The Sunnyvale University Student – Community Master Plan

1. The Sunnyvale University Student – Community Master Plan California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Brandon Martin, Cassie Pitkin, Evan Razor, & Veronica Heiskell

2. Defining the Problem • Community members feel disrespected by students and the attitude coming from the university • Students show no sign of intent to change and seem to be getting worse in their behaviors throughout the community • Actions that are center of tension: • New housing units encroaching into town • Students’ partying more felt by the community • Graduate school classes taking place in refurbished buildings • Sestercentennial event consisting of too much partying with no consequences • Current students and alumni create a crowded, loud atmosphere

3. Keys to Fixing the Problems • Target audience • Mayor/town council • President of University • Dean of Students • Board of Trustees subcommittee • Vice President of Student Affairs • Student governing body • Housing officials • Community Advisory Board • Approach to problems • Short term goals • Town Hall Meeting • SCC • Off-campus housing fair • Respect Your Neighbor presentation • Get to Know Your Neighbor events • Engaging community members in on-campus events • Long term goals • Service Learning • More on-campus housing • Bring all classes back to campus • Creating a code of conduct

4. Ideal Outcome • University is operating with respect for the community and has a healthy understanding of community responsibility (ACPA, 2008, 4) • Community is understanding of the university culture • Community returns to “quaint” small-town feeling • Community members and university students have established lines of communication should future problems arise

5. Short-Term Action Items • Town Hall Meeting • Student-Community Connection (SCC) • Off-Campus Housing Fair • Respect Your Neighborpresentations • Get to Know Your Neighbor events • Engaging community in campus events

6. Town Hall Meeting • Purpose • Provide a forum for students and community members to discuss relations between all parties • Previous studies support these types of meetings being effective in changing attitudes (Singleton, 2000; Rodin, 2001; Weill, 2009) • Participants • Students representatives • Community members • Procedure • Hosted by university officials and recognized members of the community • Facilitated by third party mediation services • Allow time for • Small group discussion surrounding current issues and potential solutions • Large group reporting to find commonalities with approaches • Product • Provide starting point and common understanding for SCC

7. Student-Community Connection (SCC) • Procedure • Led by student government president • Allow time for guests’ concerns to be heard • Reports from participants to stay in touch with the pulse of current happenings • Establish improvement effort plans and at each meeting, allow for updates • Product • Realistic and achievable projects that all sides are committed to see completed • Purpose • Intentional monthly meeting amongst key players to discuss and work to solve issues surrounding student-community relations (Bishop, Downs, & Cohen, 2008; Weill, 2009) • Participants • Mayor • City council representatives • Community Advisory Board representative • Campus professional leadership presence • Housing officials • Student Life representatives • Vice President of Student Affairs • Student government leadership • Police chief

8. Sample SCC Agenda Call to order (student government president) Approval of previous minutes (student government president) Open forum (items from guests) Participant reports (updates from respective areas) Project reports (SCC initiated projects) Announcements (events happening throughout town and campus) Adjournment

9. Potential Products of SCC • Off-Campus Housing Fair (Clavelle, 2001) • Purpose • Provide students with resources for living off campus • Participants • Town Police Department (safety information) • Utility companies • Community Resources • Off-Campus Housing Representatives • Procedure • A resource fair • Housing provided incentives for students to participate • Product • A more informed student about living off campus • Tangible takeaways for students

10. Potential Products of SCC(con’t) • Respect Your Neighbor residence hall presentations • Purpose • Proactive approach to educating on-campus students about community expectations while living off campus (Clavelle, 2001) • Participants • Students living on campus • Presentation led by Resident Advisors • Procedure • SCC creates interactive presentations and discussions based off of Town Hall meeting feedback • Product • Students become more knowledgeable on community expectations and the do’s and don’ts of living in the community

11. Potential Products of SCC(con’t) • Get to Know Your Neighbor Event • Purpose • Improve relations between community members and students in neighborhoods through social gatherings (Weill, 2009) • Participants • Community members • Students living off-campus • Procedure • Residents open their home for social event with their immediate neighbors • Products • Community members and students develop relationships to foster mutual understanding and neighborly rapport

12. Potential Products of SCC(con’t) • Engaging community members to attend at least one on-campus event • Purpose • Studies have shown that attending at least one event significantly improves the impression of the university for community members (Bruning, McGrew, & Cooper, 2006) • Participants • Community members • Procedure • Advertise and track attendance of SCC members at community events; encourage all community members to attend events • Products • Community members see the benefits of what the university has to offer them and it produces more positive impressions about the campus

13. Long-Term Action Items • Service Learning opportunities • Bring all classes back to campus • More on-campus housing • Create a Code of Conduct for university staff and students

14. Service Learning • Purpose • Have students engage with community members by participating in community service to better the community as a whole • Participants • University students • Community members • Local non-profits • Procedure • Utilize university and community organizations to facilitate volunteer opportunities • Product • Students and community members develop a rapport (Martin & Samels, 2006) • Students develop an understanding of the context of their role in the community (Leiderman et al., 2004)

15. All Classes Occur on Campus • Purpose • To remove classes from the community as a whole and nurture a greater pride for the university • Participants • University officials • University Scheduling • Procedure • Develop strategies to keep all classes on campus and avoid more infiltration of the community’s refurbished buildings • Product • Students remain on campus for all classroom interaction

16. More On-Campus Housing • Purpose • To move more students back onto campus (Clavelle, 2001) • Participants • All university students • University officials • Procedure • Work with the University and University Housing to make a long term plan to house more students on campus • Products • More student housing to foster a greater pride in the university and keep students on campus

17. Create a Code of Conduct • Purpose • To unite the campus and hold all students and staff to a high standard • Participants • All members of the university • Procedure • Student government president establishes a committee • Committee solicits feedback and recommendations from students and staff • Committee develops and implements a Code of Conduct • Product • Greater university pride • Greater student and staff accountability • Use of a common language • Universal knowledge of expectations

18. Publicity – Social Media Outreach • Facebook • Events • Town Hall, Service Learning opportunities, Get to Know Your Neighbor event, Respect Your Neighbor presentations, off-campus housing fair, joint campus-community events • Group Pages • SCC, Community Advisory Board, Student Government, Code of Conduct • Utilize grass root campaigns • Examples: Changing profile picture • Utilize Facebook ads to promote events • Twitter • Promote upcoming events • Share photos of current events and projects • Multiple Twitter accounts can be utilized • For example: SCC, Community Advisory Board, etc.

19. Publicity-Others • SCC presence on campus and at local events • Look into weekly/monthly events (such as a farmer’s market) • Flyers distributed to students • Distribute event flyers to local K-12 schools for parents • To increase parent and community participation in events such as Town Hall and Get to Know Your Neighbor event • Newspaper ads • Press releases • Both written and media outlets

20. Timeline • 0-1 Month • Establish SCC • Start preparing for Town Hall • Establish a Code of Conduct Committee • 2-6 months • Begin planning SCC events • Hold Town Hall meeting • Utilize Service Learning events • Establish Code of Conduct • 6 months – 1 year • Begin conversation surrounding all classes moving back to campus • Code of Conduct adopted by students • 1 year – 10 years • Classes moved back to campus • Start conversations on more on-campus housing • Code of Conduct fully integrated into campus culture • 10 years + • All students housed on campus

21. References • ACPA College Student Educators International. (2008). Statement of Ethical Principles. Retrieved from http://www.myacpa.org/ethics/ • Bruning, S. D., McGrew, S., & Cooper, M. (2006). Town–gown relationships: Exploring university–community engagement from the perspective of community members. Public Relations Review, 32(2), 125-130. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S03638111060002 1X • Clavelle, P. (2001). Progressive approaches to university- community relations. The New England Journal of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.nebhe.org/info/journal/articles/2001Winter_clavelleonto wngown.pdf • Leiderman, S., Furco, A., Zapf, J., & Goss, M. (2004). Building partnerships with college campuses: community perspectives. Washington, DC: Council of Independent Colleges.

22. References • Martin, J. & Samels, J. E. (2006). ‘Collegetowns’ popping up all over. University Business, 9(4), 27-28. Retrieved from http://www.universitybusiness.com/  • Rodin, J. (2001). Common cause: Investing in the community. The Presidency, 4(2), 28-35. Retrieved from http://www.acenet.edu/the- presidency/Pages/fall-2012.aspx • Singleton, R. E. (2000). Mending fences. Currents, 26(1), 18-24. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_ nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ599535&ERICEx tSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ599535  • Weill, L. V. (2009). The president's role in cultivating positive town-gown relations. Planning for Higher Education, 37(4), 37-42. Retrieved from http://www.scup.org/page/SCUP_PHE