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Students with Family Responsibilities: a CoP Spotlight
53 Plays6 months ago
This episode our on-air host Adam Kuhn is joined by Dr. Brandy Usick, Dr. Jennifer Sparks, Kaye Francis and Sumaiya Gangat as we explore the topic of Students with Family Responsibilities: a CoP Spotlight. We hope that you enjoy and choose to follow along as we release a number of episodes geared towards celebrating our past, present, and future as an organization.
The CACUSS50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organizations 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by: Sean Fast, Adam Kuhn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Muehlethaler, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon, and Becca Gray. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler-colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. For more information on the territories you may reside on, visit: https://native-land.ca/
Music: Expanding the Limits | Performed by Audiorezout & Written by Oleksii Striapchyi | Stock Media provided by Audiorezout / Pond5
Podcast Cover Art by: Ravi Gabble (UTM)
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Transcript
Introduction to the Caucus Oral History Project
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the caucus oral history project, which is an initiative from the caucus 50th anniversary committee. And our goal is to engage with stories from across the organization, showcasing the histories and experiences of the amazing members who constitute caucuses membership. And
Session Introductions
00:00:39
Speaker
I am thrilled to be in the company of some amazing colleagues from across Canada who have ah been instrumental in the past and current leadership of our community of practice that focuses on students with family responsibilities. um And so I think we'll just start with, oh, my name is Adam Kuehn. I'm the Director of Student Engagement at the University of Toronto and a PhD candidate at OISE.
00:01:02
Speaker
and But enough about me, let's turn to the to the most important people who are here today. And why don't we start with ah just who's on my screen right now. Jennifer, are we OK to start with you? Can you tell us a little introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself?
00:01:19
Speaker
Oh, you just have to unmute yourself first. Sorry, I know. Sorry about that. I'm Jennifer. And I'm one of the current COP co-chairs for 2023, 2024. And I'm a recent graduate of the Ontario Institute for Studies and Education at the University of Toronto, where I where i just completed a PhD, my dissertation on ah family related elements to student success. And so it seemed quite natural
00:01:52
Speaker
with my personal and professional and academic interests and students and families to to to join the COP.
Building Support for Student Parents
00:02:00
Speaker
And um yeah, I'm really looking forward to today's call just as much as the others in the virtual space today because I would love to learn more about the history of of the COP p and I'm so happy to be on board for this year. Awesome, thank you. And maybe I'll also just take this moment to share that our office actually reached out to Jennifer as a consultant when we were building out our parents and supporters website. And so it was really useful to have ah someone with academic expertise in our kind of U of T family to be able to to call upon. So thank you so much for that. All right, Samaya, you're next.
00:02:41
Speaker
Hi, I'm Samaya. I work at Concordia University and I am the coordinator of the Student Parent Center. um It's a center where we have services and resources for students with family responsibilities who are raising children. I joined caucus as a co-chair for the COP for students with family responsibilities with Andrea in 2022 and 2023.
00:03:15
Speaker
I rejoined again as a coach here with Jennifer this year, and I'm very happy to share um you know what we see in the in here in Montreal in the trends that we see within this population, the student parents, ah what their needs are, what their challenges are, and just learn with that this this community. Awesome. Thanks, Sumaya. Cade, over to you. I'm Kay Francis, I'm the the Assistant Director of the Family Care Office and Faculty Relocation Service at the University of Toronto.
00:03:51
Speaker
um I guess we're just really unique with the Family Care Office to be able to exist across ah across Canada. We're a unique office. And I guess I just wanted to listen and in here. I'm one of the founding members of the COP.
00:04:08
Speaker
Some things, Kay. And last, but certainly not least, our colleague over in Manitoba, Brandy. Yeah. Hi there. My name is Brandy Isaac and I'm the executive director of student engagement and success at the University of Manitoba. And like Jennifer, I recently completed my doctoral ah research looking at how Western Canadian and research intensive universities support students with family responsibilities. and at my campus have been involved with different working group and initiatives to nurture this particular student population that is underserved. And Kay, back in the day when she first created this COP had reached out and invited me and I was co-chair for four years. So happy to connect back.
Exploring Student Responsibilities
00:04:58
Speaker
Awesome. This really is kind of like the dream team of folks to have this conversation today. So thank you. So for folks just who might be new to this conversation, might not necessarily even know what a COP is or what how we you know characterize students with family responsibilities, what is the Students with Family Responsibilities COP? And maybe Kay, we can start with you as one of the original founding co-chairs.
00:05:25
Speaker
ah Yeah, sure. um For the students to have responsibilities, I think we're looking at student parents. That's the the number one issue. And then also students with the elder care responsibilities. So they could be having an age relative, it could be a grandparent, it could be a mother or a father. um It could also be, um so students with family responsibilities could also include siblings. um So they they have responsibilities for siblings as well.
00:05:54
Speaker
Awesome. And then over to Brandy. What is the COP do? Who is it for? what what do you What do you get up to? Yeah. Well, it's it's interesting. It's a group that we have over the years um have a wide spectrum or cross-section of of people join the COP over the years. um Certainly um The newest co-chairs could be able to speak to some of the activities, but it's certainly something that ah probably the most important thing was to convey the importance of providing support to this group, um sharing resources, promising practices, um sharing articles that came up.
00:06:31
Speaker
and i know kate um You did a survey very early on that was very helpful and just taking a snapshot of what different, what it looked like at different institutions in terms of supporting this group and what were they hearing from students directly in terms of what were students needing. And that was something that was really valuable that actually informed the direction of my research as well. I'm glad you found the survey useful. I don't think they had very good response, but that was good. Yeah, just in terms of illuminating some of that this is an area ah worthy of of exploring. So absolutely, yes that was great. Can we pull on that thread a little bit? Kay, do you mind telling us a little bit about that survey? um um It was a survey that went out, I think, in 2018. I'm not too sure. um But it basically just asked generally questions about students' parents, students' family responsibilities, what your responsibilities were.
00:07:29
Speaker
um that type of thing. It didn't go into a lot of detail, you know, whether or not the institution um gave support to those individuals was what we were looking for.
00:07:43
Speaker
Okay, and it's always used, I'm so glad that the COP was engaging in kind of that data gathering, because I think that's one of the things that I'm noticing across these types of interviews is when COPs, the strength that comes from gathering information from across regions and institutions, is one of the really cool things that COPs can do to kind of bolster our work. um Over to you, Samaya, what is the COP, if you were to promote the COP, a new person is coming to caucus for the first time, should I or shouldn't I get involved with the COP?
Value of COPs in Collaboration
00:08:14
Speaker
What would you tell them? Jennifer, if I can turn that question over to you. When I when i think about the COPs and just COPs in the context of caucus in general, they're really special and they're really valued by the wider community. There's a variety of COPs, of course. Our COP, student to family responsibilities, is my favourite.
00:08:37
Speaker
but I'm a little biased. But i I think they're just spaces. They're spaces for um communication, understanding, collaboration. you know they're the At times, they're in-person spaces. We recently met um as a COP at the in-person conference back in the spring, summer of 2023, where we got to do some in-person collaborations, connections, conversations with new and returning members. um But I think especially in this post pandemic, hybrid is the new normal environment. ah The COP is also a wonderful virtual collaborative space for ah just great chats on things that we are all mutually, professionally, ah personally, academically interested in, often passionate about because we want to make a difference because we want to support student success. And we also want to support each other.
00:09:36
Speaker
And i won so that's when I think about the COP in the context of caucus. I just really think of them as really special places within our community, across Canada community for collaboration, connection and discussion. That's awesome. Thanks, Jennifer. And I think I think there's what I'm hearing is that there's some folks for whom this area of responsibility is their sole
Family-Centric University Initiatives
00:10:03
Speaker
portfolio. Like there's someone you know like Kay or Smea whose responsibilities are on students for friendly responsibilities. But then if I'm in orientation or international student services or any other kind of functional area, um students with family responsibilities should be kind of on all of our minds in some way. So I'm wondering um if that's something that happened ah takes place
00:10:26
Speaker
in terms of the COP activities. How do we make sure that this messaging and these this consideration finds its way into all of our thinking as a student supports? um Brandy, you've kind of got a bright, broad portfolio. How does this show up for you and in that respect? Yeah, no, for sure. We at the U of M, we do have two dedicated positions and one at our health sciences campus, we do have a family center and we have a family resource center for the institution that has more of a focus on staff and faculty, but looking at how we can be working together on different joint initiatives. But to your point around student affairs and some of the units, you're right. Like these are some things that we want to be encouraging our colleagues to be thinking about, student parents.
00:11:11
Speaker
students who have family responsibilities and maybe thinking about whether it's family friendly events or different activities. I'm thinking of maybe out of the international center, those who support international undergrad and graduate students are often ones that have families and are looking for a way to connect family with other families. And what can we be doing to help to create community? Because often that is a ah goal with with student affairs professionals is how to help students feel that they belong and how to have a sense of community and certainly seeing students as in all of their roles is one important facet of that.
00:11:50
Speaker
100%. So if I'm a person and part of my portfolio involves, you know, programming and supports for students with family responsibilities, this community practice is for me. If I'm someone who is just trying to think through the lens of students with family responsibilities and any portfolio in student affairs, this community practice is also for me, is the vibe that I'm getting. um So Kay, as one of the originators, can you tell us a little bit about the The history of the COP, was this always a community practice? What were the origins? I think initially, um we were debating whether it should be student parents or student family responsibilities. And so we settled on student's parents' responsibilities as the aim of the caucus of the COP. I think a lot of the work that's been done in the COP was being done off the side of the desk.
00:12:44
Speaker
um so you may not had a direct input into since we have responsibilities, but you you did some of the work um separately. um I think that's still going on today, but um I should mention, let me just think, um that some of the individuals who have done that um off the side of the desk, some of the places that that we have have had ah some response has been um
00:13:16
Speaker
Guelph, Concordia, Manitoba, Alberta. and they've They've been university colleges that are offering something. um whether it's ah yeah I think Randy hit it on the hand when she talked about um creating community for the students. I think that's the important. um So we hopefully address that question about what what can you do about creating community for the students?
00:13:45
Speaker
And I should mention, we also had a kind annual conference in 2017. We met up in caucus and we did it towards a family-friendly campus, improving the university college experience for students with family responsibilities. And we had several universities that had joined the panel. um We had the University of Saskatchewan, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of Prince William Island, and the University de Montrรฉal in Ottawa. And that's when we did the the presentation. Amazing. It sounds like a very um vibrant and dynamic community of practice with lots of connections to research and practice and student feedback and student voice. um Maybe maybe that's where we can turn to next is what are what are some of the key issues that you would identify in terms of the community of practice?
Challenges for Student Parents
00:14:33
Speaker
What are what should we be thinking about and discussing in terms of meeting the needs of our students with family responsibilities? Samea, I'm going to try you again. Hopefully the audio is working.
00:14:45
Speaker
I really hope so. Can you hear me now? Yes, loud and clear. Okay, sorry. um So at Concordia, I mean, what I see at the Cass Center is that a lot of our students connect with us very early when they come in about childcare. This is like a very ah important part of figuring you know things out so that their lives can be easier when they start studying. They don't have to worry about who's going to be taking care of the children if they have a daycare that the child will easily adapt to. So we have a few resources on campus that are available, but there's always not enough space for all the kids. But childcare seems to be an issue that a lot of student parents talk about. Also, we find that there's a lot of international students that are looking for community. And it may be looking for a community for but to connect with other families with children. but
00:15:41
Speaker
I think also because they don't have anyone they know in this city or in this new country that they come to that they are very, very happy to find that there's a space where they can feel they can come in with their children. It's child friendly, it's comfortable and it's welcoming and they feel ah not out of place because they see people that are diverse. There's a very diverse ah student population that uh, frequency our center and hangs out here to use the, so you know, just the resource center or to study, or they're coming for specific workshops. So, um, so we, you know, we find that the community aspect is important. We also find that financial, like they are looking for part time jobs because they find, uh, just having all these extra responsibilities is taxing. You know, it, it, it's really hard for them to,
00:16:36
Speaker
make ends meet and so they come looking to see if we can offer them something at Concordia to you know financially or if we can refer them um elsewhere in the city locally in this you know municipalities they live if they are freed resources they could benefit from so I would say for me this is something the three top trends that I see.
00:17:01
Speaker
Thank you. And I wonder if it's okay to turn to Brandy because it sounds like is this connected to your area of research? Are you able to speak a little bit about some of your findings and insights from um that? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. um I guess some of the things I can speak to that haven't been commented on and and some of the areas that I zeroed in on were things around policies in terms of and documents that gave some direction on how we may be supporting students with family responsibilities. So um I think those are also areas of concern that have arisen and certainly have been discussed within the COP. How do you respond to a student who's asking to bring their baby to class, to bring their child to class? What do you do if a student is asking for to miss a test or to get an extension because of caregiving responsibilities that arose? Either their child was sick, they didn't have childcare,
00:17:56
Speaker
um So how as institutions are we responding to those? or Is that reflected in our policies? Is the language there? Where do students go if they have these questions? There's not always a central office where that's easily recognizable for students to to get the help. And that was some of the, certainly the things that rose in my research.
00:18:20
Speaker
Great, thanks. Samia, it sounds like you have something to add on. Yeah, I just wanted to say that, yes, I agree with what Brandi said, that there is not enough clear policies in place. um But when students do connect with us, and the this maybe the downside of the student-parent population, like we don't really know who they are until they come to meet us and identify themselves with us and get to then tell us certain things that they are facing at the university issues with the professors and so on.
00:18:54
Speaker
We always, when we initially meet them, we always tell them that we're not an advocacy center, but we are happy to help them self-advocate for themselves ah in places where there's no policies set out for teachers to know what to do or for them to, and for a lot of times at Concordia, I have to say that personally, I haven't run into many students coming in to say that their teachers were not accommodating or, you know, giving them the flexibility of not, you know, some classes require students to be present, and you know, or whatever the requirement is. I have ah heard from a lot of students that the teachers generally, even though we don't have a policy at Concordia, the teachers are willing to work with the students who have these extra responsibilities. Really, really great point. um Thank you.
00:19:50
Speaker
um Jennifer, how about you? What are you noticing, whether it's through your the community practice or through your research? What seems to be top of mind for students with family responsibilities today?
00:20:03
Speaker
i've been I've been thinking a lot about it, and sorry for the pause there. um I think that there are certainly some regional elements um in terms of affordability, being a student, being a family member, navigating um just particular realities, ah where you're living with your family, ah perhaps where your family lives, where you're studying. um So I can think of of some recent things and perhaps that's inspired by my GTA centric positionality, but definitely affordability, um I think is something that is top of mind for many families, including families that may also have members studying in the post-secondary system. um I also think that students are defining success differently and perhaps their definitions of success are maybe more individual or unique, ah perhaps are are looking for ways to
00:21:10
Speaker
um ah any post-secondary student parent or post-secondary student with care responsibilities, elder care responsibilities, etc., are doing or navigating their multiple roles. And, um you know, success can look different to to this population. Success can be defined differently ah at the individual level or at the group level. um when you When you have these rich, interesting experiences, educational, professors professional, and personal, so I think um that's another thing I would identify in terms of what's important to students but um who are who are also balancing family.
00:21:53
Speaker
responsibilities that they may define ah their engagement in the university, their educational journeys, and their um what what makes them successful um a little differently than perhaps what institutions have traditionally ah labeled as success. I also see a lot of, um just in general, ah but um including the student population who are also balancing family responsibilities with their education journeys. um Perhaps they're also balancing their work lives. I've seen lots of intersectional, multiple roles, and lots of conversations about um equity, diversity, inclusion, and and students are, um I believe, looking for opportunities not only to connect as as caregivers and students, but also to connect with their multiple roles as as caregivers
00:22:52
Speaker
students and what other unique uniquely wonderful things ah that they feel connected to and like to celebrate within their communities and their families, whether that be ethnocultural backgrounds or, um you know, geographic backgrounds, there's a whole whole, um you know, you could you could have a a long list. But I i think there's just some things that I'm thinking of at the top of my head in terms of of what's important to to students who are navigating our post-secondary spaces while also ah doing all the wonderful things they do to support and be ah be great family members.
00:23:34
Speaker
Awesome. Thanks, Jennifer. So in terms of what I'm hearing, it's it's people are might be looking for resources, for programming, for community, for assistance with wayfinding. um Our responsibilities you know at an institutional level is kind of looking at the policies and the procedures and and how do we create these kind of culturally responsive ecosystems that are going to address the needs of folks with family responsibilities. um And that's got me thinking kind of, Kay, about what was the title of the the conference that you mentioned before? It was Family Friendly Campuses. It was two words of Family Friendly Campuses, yes. Yeah. So I was wondering, in your words today in 2024, what does a family friendly campus look like? I think um it it it nails, you go to the moment you said about community. um Creating community is ah is key to the yeah the institution. ah And they can do this through a family friendly event.
00:24:27
Speaker
Um, maybe, uh, we just had a, uh, celebrating the new year, um, event, and that was really quite, quite good. Um, but if you can, if you can, um, create a community, I think that's important.
Creating Inclusive Campuses
00:24:46
Speaker
Absolutely, and I'm wondering if there is, if you can speak to the importance of being explicit around how we promote these opportunities to students, because I think the default from most people working at a university would be the typical quote-unquote student does not have family responsibilities and so they will make a poster, they will make a you know a thing on their whatever platform they're using to do program and event registration and they might not say anything they might not say that it's family friendly or they might not say that there's accommodations for child care or they might not even be thinking about it. um So I'm just wondering if there's any thoughts on how do we
00:25:25
Speaker
as we're trying to engage in this community, supportive community building, how do we make sure that the students with family responsibilities know that they can show up and know that their needs will be taken to account? Samaya. So I just wanted to add on something Kay said about building the community and you talking about how can we let student parents know that they are included and thought about and considered when we're planning like events and programming. I'm actually a little ah surprised to hear that Concordia didn't make your list K, ah because you didn't mention Concordia, but you mentioned McGill. But I know that at Concordia there's a, ah ah like we are trying to improve on all the washrooms that have diaper changing stations, spaces that, and also events that have childcare available. It's free childcare available to
00:26:22
Speaker
allow and encourage yeah the population that have children to attend these programs and events or workshops. We also have, um I mean, now we have almost three daycares. One is a, what do you call it, a drop-off daycare. We have two traditional daycares. One is subsidized by the government. The other one is not. But I mean, like, Concordia is taking on a lot of You know, they've made some good improvements in letting the community and especially students know that we want them to be here. We want to include them in the events that we do. the And, you know, so I would like to see how I can maybe perhaps ah join some um meeting of yours case so that I can hear what exactly these they are looking at when they are considering the universities or the institutions
00:27:21
Speaker
i trying to make these space, you know, post-secondary spaces more child friendly. I think, well, sorry, Brandy has something to say. We'll go Kay and then Brandy after that. I think they choose U of T because we have a family care office. That's one of the reasons they they they choose the university. um I think as long as you've got UU state, it's family friendly in terms of the institution, the yeah or if you state on the poster ah for a family, family event that it's family friendly. I think that will get a lot of people into the the event as well.
00:28:03
Speaker
Yeah, I think. And this sounds like there's different levels to that, too, where it's like, oh, you can bring your kid and that's gonna be totally fine. Or great and there will be childcare so that you can focus on the thing you need to maybe focus on. and I think considering that as you're devising your and resourcing your event, right? Because offering that childcare. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Brandy, over to you. Yeah, I think tied to that. I mean, there's the kind of like the global messaging. But for some, and it was identified already around locating the students and allowing for a self declaration or a way for students to be able to identify themselves to the institution that they have family responsibilities, that their parent allows us then to be able to directly communicate with students and to let them know about particular events, programming services that are developed specifically for them or that there are
00:29:01
Speaker
encouraged to participate in either as a parent or with their their families is another thing to consider. And I know ah University of Saskatchewan, I wanted to highlight them as an institution that hasn't been mentioned. They do have that self-declaration as an option within their student CRM. And the other thing that they do is they they have an office that specifically looks at family status, so as a protected human right, and that's kind of their hook in terms of providing accommodation for students. So some of that advocacy work in helping students who are looking for help accommodation with respect to their academic progression.
00:29:45
Speaker
So you've raised, I mean, a lot of really good points. And so I guess my question is just thinking right now, if it's not part of a self declaration, is it just, you know, up to a student to hear from a friend or maybe imagine that there might be a resource and kind of look it up or maybe happen upon a poster or maybe have, you know, a registrar who knows about the resource. Like, I think it it sounds um like we're all doing our best to get all the messages out to the right channels. But there's no it sounds like the the better practice, Brandy, that you're highlighting is is if if students have a way to self declare it, then we can have, you know, direct outreach to the people for whom these services and resources might be the most beneficial. Yeah. OK.
00:30:24
Speaker
All right. Is there anyone else who has thoughts on, you know, if you're picturing the family, the most family-est, friendliest canvas ah on the world, what are some of the features that you would that you would see there? um Jennifer, can we go to you? i When I think about programming for students with family responsibilities, I think of some of the inclusive elements that Other areas are incorporating incorporating to serve their populations, um benefits everyone in the wild wider community. And I can share a couple examples. For example, choosing spaces that incorporate physical spaces if your event or a program is in a physical space that really embrace and have those universal design elements that benefit a variety of individuals who may be attending
00:31:17
Speaker
um who are using using a variety of um ways and on accessing that space. um you know I think a mobility devices and mobility devices range from strollers to other other aids um that that others on our campus currently use. I think um making sure that the programming and the opportunities um for engagement um for students in the campus environment, in person or virtual, are offered at a variety of formats, a variety of times, so that students have flexibility to choose and participate and engage in a way that best suits their multiple roles, their multiple, um you know, the students have really busy, engaging lives. And often what works for a busy parent, ah you know, a busy student who is balancing elder care,
00:32:11
Speaker
with their studies is just having a little bit of choice and freedom. And often what I love ah when I'm around campuses or I'm looking at things online as someone who who I think I'm a busy person as well. um I love the opportunity to to be able to email or just be invited if you need accommodation, if you need assistance as if there's something that would help you in fully participating in this initiative XYZ. um somewhere I could reach out to and self-identify. Hey, i'm I'm navigating these multiple roles. I'd like to bring my child. I you know i can only i attend an event during the day ah because in the evening I have elder care responsibilities. So I think just giving options to students being flexible and also recognizing that promoting inclusiveness for for students who are navigating family responsibilities, I think benefits the wider campus community.
Flexible Programming for Diverse Roles
00:33:09
Speaker
because ultimately, we're making the the campus environment in our communities more inclusive for all. Really great point. And I'm sensing that some of the work that we've done through the pandemic around providing more hybrid options and virtual options ah that has you know really gotten into that flexible mindset around service delivery has probably benefited a great deal of of students with family responsibilities to be able to pick up information and engagement at a time that works for them. um Okay, any other thoughts on, you know, we're designing the family-friendly campus of 2024, any other features or considerations that we would want? We've got programs, we've got services, we've got policies. I think someone, might spoke I think Samaya spoke about the physical space. We've got changing tables in the washrooms. We've got, is there anything else that we would add ah on our on our wish list? Jennifer? I'll just add how how wonderful it is to see that so many campus environments
00:34:08
Speaker
in um define family in such an inclusive way. And I think that's something that's really excited about the variety of of services on our campuses today. um There could be more, of course, and I'd love to see more research and more um on campus supports Canada-wide for students with family responsibilities. But I think it's really an important to highlight in this day and age that When we say family, we mean it in the most inclusive sense, that it's elders, it's children, it's chosen family members, it's spouses of all all um all you know all ah categories. And it's it's whoever the student deems as as family in their lives. And I think i can think of ah quite a few campus examples where um that's done really well, like the the word family. and who students define as their family is really broadly defined and um as inclusive as possible.
00:35:13
Speaker
um And the other other thing I forgot, I also just want to say a shout out to students who who may be international, who may be newcomers to our campuses, newcomers to ah to um to Canada, who may be studying virtually from other places around the globe, who may have very engaged and involved relationships with their families and and are supporting their families, but perhaps their families are are abroad or not. in the same geographic location as they are. And I think that's something also to highlight, especially in the global context of Canadian higher education, that often um being being a yeah being a member of a family who navigating both studies and
00:36:00
Speaker
and family responsibilities isn't always a physical journey. It's sometimes something we do with ah in a variety of formats. And I think that the most inclusive campus environment also recognizes that there are a variety of students, there are a variety of ways of being students, but there are also a variety of ways of being a loving, supportive family member as well and navigating multiple roles. Well said. Brandy, over to you. yeah Just something I was thinking about in terms of the need to hear from students with family responsibilities and and get their input, but also want to highlight that this tends to be one of our busiest students in terms of expecting them to have the time, energy to be
00:36:50
Speaker
advocating for themselves or to be taking up student leadership roles or to be participating or putting themselves forward to volunteer for student groups, for example, may not always be a reasonable expectation. So helping our student leadership, our governance, our student groups think about thinking about the students with family responsibilities in their own programming. So we have a job to do when it comes to student affairs, the student affairs professionals and helping faculty, but also with our students as well, who are often doing a lot of the work around creating some of those community engagement opportunities.
00:37:31
Speaker
That's such an interesting point around how do we engage the voice of of folks who have a lot on their plate already and might not be able to be on the student union or be on the at the spaces where perhaps decisions about resourcing are are being made. And so um being creative and thoughtful around meaningfully engaging with those voices to inform what's on our campus is a worthy challenge ah that we should all be taking up. Samaya. So on that note, On what Brandy just said, I just want to pro ah give a big shout out to our student union here at Concordia, who actually voted in a fee levy to support student parents. And all students are contributing to this fee levy that supports the daycare, the drop of daycare, and any other support resources for students who are raising children.
Advocacy and Policy for Student Families
00:38:26
Speaker
um And like Brandy said that this is a very busy, you know, they're very busy. ah Student parents don't have time to fill out surveys or be part of research ah projects. And so a lot of stuff that we as practitioners here, if we, you know, collaborate and, and bring their voices to the, like, to people who can actually make a difference really helps in supporting them. ah effectively And I think that's the role I kind of play because I talk with the executives that are probably just students who are, you know, not having family responsibilities. And so, you know, in talking with them at the graduate level, at the undergraduate level, even though we know from our data that a lot of graduate students are the ones that have families, not the undergraduate students.
00:39:23
Speaker
yet the undergraduate student is very active here at Concordia and very supportive of many different um um projects, but especially you know to help students with family responsibilities. So I just want to give a big shout out to the CSU for um being a leader ah just you know ah in this sphere. That's incredible. And because this is a audio podcast, people won't be able to know that everyone who is on the call right now gave a round of applause when Sume shared ah the update about the about the levy. So there's lots of great enthusiasm for that. um So congratulations um for that.
00:40:04
Speaker
you know final few moments, I think the the question is kind of what's on the horizon? what are What's in the future for us as we're considering students with family responsibilities and for the COP? And so maybe, um you know, Samaya and Jennifer as our two co-chairs, I'm wondering if maybe I can turn this to you. And then if anyone has any other thoughts about what's on the what's on the horizon for our considerations for students with family responsibilities, you can chime in whenever you want. So Samaya, can we turn to you? what's What are you thinking about for the COP? What's on your mind?
00:40:38
Speaker
um So what am I thinking for this year? I think it's really building on the connections, um connecting with ah more colleagues and people who are doing this kind of work or involved with this kind of demographic, student demographic, ah because in that we can really put our heads together and talk about ah Things that we are seeing that are similar or things that maybe we didn't hear about but maybe super helpful for our Students at you know our own institutions. So I think really the connecting with more people getting more people to join the ah community of practice um and um Also, I think research brandy mentioned that there's not enough research In this and maybe if we can encourage more um
00:41:30
Speaker
students that are doing their post, they're doing graduate studies or post, they're doing the doctorate, if they can take up some of these um topics and do more research for us, that will be super helpful. And maybe Jennifer can add on some other ideas that slipped my mind at this moment, things that we have discussed.
00:41:56
Speaker
Jennifer, do you want to pick up on some of that? Sure. I'll definitely build on what you mentioned about connection. That's something that is relevant now and will be relevant into the future. And I think it's also one of the one of the things that we all, we're here for connection. We we we collaborate within the COP to connect with each other, to connect with ourselves and our personal interests and passions, and also to connect with the students we support. And in the future, I really hope um we have a nice balance within the COP. We continue to have a nice balance
00:42:31
Speaker
ah within the COP as a space to support the work, our advocacy for students, our so our resources and programming for students with family responsibilities, but also the COP as a place to support each other and to support each other, whether or not it's something, you know, working with students with family responsibilities is something that's directly within our scope of work, or if it's something we as Kay mentioned before, due off the side of our desks for many student affairs professionals, um that we're the COP is a place to support ah support each other, support our students, and to to learn to learn and grow together.
00:43:15
Speaker
A few elements that are on the horizon for our COP is we we just submitted a proposal to caucus in 2024, the upcoming virtual conference, and hope to bring a little bit of research and also bring a little bit of advocacy for ah you know additional research in the future. Additional research is certainly warranted, and the more the more data we have, the more experiences we can we can share, ah the more voices of students across Canada we can learn from and their experiences, um the easier it is for us to to support and advocate and um
00:43:56
Speaker
also in this time of you know assessment and accountability really speak to speak to um investing in students with, in programming for students with with a variety of responsibilities, including family care responsibilities, um as as important things um among many important things on our on our campus agendas. so Many great things ahead. Sounds like a full deck of activities coming up for the COP. I just you know didn't want to leave out Kay or Brandy if you had any thoughts. um I know you're no longer in leadership roles in the COP, but you still are very much involved with this thinking. Is there anything that you see on the horizon for ah not just the COP, but our thinking around students with family responsibilities in general? I think um just ah policy developments are very important.
00:44:50
Speaker
um So hopefully we'll move towards that, accommodations, that type of thing. But policy development will be ah crucial for students' dance responsibilities. And I'll piggyback on that. I think that's an area, too, that needs some certainly some refinement and attention at all of our institutions and I think also the implications around financial aid. um That's certainly an area that needs to be updated as student and family responsibilities tend to be disadvantaged.
00:45:25
Speaker
All right, thank you so much. I feel like this conversation could go on all day. you have We have folks with such a wealth of knowledge on this call. And I would just encourage anyone who is whose interest is piqued about this dialogue to connect in with the community of practice and get involved. um But thank you so much for joining us today.
00:46:00
Speaker
The Caucus 50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organization's 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by Sean Fast, Adam Kuehn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Mulettoller, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon, and Becca Gray. Intro and outro music is courtesy of Alexei Stryapji. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. Miigwetch.