Working for Change

Many universities acknowledge that their systems are not perfect, and for that reason faculty and staff at colleges all around the country are thinking about ways that they can be more equitable and beneficial for all students.

“I think the University [of Iowa] can always improve in different ways,” said Martinez. “There’s a lot of programs. There’s some that are monetary-based and some that are more social- and emotional-based, [including] Advantage Iowa, a scholarship program for first-generation students or students of color and obviously…women of color as they come in [are] maybe high-achieving in high school, but there might be a inability to pay so there’s a scholarship program.”

Advantage Iowa and programs of support like it are what Martinez believe are key to improving the university system, not only for those that these programs help the most, but for everyone who has access to them.

“There’s a wonderful researcher named Dean Spade out of Seattle University that looks at the idea of the trickle-up effect. So if [colleges] center [their services around] those [who] were most marginalized, then those services also benefit everybody, whether it’s providing more free resources or providing access to things,” Martinez said. 

This idea of trying to improve their campus and system is common in colleges around the country and central to what many at those universities think about when it comes to changes for the school.

“We are always looking to find new and improved ways of supporting low-income students at Grinnell,” Tucker said.

Through looking for solutions, sometimes similar conclusions are found. An example of this is in financial aid, which has a major role in both the University of Iowa’s and Grinnell’s efforts to combat socioeconomic inequality.

“In addition to providing financial support beyond the tuition package—e.g., increasing aid for study abroad, funding unpaid internships, making all campus events free—we offer a first-gen mentorship program, a textbook lending library, an “essentials” closet for income-eligible students to pick up food and personal necessities, and an annual Social Class Awareness Week with panels and workshop events,” said Tucker.

Martinez also expressed the importance of, in some cases, focusing on specific areas of need in order to solve the structural issues that exist in many departments within universities.

“We have WISE, which stands for Women in Science and Engineering, so they take seminar class[es] together, they have peer mentors, and those types of projects and programs,” said Martinez. “I would love to see similar types go into things like neurobiology or computer science or business as we know that that those programs don’t do as well with maintaining their students.”

However, even those institutions which are aware of issues with their campus and take an active stance in working to combat them can still find it difficult to enact an effective response.

“The [New] School does its best, but can’t always reach where they need to reach because it’s such a fragmented campus,” Merriwether said. “There’s not really one place to go, because it’s literally all over the city, so I think a lot of the support networks come from the students.”

Despite faults with universities, Merriwether does not think these institutions should be given up on. Their experience at The New School has helped them grow academically. Merriwether, along with Martinez, finds that the value of colleges is that they allow students to find and develop their passions, and the focus of universities remains despite a shift in cultural values.

“I think the culture has shifted a little bit. I wouldn’t say dramatically, but…our focus is student success. Previously, as students fell through the cracks, it would often be put on the student like they didn’t do something right or something where we think the ownership is on us. If we admit students…we have an ethical obligation to support them and that’s really important to us,” said Martinez. “Not only reaching the expectations laid down [for an] institution, but also their individual goals—if folks want to be engineers or doctors or lawyers or go to PT school that they can do that and we can support them and their journey of reaching their own academic and career goals.”