Should You Ever Turn Away An Advisee?
At times students show up for academic advising appointments unprepared for a productive discussion, or they may appear to be fairly alert for a morning appointment but look hungover and perhaps still smell of alcohol, or they might show up dressed in pajamas and flop flops. Have there been instances when you have felt justified in refusing to continue an appointment; point out the student’s unacceptable preparation, condition, or appearance; and refer him/her to a future appointment? Or do you think in these or similar cases, it is better to continue, perhaps modify your discussion but guide the student as best you can and hope you have a positive impact, and address “infractions” only if a pattern develops?
What is your opinion?
I feel like no student should ever be turned away from an advising appointment. If they seem to be hungover or rushed out of bed they still made an effort to show up because they feel they need help in something. If a student seemed to be inattentive to the point where I felt like the appointment was not going to benefit them I would ask if they had any more questions or would feel more comfortable meeting at a later time. Besides that, I feel turning an advisee away can make them lose truth/faith in the adviser. If someone is unprepared for a productive discussion I would ask them questions on what they are thinking about majoring in, what classes they have taken so far and where they would like to see things go and guide them to think about certain areas where they need help. I would also highlight certain resources the advisee could go to when they need help like other offices on campus or just other opportunities that may help them achieve their majors/requirements, general info that they may have not been aware of before. No advisee should ever be turned away. Your friendliness and sincere want to help may have a positive impact on them later on that will make them want to continue to come to you for advice, do well in their academics, follow up with you, or even become a peer mentor themselves.
There a ton of confounding variables which a person must take into account when dealing with a situation such as this. For example; do you have a prior relationship with the person? They may or may not feel more casual around you if you have advised them before. Perhaps the meeting is early in the morning and they just rolled out of bed as is per usual with college students. On the same token though I think that there should be a mutual level of respect between advisees and advisers. I’m not showing up to the office in my bathrobe, and if you aren’t in a presentable state then I think that is no more than a showing of disrespect.
Granted, disrespect is not grounds for dismissal. This is because there are even more confounding variables that need to be accounted for. Perhaps the person is not aware they are being disrespectful. Perhaps they are binge drinking at night because of deep seated depression. These are questions that have answers that would be important to tease out in order to fully understand the situation of a given student.
That said, based on the above grounds I don’t think that you should dismiss an advisee. However, I do that there are grounds which you should. Under circumstances where either A). you feel a strong personal bias, which it is your responsibility to be honest with yourself about B). you have a concern for your or their well-being or C). there are circumstances which make you extremely uncomfortable advising a person. In order to do the best job you can advising an individual, you must make sure that you find yourself in a healthy comfort zone.
I do not believe that an advisee should ever be turned away. If a student makes an effort to get himself to an appointment to discuss something with an advisor, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to speak with someone. I understand the frustration it may entail to advise a student who doesn’t seem serious about the meeting (e.g. dressed in pajamas, still hung-over, etc.); but the fact that they made the appointment shows that they really do care about the issue they need to discuss.
College is an especially defining time for students and sometimes they may be going through changes that may cause unpleasant behavior. This is all the more reason to be available to them. It is important for students to know that they will have support no matter what the situation may be, regardless of their inappropriate choices in behavior or attitudes. This may seem very unpleasant to those who advise them but we must remember that we are here for the students. If they reach out to us and make an appointment or come to the office to discuss an important issue, they should never be turned away under any circumstances.
However, I do agree with the idea that if these inappropriate behaviors become a pattern with particular students, they should be addressed. That is not to say that they should be turned away; on the contrary, I believe that they deserve most attention. Students who repeatedly seem detached or who are exhibiting inappropriate behavior may be going through a tough time or need additional assistance or advisement in certain areas of their lives. Rather than turn them away, we should welcome them with open arms.
I agree with Anna and Brittney. As a peer adviser, it is our job to help students when they walk-in, no matter who they are or what condition they seem to be in. College students walk around campus in their pajamas all the time – it is the way of life for most of us, but that doesn’t mean that we should turn them away. In fact, people that show up unprepared are simply showing how much help they really need. We have learned that everyone is different, and judging them from the outside without knowing their background or what they have been doing previously does not help them at all. As a peer adviser, turning someone away without knowing this information could make them not want to come back and get help at all. Professional staff advisers may have the ability to turn students away that are late, which I think is acceptable to a certain degree. If a student shows up 15 minutes late and that would cause future appointments to get off track, I think that it is perfectly okay to have them schedule another appointment. However, as a peer adviser I would never send someone away for being unprepared, or underdressed. Like Anna and Brittney said, I would send them home with as many helpful materials as possible to look over, and suggest that once they have read them over and figured out exactly what they need help with, that they come back for a longer meeting.
Although people may show up to appointments unprepared or not in the right condition, I don’t think it would ever be a good idea to turn them away as a peer advisor. Maybe they cannot be helped to the fullest capacity, but I don’t think any meeting can be considered a complete waste of time. I would definitely cut the meeting short, give them some materials to go home with so they can look into things a little more when they’re feeling better, and suggest they come back for a more extensive meeting at a time that works better for them. I do feel that a professional advisor who sees people by appointment would have every right to turn the person away and ask them to return, but as peer advisors, particularly dealing mostly with walk ins, I don’t think we’re really in the position to turn anyone away. Maybe if students are coming to the office in that state they are more in need of advising than the average student. I think it is important to make them feel welcome and accepted, because if they are turned away it seems like they would be less likely to return. Beyond that, appearances can be deceiving. We may think someone appears to be hungover or unkempt, but we really have no way of knowing what their situation really is, and it is important to respect that. At the end of the day, we exist to help our fellow students, and turning people away doesn’t seem like a productive way to promote this.
As a peer adviser, a person offering help and support to students, it would be wrong to send someone away because they are unprepared. Perhaps that person is unprepared, because he or she has not had the proper advice given to them. To me, this seems like the perfect person to meet with a peer adviser. This is a great opportunity to engage with the students and develop kind relations with each other. Agreeing with Anna, this is the time to make students feel welcome and accepted. I would most likely give this person a checklist of information they need to find out for themselves, and then set up another time they can come back to talk to me about what they found. Maybe coming back to the peer advising office to discuss their options for a second time will make that person feel more comfortable in asking for help. It is rare that everyone has all the right answers the first time around, and no one should be sent away when seeking out help in finding those answers.
I believe it’s important as an advisor to hold my advisees accountable to reasonable standards of behavior, including punctuality and preparedness. While I might not be easily inclined to end an appointment if an advisee were a few minutes late or came completely unprepared, I would definitely address the issues immediately with the advisee. In the advising center, we generally require that advisees who are more than 15 minutes late reschedule their appointments. There are always exceptions, but having standards and sticking to them (but also being flexible and understanding, of course) is a good idea because it prepares advisees for reality after college. At most workplaces, being more than 15 minutes late is not acceptable and carries consequences. Coming to work under the influence of alcohol or drugs is also unacceptable. And showing up to work without the needed materials for the task at hand is unacceptable, too. It’s always easier for students to learn hard life lessons while in the “college coccoon” than to be coddled through college and have to learn the lessons later, when the consequences are much more severe (like being fired from a job).
I agree with Bethany. We should find a good balance between having reasonable standards and accommodating the student. Sometimes students might show up in a condition that would get them sent straight out the door at a workplace. We have the opportunity to help them teach them what is and isn’t acceptable. A student in an unacceptable condition needs to be made aware of how and why they need to change their behavior, but I don’t think they should be turned away immediately. Sometimes a first-time offender may not be aware of how bad their behavior is and will be able to correct their behavior without help. If they are mentally unfit to be advised at the time, the adviser should try and get the student come back later when they are in a normal state of mind. I think in some cases it may be appropriate to turn away repeated offenders because it is clear that they either aren’t taking you seriously or they need help elsewhere.
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