The Normalcy of Navigating Change

Lying on the cold terrazzo floor, fake blood seeping from the fake bullet wounds that riddle my body, I can’t help but reflect on how much my job as a student union administrator has changed over the years. In previous years, my staff and I would spend early August planning student staff training and involvement fairs or rushing to complete maintenance or capital projects. Now we are partnering with our police department and Office of Emergency Management to plan and execute a facility-wide active shooter training and drill. Police officers charge through our atrium and office suites, pursuing a faux active shooter while student union staff practice sheltering in place and barricading themselves inside meeting rooms. The training and drill involves nearly 200 student union professional and student staff, ranging from student life advisors to caterers and bookstore cashiers, as well as 18 police officers, three police and tactical vehicles, one drone, and a handful of volunteers, like me, acting as “victims.” The event, which effectively locked down eight acres of the busiest portion of campus on the eve of the start of the academic year, is yet another reflection of the changing demands placed on higher education. It’s yet another example of union’s confronting the unprecedented.  

I dare say that it would be naïve not to recognize the radical evolution taking place in higher education. It was well documented that higher education in the United States was experiencing significant headwinds prior to the 2024 Presidential Election, as trust in the academy declined, the impending enrollment cliff loomed, and university staffs struggled to recover from the pandemic and great resignation. In addition, the last several decades have seen students enroll with progressively increasing financial and mental health needs and, very sadly, mass casualty experiences on campus have become too common. Now, since January 2025, the situation for many institutions has become even more embattled, as a myriad of cuts to federal research funding, threats of antisemitism, attacks on DEI education, and elimination of international students’ visa status tax an already exhausted academe. 

Now, I have observed significant changes to how university communities and our students engage with the union over the course of my career. I remember watching students’ focus shift from one another to their phones as they walked our hallways or hung out in our lounges, and I recall laughing as I realized that the “essential services” provided by a union during a campus crisis now prominently includes access to Wifi in addition to HVAC and dining.     

But as I lay there waiting for the next drill to begin and wondering if fake blood would stain my pants, I wasn’t really thinking about the waves of change washing over our campuses. Instead, I was enjoying a surprisingly timeless conversation with a student leader who, like me, was volunteering to be a victim. As we itched our latex wounds and passed the time, I learned she was a criminal justice and forensics anthropology major who was really enjoying the drill. As we talked, it was clear that she was thoroughly engaged in the community at the union that morning, despite the heavy nature of the event. Chatting with her about her experience and career aspirations, it was clear that she was learning a great deal from the program and would leave her encounter with a stronger affinity for campus.

Throughout the remainder of the half-day drill, hers was not the only positive and engaged student experience I encountered. Several student setup team members reflected greater confidence and self-efficacy from challenging themselves to serve in the role of volunteer victim. Another student shared ideas about how he could convey what he learned to the members of his fraternity. By the end of training and drill program, not only had I learned valuable strategies to respond in the event of an active shooter scenario, but I was also reminded that the student union retains a positive role to play despite the rapidly changing nature of our work. Just as the built environment of a student union must continue to face renovation and construction, so must the programs and training we offer in order to facilitate learning and advance campus community. While the role of the student union may not change, what it takes to successfully advance campus community is constantly evolving.  

Over the past two years, a colleague, Hank Walter of Indiana University, and I worked with the ACUI Central Office to survey Association members related to their experience navigating changes in higher education through the lens of a union professional. We published the initial set of results in the 2024 Steal this Idea edition of the Bulletin as a State of the College Union article, and we presented the 2025 results at the Annual Conference in New York City and, more recently, at IPDS in Bloomington. Combined, these survey results and the corresponding focus group observations reflect the student union industry retooling to meet the needs of our students and universities.  Participants’ responses reflect a student union industry experiencing important renovation and construction. 

Of the 150 plus respondents to each survey, 89–90% indicate that organizational change in their student unions is the new normal. One respondent observed, “We’re not seeing an interruption of what we do in higher education; we’re seeing a disruption …” while another noted “higher education is entering a its own recession … universities are experiencing a budget rebalancing.” A vast majority of respondents in our research spoke of the addition of new functional areas or the expansion of operational responsibilities while many participants observed that the corresponding additional staff to support this growth was not always forthcoming. Many respondents reported the growth in demands for their union or student center set against increasing need represented in their student populations. Participants reported growth in student isolation and loneliness, increases in anxiety and depression, and a reluctance or inability to assume work responsibilities at the union compared with previous generations.  

Ultimately, our navigating change survey responses and focus group contributions reflected the same weighty seriousness I felt as we facilitated our active shooter training, a serious recognition of the challenges we face as a profession set against a committed resolve to rise to this challenge. For me, one data point in particular reflected this resolve.  In our 2025 survey, while 49% of our respondents indicated that they were less optimistic about the future of higher education now than three years ago, 90% believed the role of student union was more important than ever. The importance of what we do is reflected by the innovative change we heard respondents describe implementing in their unions. We heard stories of unions changing to meet the needs of today, unions addressing the need for students to address isolation and loneliness with “speed friending” or “friend-making” activities in the union. We learned of union’s partnering with counseling to equip wellness and low-sensory spaces in the union to connect to and support university well-being priorities. We learned of campuses, like ours, who used active shooter training to facilitate community building and career readiness. 

As you engage the Bulletin’s Renovation and Construction edition, I encourage you to reflect on how your program can “renovate” and evolve to meet the challenges that face higher education. What formerly unprecedented experience could be an avenue to engage students or promote community? How can navigating these challenging times present opportunities for us to advance the role of the college union?