Veterans in College

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Veterans in College

• Social Science Associates
• Utica, NY
• socsci_at_dreamscape.com

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Overview

• Cultural differences military vs. college
• Student vets speak about college
• What can everyone do?
• What can faculty do?
• What can civilian students do?
• What can your college do?
• Discussion with a student veteran
• Feedback and Evaluation

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Disconnect with civilian students and professors

• Most of them don't understand the idea of
  picking brains out of your boots, things like
  that.
• Student
  veteran

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Cultural Differences

• We walk, dress, and talk differently than
  everyone else. I just wanted to fit in but I felt
  very isolated, like I was in a cocoon.
• Rodrigo Garcia, student veteran at
  Northeastern University

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Civilian life can be slow and meaningless

• The hardest part of adjusting to civilian life
  on or off campus is going from demanding,
  tension-packed days full of dread and excitement
  and clarity of work and mission to the vague,
  slow and mundane nature of civilian life.
• "It's hard to keep myself busy. I'm used to going
  and going, 12-to 18-hour days," she said. "It's
  so boring out here."
• Amanda Matthews, Iraq Vet

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"Some of these veterans are truly more afraid of
going to college than they were of going to
Iraq,"They are so overwhelmed, and they feel
very isolated."
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What can you doand what should you not do-

• As a mentor, professor, college counselor,
  admissions person, or fellow student?

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Civilian comments can harm

• What do you think of politicians stand on the
  war?
• Was it worth it?

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More harmful comments

• Did you kill anyone over there?
• Didnt we kill a lot of civilians?
• We should never have gone toIraq, Afghanistan,
  etc.

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I find these sorts of statements offensive and
ignorant. Cornell student
Why is this feeling common? Video clips Dont
ask me those questions and I do it for the
guys Im with
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How can you open communication?

• If someone thinks that asking us about our war
  experiences to get to know us has no consequences
  other than polite conversation, then they do not
  see us at all.
• Iraq vets blog post

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What can you say?
Welcome home works best- then keep quiet. Do
NOT indulge your curiosity. Mike D. This is not
a suggestion.
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What can you say?
If you are a veteran, you should self disclose,
and let the student know whether you are a combat
or non-combat vet.
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What can you say?
Ask the student if she knows how to access
information and resources for veterans at your
college.
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Video Military in College

• Produced in May 2009, 25 min.

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5 minute break
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What can faculty do?

• Improving the odds that vets in your class will
  succeed

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Professors as officers

• Enlisted vets are conditioned to respect
  authority, and they will respect yours-
• As long as you act in ways that maintain that
  respect.

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Applying military norms to enhance your teaching

• -Be punctual- military punctual if possible.
• -Do what you say you will do.
• -Be organized.
• -Make your mission and commands clear, e.g.
  course requirements, paper requirements should be
  crystal clear.
• Let your troops know your number one job is to
  take care of them, i.e.to teach them well.

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SOP and Checklists

• Vets are socialized and trained to abide by
  Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
• so your course or college-based service
  program should have clear and concise SOPs.
• Checklists are another way that military
  personnel keep track of things. If you provide a
  checklist for a paper assignment or any college
  service, it works better for vets.

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Consider the effects of course content and what
you say

• Let your students know when the course begins- or
  sooner if possible- if course content includes
  material about violence, war.
• Avoid making comments about the wars unless they
  are part of your course material (more about this
  later).
• Consider the consequences of what you say.

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Manage classroom discussion

• Be mindful of student discussion in class that
  may be hurtful or harmful to veterans.
• Let students know that there may be combat
  veterans in the classroom- without identifying
  them.
• Have protocols for student commentary that
  include explicit instructions for expressing
  opinions vs. stating facts or citing authors.

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If your student vet disappears

• Consider that student absence may be triggered by
  anniversary days you dont know about, e.g. the
  day they lost a comrade in battle or their unit
  got hit and there were serious injuries.
• Vets will sometimes disappear for a week or more
  to deal with war wounds- dont push them further
  away with rigid attendance and paper deadline
  policies.

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Going the extra kilometer

• Make an effort to reach out to student vets
  outside the classroom and let them know that you
  are interested in their academic and professional
  success
• Advocate for student veterans at your college
• Learn more about veterans issues and resources
  for veterans in the community you live or teach
  in

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What can civilian students do?

• Treat vets with respect- as you should all other
  students.
• We all need to maintain and respect proper
• boundaries. No need to feel intimidated
  either.
• Avoid making veteran their master status
• Vets are people with a wide range of interests
  and abilities- ask them what they are interested
  in- music, sports, academic subjects, etc. and
  connect with common interests.

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Student veteran Mike DiNitto

• Challenges with initial entry and adjustment to
  MVCC and SUNYIT
• What helped and what still needs to be done
• Recommendations

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What can your college do?

• Improving the odds that vets will stay in school
  and thrive

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What can your college do?

• Orient both faculty and students to veterans
  issues
• Create a working group, task force, committee to
  discuss veterans issues
• Make sure there is a knowledgeable point of
  contact for veterans
• Create virtual and actual space for veterans
• Dedicated space on your campus
• Space on your website

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Reach out to your community

• Identify and connect with outside organizations,
  programs that serve veterans
• These are complex systems identify system
  experts, e.g. state and county veterans services
  representative as initial points of contact and
  gateways to information about healthcare,
  housing, counseling, and other resources.

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Invite the community to the college
Hold a Veterans Expo on your campus invite
service providers and speakers for a one-day
event open to students and their family
members. Weve done this is at Herkimer County
Community College and at SUNYIT in Utica in the
past two years and its worked well.
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Have a single point of contact

• What the single point of contact does is
  integrate and synchronize and set up a network on
  the campus, Colonel Peterson Cleveland State
  said.
• Inside Higher Ed, July 10, 2008

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Help vets connect vet to vet

• Focus groups with combat veterans who had
  already experienced college entry revealed a
  common theme of distress and discomfort until
  connecting with other veterans on campus.
• C2C, therefore, includes numerous formal and
  informal ways for veterans to find each other.
  All are devoid of stigma and integrated within
  traditional college activities and courses.
• Montgomery County Maryland Community
  College

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and stay connected

• John Schupp who developed the Cleveland
  State model for recruiting and retaining
  veterans in college .said
• the key is keeping veterans together as a
  cohort, offering classes to help them transition
  into college life and keeping them in close
  contact, much like they were during their active
  duty.
• Univ. of Arizona News, August
  28, 2008

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Danger of violence on campus?

• I cannot find documentation of any campus-based
  violence by our new veterans. (S Darman)

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View veterans as assets

• if we consider these returning veterans
  merely as problems and victims rather than as
  valuable resources, we will risk losing an
  opportunity to help them to transform our
  institutions to better meet the challenges of a
  complex and rapidly changing world.
• Community College Week, 3/23/2009

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Discussion

• Questions?
• Comments?
• Please complete evaluation

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Key Resources

• Student Veterans of America http//www.studentvete
  rans.org/
• American Council on Education, Serving Those Who
  Served Program http//www.acenet.edu
• IAVA Education page http//iava.org/content/educat
  ion

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Veterans in College

• Social Science Associates
• Utica, NY
• socsci_at_dreamscape.com