In 2019 Bates College received a three-year grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to develop a student leadership framework that is aligned with best practices, grounded in equity and inclusion, and that advances our commitment to educating the whole person.

Distinct to Bates College is an emphasis on graduating students who have the skills, aptitude, and values needed to build lives of meaning and purpose, regardless of what fields they pursue. This commitment is clear in our mission statement, which promises to prepare “leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world,” and by the hard work taking place on campus. There is a sense of urgency at Bates that we must prepare students to meet the unique challenges of our time. Examples include the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, Bates’ nationally renowned civic engagement center, and the Bates Center for Purposeful Work, new in fall 2018. In addition, the college offers over 20 student leadership programs across departments (Athletics, Campus Life, Harward Center, Intercultural Education, Purposeful Work), which provide discrete paths for students to explore and develop leadership capacities. These programs impact over 500 (28%) students at any given time.

This “multiple points of entry” approach to program development, however, can lead to a fragmented student experience. We hope students integrate and make connections across their academic and co-curricular lives, yet reality can fall short of this mark. Our 20+ programs are mostly untethered to a set of learning objectives or framework, resulting in a lack of clarity, inconsistent quality, and the inability to assess program effectiveness.

Accordingly, Bates received support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to develop a student leadership framework that is aligned with best practices, grounded in equity and inclusion, and that advances our commitment to educating the whole person, as outlined in Bates’ Institutional Plan. This framework will guide design and implementation of all campus leadership programs. A second objective is to improve the visibility and navigability of leadership programs so that all Bates students have access to them.

We have done some preliminary work to frame the proposed initiative. First, by the end of 2018, more than 100 staff and faculty will have participated in 24 hours of racial equity and social justice training led by Heather Hackman. This training has provided a new lens through which to view our collective work to develop a deeper understanding of equity issues at Bates. We envision this commitment at the center of our leadership development program.

Second, we have identified a well-regarded, evidence-based student leadership development model, the Social Change Model of Leadership Development (7C’s)*, that aligns with Bates’ mission and priorities. The objectives of this model are to enhance student learning and development in self-knowledge and collaboration, so they can enter the working world with tools to create lives of meaning and purpose, and to help shape just and equitable communities and places of work. Specifically, this model aims to develop student capacity in seven areas:

• Consciousness of Self: Being aware of the beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions that motivate a person to take action

• Congruence: Thinking, feeling, and behaving with consistency, genuineness, authenticity, and honesty towards others

• Commitment: Having the energy that motivates an individual to serve and that drives the collective effort

• Collaboration: Working with others in a common effort

• Common Purpose: Having shared goals and values when working with others

• Controversy with Civility: Believing in two fundamental realities of any creative effort: (1) that differences in viewpoint are inevitable, and (2) that such differences must be aired openly but with civility

• Citizenship: Believing in a process whereby an individual and/or group becomes responsibly connected to the community and to society through some activity

*From the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale, distributed by the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs.

Primary Goal

As part of our mission, Bates promises to “prepare leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world.” We provide many opportunities for our students to develop leadership skills, yet our 20+ programs do not share similar learning objectives or values, resulting in a lack of clarity, inconsistent quality, and the inability to assess program effectiveness. As a result, student experiences at Bates can be fragmented and lack a sense of common purpose.

The primary goals of this grant, therefore, are to design a student leadership framework with clearly defined values and outcomes, align all campus leadership programs with this framework, create learning objectives and assessment tools for each program, and evaluate program effectiveness. In the end, we intend to have a comprehensive and cohesive student leadership development program that is aligned with best practices, is grounded in equity and inclusion, and advances Bates’ commitment to educating the whole person.