After receiving a negative response from a college administrator whom had been invited to meet with a team of students to discuss a research project on student engagement, one student commented on the tone of the administrator’s response, “That’s not just ‘No.’ That’s ‘HELL No!'” Another student rightly asked, “If she didn’t want us to contact her, why did she give us her e-mail address?”

Unfortunately, it can be too easy to forget that the first value we hold as a college is that “We recognize the students are our reason for existence and that student success is paramount to our mission.” To simply study, research, or talk about student engagement or transformative educational experiences is insufficient. If we are to promote student success, we must be engaged with students.

I know that there are times when I would prefer to say “Hell, no” to a student who approaches me. But I realize that there is no benefit for students if all we do is post our college values on a website. Values are not reflected in the words we speak or write. Values are only reflected in our actions.

Recently, a young man whom has never been registered in any of my classes approached me for help on a research paper. I had spent the previous ten hours assisting students and I still had work to do that evening. I was tired. I was hungry. But I also recognize that “student success is paramount to our mission” as a college and that as a follower of the Buddha Dhamma, I value metta [loving-kindness], karuna [compassion], mudita [sympathetic joy], and upekkha [equanimity]. I added a half hour to my day in order to assist him.

This is not to say that we can never tell students “No.” I still remember the student who came to my office to ask if there was any extra credit she could complete to make up for the twelve weeks of class she had skipped. There wasn’t. And I had no difficulty telling a student that I did not need to understand that he had a business to run; that my position to his taking/placing telephone calls during class remained “No.” However, most student requests are not outlandish—even if they are sometimes ill advised.

The willingness to live our values comes at a cost. As one colleague explained, “I teach on campus and work at home.” Like many of her colleagues, when she spends long hours on campus, she is working with students and, as a result, cannot conduct departmental business, answer e-mail, and so forth. Her non-teaching work has to be done off campus. She is not going to win any awards for her quiet engagement, but neither her personal values nor the values of the college say anything about winning awards; only about student transformation.

The week before fall classes began, I was given a tour of the men’s room by a member of our maintenance staff. He explained that, by the first day of the semester, the floors in the men’s room would be as shiny as the floors in the hall. He pointed out some places that still needed something or other that I did not have the training to understand. But it was clear that he took pride in his work and understood the important role he played in advancing the college’s core values.

For the past four weeks, each time I walk into the men’s room, I see floors as shiny as the floors in the hall. I see places on the floor and walls where there used to be blemishes. And I hear my colleague’s quiet challenge: “I have done my part. Are you doing yours?”

—Steven L. Berg, PhD