meaningful participation on the part of faculty advisors is due to a confluence of factors. Many issues stem from the fact that there is no institutionalized set of guidlelines to tell advisors what they need to be doing. Special emphasis should be placed on institutionalizing the advising process, and sessions like the ones to be held this week should be made mandatory, semi-annual affairs. The concepts discussed need to be reinforced, and some standard of accountability, to students and to other advisors, is necessary.
These sessions will mark the first time that advisors have received formal training, but it should not by any means be the last. Faculty advisors should care about the groups they work with, and take part in their success.
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