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Undergraduates have at least four years to get to know their school and socialize with other students, but graduate students are often short on time to connect with their university. It can be difficult for graduate students to feel as though they’re a part of the college community, even after they graduate.

What kind of connection does a university leave graduate students once they become alumni? At Syracuse University, it’s one that often isn’t strong enough.

Andrea Constant, a second year doctoral student, feels that her emotional connection with the campus community has been minimal beyond academics.

“Even in my first year here without COVID-19, I just felt like I came to campus to go to class or to do my research, and then I (went) home,” Constant said. “I don’t feel that bond that undergraduates may have to a place that is simply theirs. My relationship to this university is purely based on career-building.”

To try and foster that connection with the university, Constant has engaged with her classmates and the Black Graduate Student Association. She’s also received emails from the Graduate Student Organization with information about events happening around campus.

There are over 50 organizations dedicated to graduate students at SU, the majority related to academics, while undergraduates have over 500 that serve various aspects of student life. There’s a real divide between the undergraduate and graduate students on campus.

Constant feels there should be more to the graduate student experience.

“As a doctoral student, I only pay the GSO fee, and if you’re paying all these fees to be part of the campus community, then obviously the campus should be providing for you as well,” Constant said.

Despite the transactional experience she has had at SU overall, Constant would like to be an active alumna. For her, it’s important that the next generation of Black students see people who look like them in fields such as hers.

Graduate students may find a reason to remain connected based on what is provided for them to do so, said Grace Terry, assistant director of young alumni and student engagement in the Office of Alumni Engagement.

“Given all the options to remain engaged at the university and not limiting the opportunities available to graduate alumni, we see significant participation from that group,” she said.

Terry said that she and those who work with her acknowledge that not all graduate students’ experiences are so positive, including those of international students. She knows that there is more work to be done for these students when they become alumni.

For graduate student Andre Britton, feeling welcome on campus is complicated. While he may be interested in remaining connected to SU in some capacity, his attitude toward the university is mixed when he factors in his identity as a Black man and the university’s interaction with surrounding neighborhoods such as the Southside. Britton believes that feeling will remain even after graduation.

“That will always be part of my story if somebody asks me about SU. I think that feeling of not truly belonging or feeling like I belong initially and being in that state of mind,” Britton said.

But that doesn’t take away from completing a milestone in his education.

“There’ll be pride in the fact of just graduating and getting this degree and having this degree from Syracuse University,” Britton said.

Graduate students are seeking to connect outside of the classroom, just like undergraduates. They, too, want to feel part of the Orange community. SU should do more to address the issue of graduate students being hardly seen and heard if the university wants more from them after graduation.

Camille Daniels is a graduate student in the magazine, newspaper and online journalism program. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at cdaniels@syr.edu.

 

Published on October 21, 2020 at 11:30 pm