When something distressing has occurred — or is still occurring — on campus or in the world, faculty often struggle with how, if at all, to address the situation with their students. Some will worry that they won’t handle it well, while others may feel that it is outside the scope of their class or discipline to bring it up at all. At the same time, many faculty are increasingly uneasy with complete silence, often feeling they are letting their students and themselves down.
In my two decades working with faculty, first at Northwestern University and now at RFU, I have heard many versions of these very valid concerns. As I began to review research and resources from other universities, one salient finding soared to the surface: Silence can be hurtful for students and easily misconstrued. When faced with silence, students may feel that faculty and the university do not care about — or respect — their well-being.
With these findings in mind, I began to develop guidance for educators, offering a range of strategies and levels of response that could be tailored for different contexts and situations. The first thing I recommend for the first class following a traumatic event (e.g., a campus tragedy) is that all faculty, no matter their course or discipline, simply acknowledge the context at the start of class, and point them to resources, such as the Student Health and Wellness Center. For many students, this respectful acknowledgment affirms community and demonstrates a shared concern. Depending on what happened, it may be appropriate to have a moment of silence or allow students to write down their feelings before the start of class. It may also be appropriate to adjust due dates, and otherwise be flexible around students’ ability to complete assigned work.
Some faculty may want to go a step further and open a space for conversation around the event or issue. If so, I strongly recommend that they first consider their own self-care and how such a conversation may impact their own well-being. Faculty should also reflect on their own capacity to facilitate conversation around a sensitive topic. They might ask themselves: Do I have sufficient knowledge about this issue? Do I have the skills and level of comfort required to hold such a conversation with students? Will my own biases and assumptions influence the conversation?
Conversations around sensitive topics should also be carefully framed, with clear goals that are transparent and explicit. For example, is the intention to engage in perspective-sharing? Perhaps it is to connect the issue with the course content. Regardless, faculty should prioritize their students’ safety with communal guidelines, such as those that request respectful active listening, personal accountability and speaking from one’s perspective. Faculty should also recognize that students are diverse in their identities, opinions and experiences, and will not all be affected similarly by the same event.
Finally, faculty may wish to share their different approaches, student reactions and relevant resources with each other. This will further support community and a shared sense of belonging and purpose, both in their program and at the university.
Susanna Calkins, PhD, is the founding director of the Nexus for Faculty Success and an associate professor in SGPS. She is the co-author of “Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: The Reflective Professional” (Sage, 2009) and “Reflective Teaching in Higher Education” (Bloomsbury, 2020), and has published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles.
Perspectives expressed in "Through the Microscope" columns are solely those of the authors and are not intended to represent those of Rosalind Franklin University.