The opinion of The Collegian editorial staff
Student positions offer good results if balanced
The Collegian Weekly
Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: Opinion
As baby boomers retire, Hillsdale College has begun creating student positions to replace staff, with a side benefit of saving money in a poor economy.
Students have long complained about the difficulty of finding a campus job. This move opens more jobs to students, but administrators must enact it properly to avoid problems.
Right now, it can be difficult to find a job partly because some openings are not well-publicized. The college should work at better communicating job opportunities to students. Mass e-mail, overused already, is not the answer. (Lost tooth retainer, anyone?)
Instead, the college should consider creating a Web page listing all available jobs and corresponding contact information.
Such an online job bank would require little work to put together, and it would help both students and departments seeking to fill positions.
Whatever its form, one accessible list for open campus jobs can only benefit students. But students are not jobless by lack of communication alone.
Certain campus positions sometimes exclude students outside a small group of friends or colleagues. For example, managers have notoriously hired only their own as Jitters baristas and student ambassadors.
To prevent this and give all students a fair chance at work, the college should require non-student involvement during hiring.
This would also ensure the most competent students secure these jobs, which will benefit the entire college.
Finally, we appreciate the increased trust administrators place in students by offering wider opportunities for campus-related responsibilities. This offers a positive response to student criticisms that the college sometimes treats us like children, as with off-campus permissions and grades sent to parents who don't pay tuition.
As administrators replace former full-time positions, however, they must remember they are hiring students.
While lots of students need jobs to support their studies, their first priority here must remain their education. True liberal arts require time and mental space for contemplation - and with Hillsdale's workload, that cannot coexist with a full-time job. (As we editors know exhaustively.) Thus, student positions should not demand so much time that studies suffer.
Overall, this job swap saves money and gives students more opportunities, but only if administrators structure and manage it well.
Students have long complained about the difficulty of finding a campus job. This move opens more jobs to students, but administrators must enact it properly to avoid problems.
Right now, it can be difficult to find a job partly because some openings are not well-publicized. The college should work at better communicating job opportunities to students. Mass e-mail, overused already, is not the answer. (Lost tooth retainer, anyone?)
Instead, the college should consider creating a Web page listing all available jobs and corresponding contact information.
Such an online job bank would require little work to put together, and it would help both students and departments seeking to fill positions.
Whatever its form, one accessible list for open campus jobs can only benefit students. But students are not jobless by lack of communication alone.
Certain campus positions sometimes exclude students outside a small group of friends or colleagues. For example, managers have notoriously hired only their own as Jitters baristas and student ambassadors.
To prevent this and give all students a fair chance at work, the college should require non-student involvement during hiring.
This would also ensure the most competent students secure these jobs, which will benefit the entire college.
Finally, we appreciate the increased trust administrators place in students by offering wider opportunities for campus-related responsibilities. This offers a positive response to student criticisms that the college sometimes treats us like children, as with off-campus permissions and grades sent to parents who don't pay tuition.
As administrators replace former full-time positions, however, they must remember they are hiring students.
While lots of students need jobs to support their studies, their first priority here must remain their education. True liberal arts require time and mental space for contemplation - and with Hillsdale's workload, that cannot coexist with a full-time job. (As we editors know exhaustively.) Thus, student positions should not demand so much time that studies suffer.
Overall, this job swap saves money and gives students more opportunities, but only if administrators structure and manage it well.
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