Thank you for your participation today, and a special thanks to Devan & Mackenzie for being my scribes! There was a lot of valuable feedback, and I would like to share this with Tom Cafaro, and at the same time I would like to offer some solutions, as well as our assistance in solving identified weaknesses.
I want your feedback as to what might be some good group projects that we could lead as a class to assist in many of the issues discussed. Consider which "publics" the project would serve, consider the channel(s) of communication, and consider how we gather the correct information (research) to ensure we are not making recommendations based solely on our opinions.
Be creative! And remember, you might be completing the project, so consider what is appealing to you and what might be a worthwhile endeavor for your to participate.
This is an assignment and posts are due Friday, 2/3 at 9:25.
Thank you, and questions, and/or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
I think that one of the biggest problems with Nichols College is our retention rate. It's become apparent that many students come here and end up transferring out. You hear many students complain that there is nothing to do in Dudley, Massachusetts. Yes, they did choose to come here, and they knew the school's location ahead of time, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything the school can do to help.
ReplyDeleteThe school used to have its own bar on campus and through the grapevine I've heard that it shut down due to liability reasons, understandably. When this happened, one of Nichols biggest social outlets was lost. I feel that Nichols should not give up on this social outlet completely, though. There are several other ways that the school can satisfy a craving for a safe and convenient social life. For example, recently, one the Webster's local bars offered a shuttle to and from campus at least one night a week. This was extremely successful regardless of whether or not the school agreed with this idea. When this began, every Thursday the campus was buzzing about who was going to Waterfront Mary's. The student body embraced this new social approach; they even loved it.
I don't understand why Nichols can't provide a safe way to get to and from the student body's favorite local night life spots. I feel like this would be the best thing Nichols ever did for their campus. If you're worried about illegal underage drinking then handle this concept the way the beer garden is handled during spring weekend; students can present two forms of ID to verify a correct date of birth.
I feel that Nichols needs to do something to approve their student appeal. Yes, many students come here and love it, but it's indeniable that everybody stays because way too many people transfer or seriously consider transferring. In order to keep the student body happy you must listen to their thoughts and seriously consider their ideas. If this suggestion was seriously considered and instated the amount of people complaining that there is nothing to do would significantly increase. This would also give underclassmen something to look forward to.
I agree with Alli.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that Nichols should try and provide a safe way to get the 21+ students off campus to a places where they can go (Boston, Providence or even as close as Worcester). Nichols got their liquor license taken away as well as the bar on campus. I think that this should be a project that is discuses with the new president. I think that it would be a fun time for the students that are of age to participate in it. Yes there is Sinni’s but that is still dangerous because of the driving back from the bar back to campus.
We have the bison den’s for a reason, it was an old bar. I know that people have been trying to get that area back to what it used to be but I do believe that it would be a great bonus for the incoming students. Other colleges do have this option for their students. This would allow for more of an interaction with student to professors.
The area on where the school is located is a hard spot. But the students accept and come here realize that while they are touring and visiting the campus. With these options would make for a more social life here on campus as well as bonding with their classmates off campus.
I feel like the biggest thing Nichols needs to do is find some way to filter the kids that are here on campus around the area. For example like Boston or Providence. Dudley is a really boring town there is hardly anything to do besides get drunk with your friends, which is fun for a while and than it gets old. I don’t think Nichols has any problems getting kids to come here its more like people will come and than leave because they aren’t as happy as they though they would be. But if Nichols made a little more effort and planned bigger cooler things than I think people would stay. Ya in the past two years J cole and Pitbull came. It was fun but it could have been put on a little better to attract more people. I remember people being there but if we were at any other school it was have been a lot different. From 2 years ago till now I feel like the school is putting in more of an effort to get students moving around the area. Are sport teams aren’t that good but the coaching staffs are doing everything they can to get the best players here and once that happens everything will change.
ReplyDeleteSo far everthing that has been said is very true and I completely agree with these arguments. But I mostly agree with Josh, I understand that when comming to this school you have to come in with the mind set that you are in dudley and that your options of going places are smaller then other schools. So if thats the case which I understand the school is currently trying to work on,I think what they offer on the campus should be more diverse. Coming back to one of Nichols problems being retention,I feel as though more activities would help. I no that when Pitbull came on campus it was a huge success even with it being on a school night, something like this not only attracts students but shows that even thought Nichols is a small college we can compete and have some of the same experiences as the larger colleges. Who wouldnt want the smaller college feel with the activies of a large college?? I feel that if Nichols put more effort behind events like this it would not only bring students in but make the students that are currently here more happy. So I think that putting on a project of promoting something this would not only be fun but would most deffinatley benefit all of the students at Nichols.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with everything that has been said however, our retention rates aren't solely to blame on the fact that there is nothing to do here. A lot is also academic reasons! But concerning what Nichols can do to better the campus life, I feel like they are slowly but surely expanding to things that all of us would like to see. By having the weekly shuttle around will allow administration to see just how much an offer like this would be used by students. I feel like NC does a lot to bring different things to a campus located in the woods. Many times people forget that your college experience is what you make of it, and yeah most of the time we end up all getting together and drinking on the weekends, but would a shuttle to and from Sinnis make that big of a difference, or would we all start to slowly get sick of the bar as much as we do the "popular" rooms to party in. I think with a mixture of granting 21+ students access to the Bison's Den, would be a safe, yet costly approach to better the life of this campus. However, as a college student I know that nightlife is a huge factor in what makes colleges more popular among others so increasing night life activities and opportunities will only better what Nichols has to offer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone has been saying about making the campus more 21+ friendly to make on campus life more bearable because day in and day out doing the same thing and not hiving many options to do anything on campus can get boring and really turn people off to other college activities. Making the Bison Den 21+ for certain hours would be a good start because it would show that the college is actually thinking about the students the are old enough to drink. The school is definitely changing to incorporate more options to do things off campus with the shuttle however there are more places to go besides the shoppes at Blackstone. I do like how the shuttle take people to places they need to go though that is a great idea. Some other things the school can do is every once and a while have shuttles to Boston, Worcester or Providence and while people may not like the idea of being on a set schedule it is still better than staying on campus looking for other options. Also I agree with the idea of the school buying off campus housing and making them available to students. With off campus housing there is an incentive to stay because there are more housing options for upper class men and it stops the issue of people not getting the housing they want because other people have friends or better luck in the room lottery.
ReplyDeleteChristina made a valid point and I'd like to expand upon it -- our low retention rate cannot be blamed on Dudley alone. Rather, I believe first-year students fail to return as sophomores because they have "sunken" academically. This leads me to my next point: we need to raise the standard (or GPA) for prospective students. Not only would Nichols become more competitive, but I am confident that it would help our retention rate as well. In my opinion, a prospective student's cumulative GPA is a good indication of how well they would do upon entering college. I am not implying that a prospective student with a 2.0 GPA didn't work hard to obtain that GPA; rather, I believe a student with a 3.0 has already developed a solid work ethic, and would therefore be more inclined to put in the time and effort needed to be successful academically.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that prospective students enter Nichols with false expectations. For example, a student that received below-average grades in high school may enter college with the notion that "hey, if I got through high school with below-average grades, I can do the same in college." In addition to this, I firmly believe that first-year students get caught up in the college lifestyle too easily: they're away from home and living on their own for the first time (which I agree does call for celebration), but they begin to like the idea of partying and having fun more than focusing on classes and getting a good education. Being successful in college relies heavily on how well you manage your time -- and in conclusion, I think that prospective students with a GPA higher than a 2.0 or 2.5 are better able to do this.
I never knew the Bison's Den was a bar! But now that I do, I like the idea of re-opening it, especially for students who are 21+. If it's there, why not utilize it? It would be convenient for students still living on campus, it could potentially reduce drunk driving incidents, and with a little TLC, that would be a great place to simply hang out! I'm on board.
ReplyDeleteI did not know this either. I have been at the Den twice and also see potential of cousy bar type atmosphere where students could have a good time. We do have to consider though if the license was taken away it could be very difficult to get it back.
DeleteDoes anyone know why we don not have a licene anymore?
The license and insurance is too expensive for the school to have, plus they dont want to be liable for the bar. Face the facts it's never coming back people
DeleteWay to rain on our parade!
DeleteI am not quite familiar with the statistics of this college when it comes to the rate of retention. However I understand that many first year students decide to transfer due to boredom and location purposes.
ReplyDeleteThe way I see most of these students are happy to be “wild and free”, this includes partying and doing whatever they feel like. The only way to do this for them is on campus.
It certainly is a disadvantage that the campus is in the middle of nowhere and therefore there is not much to do.
I tried to find out more about the student center that is being build, but could not access the Campus Center construction blog. My idea is to work on a program that will make this center a place where students can enjoy themselves and spend time (not only freshman).
This could make up for the bad location and lack of activities which leads to boredom. However this center has to be designed to meet student’s interests and demands rather than just be another building on campus. If designed and layed out in the right fashion it could also prevent under age students from only thinking about partying and drinking by creating a "I have to be there atmosphere".
It might be too late to change the plans of what would be in the building, but I believe it has potential to be criteria why students would stay in Nichols College.
I think Nichols biggest problem is the use of blinders that Administration uses to the fact that this is a drinking campus. Yes, not every student here drinks or chooses that lifestyle and I think we do a great job giving those students a variety of activities to engage in, but that is a MINORITY on campus.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying the school needs to be promoting this at Open Houses and that this is all that happens at the school, but it is still an aspect of College and one of Nichols that we keep hush hush. It is the elephant in the room between the disconnect between Administration and students.
They want to know why students leave. Students want accessibility schools like UMASS are still in the middle of nowhere, but the school is also in a proximity to 21+ nightlife and does not shy away from it. Schools like that are considered party schools, but still have many students who leave the school very successful with little no harm to the school's reputation.
Nichols can be the same way. If students are going to drink, why not show that we are responsible with safe driving alternatives. Why not have more tailgating events at sporting events, why not support a safe on-campus drinking event for 21+ students. These are reasons kids leave Nichols because this is the perception of college life portrayed to incoming students. They see this as many do with the "beer garden" at Spring weekend and see that this is what they can work towards for when they are an Upperclassmen.
Administration has a bad stigma to any student who places drinking as an activity on campus. What they don't get is that is a MAJORITY of this campus. So why not meet the students in the middle and provide safe environments, that is how to educate moderation and proper drinking habits, rather than suppress it so that it becomes the problems that arise. Additionally, while upperclassmen may not be the primary public for the college they are the ones who can help persuade to go to Nichols or Not to go to Nichols. The facts will always be there and a first hand experience from a student will be more effective than some talking head from the college who is disengaged with their public.
I feel, as I know many students do, that there absolutely needs to be more to do on campus. In reading these other posts and today in my Operations Management class, I found out that the Bison's Den used to be a bar. Very interesting! I think this would be a great idea to revive, and I believe that my Operations Management class would be interested in helping create a proposal. Even if it was only open on Fridays and Saturdays, it would be a huge improvement to the social life on campus. Perhaps it would even be a way to pacify our neighbors...I know that they take any opportunity to criticize us and gripe about all our noise making. (Don't even get me started - Nichols is probably 85% of Dudley's business. Not to mention the college has been around for many, many years).
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Katie's idea about having a concert or something to interest people. Make it a yearly or every other year event, and people who attend Nichols would greatly benefit from it. The student body would particularly enjoy it if they had more of a say in who is performing. If the students knew that it was something that they could count on every year, it might be a helpful factor in raising the retention rate.
Another issue that, until now, I had not given much thought to, is housing. I can easily see why upperclassmen would get annoyed with the lack of better housing options. Yes, Copper Beech I and II were recently built, but with a good GPA, just about anyone could get into these buildings. Its frustrating to not feel any separation from the younger class body. Students would eat up the idea of having off campus housing. Perhaps, if the right houses were purchased, a Greek Life program could be started. That would provide activities for the students who involve themselves (as Christina mentioned - you get out what you put in) and it would likely help to draw in more students. Even if these off campus houses were only available to the students who are 21 and older, it would be a great improvement and would help to satisfy Nichols's customers (us, the students.)
I don’t want to be too critical, because for the most part, I think that the latest Nichols college Website update was a immense improvement over the last domain. However, if I am required to offer my opinion on how to improve our image, it would be to rework, or rather, reword much of its generic statements. I understand that Nichols is still looking to add to its student body those who are aspiring to work in either the fields of business or sports management, and therefore must be concise in its message and sale, but many of the enticements that they boast seem, on surface, both inauthentic and unoriginal. If you want to reach the right pedigree of potential student, you should have genuine interviews posted and statements made by our faculty and current student body. We have excellent professors here who care, and we have some hard working individuals who have aspirations to make something of themselves in this world who I am certain would say great things of this place if given the chance.
ReplyDeleteAn example. Why is it that Nichols feels the need to sterilize even the most basic of introductions? I’ve never met our president here, so I will refrain from saying too much, but I can’t help but notice that her message displayed on the Nichols homepage has this staged, Hollywood atmosphere about it. It is because of this it seems to be not entirely legitimate or even bordering dishonest in its attempt. Nichols could do better, in my opinion, by sitting down with her and asking her questions about the college in which she can respond extemporaneously...from the heart. And maybe that’s corny, but to me, that would be a step in the right direction. But then again, I’m no marketer.
Retention is a huge part but I feel as though the student union center will help with that. I also think one of the main reasons for retention is that their is no such thing in having fun at Nichols. Everyone is so scared to get "written up" that it sucks the fun out of it. Growing up, one would think that college would be a better experience then what Nichols provides.
ReplyDeleteSwitching gears,I also agree with Daniel Smith. Everything is so generic on the website. Looking at different interviews with students and the president it seems as if it is not real. People know when something is real and something is fake, so why try to fool potential students. Tell them what is really going on from your own point of view. Stop saying what you think they want to hear. I think the main problem is that they don't have videos from events such as big prize bingo or even Neon Nights. Those are things incoming students want to see. They want to be excited to come here and have a reason to stay here.
Different programs that Nichols can implement are different events for 21+ students and they can implement other events that people can do within their class. Such as the Senior Social has 100 days and 50 days. Why cant the sophomores and Juniors sponsor bus trips just for them to go different places. Their are plenty of clubs who have college nights. Different classes can sponsor bus trips to those different clubs. Also on the weekends we can sponsor a DJ with a following to host a party so people dont constantly see the same faces. Its just something to think about. Our school is small so its really easy to get tired of seeing the same people.
I have to say I have an interesting perspective on this topic. I am a fairly new student compared to the rest of the seniors in the class. I've been at Nichols for almost a year and a half where as obviously everyone else has been here for much longer. A lot of people have mentioned that Dudley is boring and has nothing to do and that is a big problem in relation to our retention. Previous to coming to Nichols, I went to school in Boston. The difference between Suffolk U and Nichols is ENORMOUS. I think that I must have a different perspective than others because I came here wanting a small knit community...which I instantly found was the case here the first day I came here and it seemed like everyone knew each other. I went to school in Boston, the opposite of Dudley "the boring town" and I have a great time here. So basically I am saying that when I was looking to transfer, I found through the website that I thought that it would be a close knit community here which is exactly what I was looking for.
ReplyDeleteOther things that I didn't have at Suffolk that I would have(or maybe i did and don't remember) liked to known was here as I was applying was:
Our career services! (They're awesome)
The close faculty + student relationships
Clubs+Organizations, Sports
Nice dorm rooms - we have a pretty nice dorms compared to other schools.
Events (Comedians etc)
Availability to get in touch with offices
Spring Weekend type things ( They don't have fun things like this at Suffolk!!)
I can think of a lot more things that I would of liked to see as a new student. Obviously the best outlet is through the website because most people look there first but sending out pamphlets to students to attend college affairs etc would be good. The people we are looking to get to are prospective students and their parents, and transfer students.
In general, I believe the entire culture of the school needs a revision or to be altered. I truthfully feel that the institution reaches great points of change or growth, and then other times I feel like I miss the 'good old days'. Meaning, I want the value of my degree to continue on for many years past graduation day.
ReplyDeleteI think some major areas of concern is that our school still does not have enough 'Bison Pride'. I do not mean this in area of Athletics, I believe the campus has done a great job re-branding our Division programs. Rather, I think students need to gain or find a sense and feeling of reward. Students should think of Nichols, and value what it provides-not only focus on the negatives.
Sure, I bet there could be even more improvements to dining, safer ways to travel outside of the college when under the influence, or something to do besides a CAB event on the weekends-but truthfully I would like to see Nichols Solutions in a more proactive stance. If there is a program, let's create a committee to fix it. Not simply make a Twitter account that is witty, responds, and then turns their cheek to the issue entirely.
If we are speaking here as far as website improvements go, let's work with Bill Boffi in retention about creating an area on the portal to fix or alter issues students are facing daily on our campus. I would also love to see a representative from every club,sports team, activity etc. to serve as a liaison or contact to any interested incoming or current students. Think: A giant student directory, with a picture and e-mail address. This could be easily done given the size of Nichols!
One of the biggest problems Nichols is faced with is dividing the campus between legal drinkers and under age students. As we have discussed in class, Nichols does an excellent job of catering to the underclassmen in order to ensure their attendance at NC for four years. Freshman are aloud to drive, the room lottery provides opportunity for underclassmen to earn their way into dorms that seniors and juniors should be living in, and there are no areas on campus which prohibit underage students from entering. In other words, the campus is free for any age, any grade for any reason.
ReplyDeleteSo where am I going with this you may ask. Before my time at Nichols, the dormitory Kupp, was an all 21 and older dorm. There were rules on how to prohibit under age students from entering in order to provide for a fun-filled Thursday-Sunday. This system allowed for drinking without the hassle of public safety claiming they were led to a certain room because of a noise complaint, or RA’s confronting a room for occupancy overload. These strategies are used to break up the gathering of Nichols students who are drinking; “parties” you may call them but in reality it is wondering drinkers, stopping in a room where the action is located.
The lottery system if I am not mistaken is currently under construction as many have felt the same frustration with the lack of seniors living together. Copper1 and 2 were constructed with the purpose of providing housing for upperclassman, yet because of my rooms gpa, I find myself living in a junior dorm for the forth year in a row.. Not many can hold that honor. I understand the tavern is a stretch as well as the Bison’s Den ever being used to its fullest potential again. An answer to the frustration of many students on Nichols campus will end with the organization of upperclassmen, who are of age, living together. It goes beyond drinking. This opportunity will bring athletic teams together and academics up because of the ability to communicate with peers not through a social network or via text or phone.