Bradley has undergone makeover after makeover in the past year to make the campus more convenient, safe and inclusive – all improvements students have sought for so long.
But the changes can’t cover the fundamental issue underneath: students don’t get the full story.
Only the happy endings.
So what happens when Bradley can’t flip to the last page before school starts?
The mailroom, supposed to be efficient and secure, suddenly drowns in disorganized packages and a system students don’t understand until they walk in.
These cracks in Bradley’s approach extend beyond the mailroom, showing up in how big changes are handled in general, as shown during another emergency students weren’t ready for.
The Student Apartment Complex (SAC) closed late in the summer due to a leak from a laundry machine. Residents were moved into temporary housing with little notice and with little information about the specifications of their new apartments.
Additionally, students were told employees would be present to help them move out, but the university never made clear who they would be or where they would be, leaving many students to move out on their own.
The SAC and mailroom fiascos share a commonality: incomplete communication from the university to the student body.
While delays stalled Bradley’s otherwise well-planned, well-intentioned initiatives, plans change with unexpected circumstances, and everyone needs to be ready. That includes the very students they’re trying to serve.
Even with natural disasters that can’t be minimized, people are warned ahead of time about the upcoming danger, from categories as low as one to as catastrophic as five. They can protect themselves and choose how to secure their safety. With communication, even though leaders can’t turn a hurricane away, they can minimize the harm it causes.
Bradley can take a similar approach.
These two instances alone make it clear that the university is susceptible to circumstances like any other organization, but instead of communicating only the benefits through curated PR, students might gain more by bracing for reliable bad news.
