In Medias Res #3-The Long Tail View

Do you read Pitchfork? I will admit I read it religiously even though this probably puts me in the category of ‘annoying nail biting hipster’. Every morning starts with a quick check of my email and a perusal of the new reviews on Pitchfork. Lots of the music doesn’t interest me at all, but there’s something refreshing about discovering some good new music every morning. Once in a while a song will really jump out at me and becomes the soundtrack of my day. Ironically enough, it was Bad Kids by Black Lip this week.

I was listening to the said song yesterday when I met with my most frustrating advisee. This individual is the President of one of the student groups I work with. In grad school I worked with two student groups, and they were both very decentralized. We had maybe one advisory meeting a semester and on the whole they were good. Could the students have used more concerted leadership development and training from me? Certainly. But both groups were small and focused on such niche interests (they weren’t Dungeons and Dragon clubs, but there weren’t far off) that the institution was just not going to dedicate those resources. MOST of the students I interacted with were either in the classroom, through training, or in one of the support groups I facilitated. As such my strengths and experience in working with students is not in the advisor/supervisor capacity.

A student worker pointed this out to me last week. We had our weekly check-in, and of the 45 minute meeting we probably spent 40 minutes talking about the campus, involvement opportunities, and his plans for graduate school. I did this because I want to get a better sense of who he is and what he wants to achieve through his work study job. But at the end of the meeting, he looked at me, and said, “Y’know I love meeting with you, because it’s like going to counseling.”

I’m trying to get into a supervisor/advisor mindset (I know those are two different roles). As I was meeting with my difficult student, I kept trying to ask myself WWGAD (What would a Good Advisor Do)? I know that the most beneficial thing would be to let this student fail. It would throw the student organization into turmoil (or I should say more turmoil), but as a leader there is so much this student can gain from not being rescued. Generally his leadership style is authoritative and autocratic. The group meetings are like nails on a chalk board. I need to allow them to fail so they question what they are doing (ideally). But the ‘first do no harm counselor’ in me wants to intervene.

It helps that this student rubs me the wrong way. It’s not easier to let them fail, but it is easier to see the benefit in doing so. I have talked to other advisors on campus-including my supervisor, and they generally seem to agree. This program hasn’t been working for a long time, so allowing it to continue to dysfunction even in a heightened way at least means no one is being anymore underserved. They are being underserved. They will continue to be underserved until we can rebuild. No one likes the idea, but it’s a necessary teachable moment.

My concern, of course, is that this failure won’t be just a teachable moment, but the final nail in the group’s coffin. If people have thoughts for the comments section they’re appreciated. On the whole I’m slightly terrified of creating a combustible situation in my first six months on the job.