Volume 40, Issue 2

“Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. Universities [in their present form] won’t survive. It’s as large a change as when we first got the printed book” (Peter Drucker, 1997).Drucker is well known for identifying a trend before others see it. If his statement about universities turns out to be true, he foresees many changes ahead for higher education. This is not a surprise to many involved in higher education. However, the question of whether higher education can adapt and who can help facilitate these changes remain unclear. It is the authors’ belief that student affairs professionals have a critical role in helping their institutions to transform themselves in response to outside challenges. This article examines the dynamics of change in today’s world, why traditional rules of change no longer apply, and identifies new realities of change. Finally it will suggest some strategies that student affairs professionals can apply in helping institutions of higher education to change.

This study explored the level of involvement in associations by professionals in the state of Georgia at different stages of their student affairs careers. Involvement in associations decreased as the level of the professional’s position increased.

Once considered a drug used primarily at clubs and “raves,” GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) has become increasingly popular both on the campuses of American colleges and universities and in rural communities (Haworth, 1998). National media attention has focused upon GHB abuse in both adolescents and college students. For example, a 22-year-old fraternity member at a large university in the Midwest died in April 2000 from GHB and alcohol overdose (Young, 2000). In December 1999, three teenage men poured GHB into a young woman’s soft drink without her knowledge because they wanted to “liven up” the party that night. She fell into a coma and died the next day (Associated Press, 2000). According to estimates, there were 58 deaths and over 5,700 GHBrelated medical emergencies reported in the United States in recent years (Dyer, 2000).GHB is of particular concern to student affairs administrators and practitioners not only due its low cost, nonprofessional manufacturing techniques, and increasing use on campus, but also because of its ease of use in drugfacilitated sexual assaults (Dyer, 2000). Because student affairs professionals are called upon to formulate policies, provide outreach education, and make appropriate referrals regarding critical campus issues, they need to be informed of the various forms of GHB abuse. In this paper, the characteristics of GHB and the effects of both voluntary and involuntary abuse are described. Further, implications for prevention efforts related to involuntary GHB ingestion and GHB-facilitated rape are reviewed.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a distinctive difference between the prejudice of Black and White college students at a predominantly White Midwest university. Using focus groups, we explored the perceptions that Black and White undergraduate students have of each other and how they socially encounter each other on campus. We offer recommendations for practice based on the results of this study.

One hundred and eighty-four undergraduate students participated in a discussion on common secondhand consequences of alcohol use, including concerns about personal safety and impact on living environments. Students participating in this discussion prior to completing an assessment of their support for change indicated significantly more support for education- and policy-based alcohol misuse prevention strategies than students completing the same assessment before the discussion. This easy-toimplement and brief intervention may strengthen student resolve to be more proactively involved in prevention of alcohol abuse for their campus community.

Student perceptions of negative campus climate were predictive of Asian American students’ depression levels in spite of students’ entering proclivities toward depression and in spite of varying institutional types. In addition, these findings were consistent whether individual Asian American perceptions of campus climate were entered into the equation or whether institutional levels of campus perceptions (which included all racial and ethnic groups) were entered into the equation. Therefore, higher education institutions that are perceived by students to discriminate against individuals based on race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or disability may put their Asian American students at risk for severe psychological consequences. Implications for mental health services are discussed.

As colleges and universities develop distance learning programs, administrators have scrambled to provide on-line services for distance learners. But do learners need such services? The present study examined how important services were for distance learners and how satisfied they were with the services provided to them. Data were collected through a national on-line survey and threaded discussion. Results revealed that services overall were not particularly important to participants, though there were significant differences by age and class status.

This study assessed multicultural experiences and competency levels of graduate students in college student personnel (CSP) preparation programs, student affairs staff serving as internship supervisors, and diversity educators. A total of 131 students, staff, and diversity educators from four campuses in two geographical regions within the United States completed several assessments regarding multicultural competence.Respondents in all three groups rated themselves highest for multicultural awareness and lowest on multicultural knowledge. Significant differences by group and by race were observed in respondents’ levels of multicultural competence: student affairs staff members scored significantly higher than did CSP students, and diversity educators scored the highest. Students of color scored significantly higher on this measure than did the White students and the staff members.

Regression analyses indicated that age of respondent and gender were the most consistent predictors of salary within many of the high-level student affairs positions at both public and private institutions. Degree was determined to be a significant predictor of salary, but in a negative direction. Higher levels of education frequently translated into decreased mean salaries for various senior-level positions at both institutional types. Institutional classification was a modest predictor at both institutional types, while ethnicity, NASPA location, and years in the position were very infrequently found to be proficient predictors of salary at either public or private institutions.

This article looks at 370 Hispanic college students from institutional locations where Hispanics are significantly present in the population and from areas were Hispanics are not a critical mass. The Bicultural Orientation Model was used as a framework to determine whether geographic location influenced the students’ level of acculturation and/or level of ethnic identification. The findings indicate that students in areas where Hispanic Americans do not have a critical mass adjusting to the majority culture at a higher level than students in critical mass locales. No difference was found in their level of ethnic identity. Cultural orientation was not found to be associated with institutional type or scores on the College Stress Inventory.