The bromance amongst my guy friends back home is a lovely sight to behold. When they get together, beer, poker and interminable hours of watching basketball (or football, baseball, hockey…) often follow. Indeed, it’s a real bro and brah-fest, but cut through the valley dude vernacular and you’ll find the stuff of real love stories.
You see, bromance for them is not just friendship, it’s unerring loyalty.
When I talk about loyalty, I mean enduring preferential treatment. That is, defending and staying faithful—to friends, a country or basketball team—not just because of its characteristics, but for its intrinsic existence. Not the stuff of fair-weather friends and band-wagoners, no, loyalty is in it for the long-haul.
Maintaining such loyalty sometimes requires time and comfort, which can feel diametrically opposed to rationality. Loyalty says, yes, I will sleep through the snow and sleet for the team in spite of our bad season. Or, I will go with you to that bar or party though I’m tired and I will see my stalker ex-girlfriend, because I’m your wingman.
Duke students are, on the whole, loyal to our school. School spirit and passionate alumni were major reasons I, and I suspect many others, chose to come here in the first place.
But students comprise of only one element that makes Duke pride what it is, and what it could be. To realize our potential, Duke needs more demonstrated loyalty from our faculty. In other words, professors need to play a more supportive and engaged role in the lives of their students.
Since loyalty is sustained by little more than an organic connection among member parties, it is frightfully fungible. The way I see it, professors are vulnerable to two extremes that depress their commitment to their students. There’s efficiency creeping in on one side, and there’s political correctness on the other. Efficiency puts the focus on research, which shortchanges students, and political correctness, with its principles of equality and fairness, breed neutrality.
These two threats seriously undermine a professor’s potential to connect to individual students. Many times I have seen bright, interesting friends who happened to choose less-marketable majors like political science, English or history throw up their hands in confusion over gap years and career paths. A diploma gives them a net to cast into an ocean of post-graduate possibilities, but they are often ill-equipped to know how to reel in a decent catch, not to mention which ones to throw back.
But by consequence of attaining a faculty position, professors have proven their ability to navigate the sea of options. In doing so, they have accumulated networks, insider information and connections that their students dearly need.
Yes, we have a Career Center. But the Career Center’s focus, and indeed its comparative advantage, should be to provide us with a survey of career possibilities. It provides a useful starting point to help students parse personal interests, leverage their skills and learn to present themselves professionally. But when it comes to actually breaking into the chosen field of interest, the Career Center simply can’t attain the same depth of knowledge that professors have.
Indeed, professors can easily have a significant, lasting impact on how students view their college experiences. For example, students who have had a faculty member reach out to them were far more likely to report a very satisfying college experience, according to a 2003 study by Charles Clotfelter, Duke professor of economics and law and Z. Smith Reynolds professor of public policy.
Of course, this is not to say that professors should hand out opportunities on a silver platter. Students need to do their share. It’s just that faculty need to signal their willingness to participate in one-on-one mentoring.
They can do this by making their time more available. They can regularly communicate that they want their students to succeed and find the things that really excite them. They can inquire about their students’ interests and campus life because we are far more shy to breach personal subjects and often rely on cues from the instructor. Professors can be more forthcoming about their personal experiences, life paths and mistakes.
They might consider staying up to date about career opportunities and developments in their field on behalf of their students, and know who in their departments students can further consult for advice. Chris Blattman, assistant professor of political science and economics at Yale University, for example, posts practical and timely career advice on his Web site. Finally, professors should be open to the possibility of introducing their students into their own professional networks.
Take a pointer from the surfer dude bromance or the crazy towel guy. Do as the Beach Boys say and be true to your school. Have a soft spot for your kids, professors, and let them know you have their backs.
You may not agree on everything, but guess what? You’re a Blue Devil too.
Courtney Han is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every other Monday.
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