Nature of Student Affairs Work at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, The

Journal of College Student Development, Nov/Dec 2006 by Hirt, Joan B, Strayhorn, Terrell L, Amelink, Catherine T, Bennett, Belinda R

Multitasking is not unusual for student affairs professionals. What makes professional life unique for those at HBCUs is that multitasking is driven by limited resources and a duty to serve students.

It is this same sense of duty that led 79% of all respondents to report that it is hard to say "no" to more work as a professional at a HBCU:

Sometimes we don't have a choice.... It's like administration and academics are always calling on me. And you want to say no, but it sort of interacts with all of the areas on campus. But it's just hard to say no when Administration says-they try to put it in an asking-your-permission type of thing. But it's not. Yeah, I want you to do this. You just can't say no to it. It's like convocation and we know that we have to chair the convocation. If you ask . .. If you sent out a memo asking people for assistance, the first thing they'll say is, "Well, I have something else planned for that day," but they'll still say, "Why do the same ones work on it all the time?" But they're going to call on the ones that they know that are not going to say no. And you feel so bad if you do have to say no, for whatever reason, that you're busy doing things up to that day to help them get ready. Because believe it or not, whatever you do, it always comes back. It's for the students and it's for the good of the university. So you just can't say no. I can't.

It would seem that it is not simply a matter of declining assignments. Their comments suggest that at times professionals feel coerced into assuming additional responsibilities. Assignments often originate outside their particular realm of responsibility yet their sense of institutional responsibility leads them to accept these assignments, albeit begrudgingly.

This inability to say "no" to more work may promote a sense of teamwork among student affairs professionals at HBCUs as they look to one another for support. HBCU professionals report that their work tends to be conducted via teams. For example:

We're very team oriented where I am. You [are] working with a number of students, so you can't pretty much do a lot of that by yourself. And with so many different entities involved in dealing with students, no one person can do it all. So we're very team oriented.

I work quite a bit with orientation and we pull that together in the beginning of the semesters. And I think everybody in here just about pulls in with us as to presentations or workshops for our new students.

Teamwork is also reflected in communicating and sharing ideas with others: Pretty much we all share the responsibilities collectively and striving towards one goal, and that's to serve our participants with excellence. So everything we do, our ideas are shared across the board. Everybody fulfills their own responsibilities, but ultimately we talk. We do a lot of communicating and sharing of ideas and thoughts to complete each individual task.

The findings suggest that professionals cope with the stressful pace of work by collaborating with one another and using teamwork. All of this occurs within the context of their work environment.