Sense of Belonging: Students' Challenges Should Be Effortless Joys | Angela Richard | TEDxBU
Higher education marketing often oversimplifies belonging, asserting it is for everyone when, in reality, it is not designed for every student. The central claim is that true belonging requires students to drive community creation and claim space, moving beyond curated events. The strongest evidence is the contrast between institutional efforts and the finding that only 12% of students feel they totally belong to their university.
## Speakers & Context
- Unnamed speaker, affiliated with Career Services at a college.
- Described the experience of touring a college campus, feeling a sense of being *"out of body and place yet so whole."*
- Notes that the marketing of college belonging often relies on *"strategic marketing beautiful amenities and show-stopping initiatives."*
## Theses & Positions
- College campuses often market a feeling of belonging that is *not* truly designed for every student.
- A genuine sense of belonging is challenging to secure and is not automatically cultivated by the institution.
- Belonging is a fundamental human need, identified by Abraham Maslow, that affects cognitive, psychological processes, and human behavior.
- **The primary shift required:** Student affairs professionals must ask *"what do students need rather than what can we do for students."*
- True belonging happens when students are the *drivers* of community and spaces, and when they feel safe enough to foster conversations.
- Belonging is not a static state but an *"ever evolving continuous process."*
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Sense of Belonging:** Defined as a fundamental human need (Maslow) that impacts cognition and behavior; it is achieved when students feel safe enough to gather and foster conversations.
- **Identity-Centric Spaces:** Spaces necessary on campuses, large and small, to uplift individual needs and honor lived experiences.
- **Belongingness:** The feeling derived from shared experiences and desires, which can be built upon.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Institutional Efforts:** Creating belonging through organized events (e.g., Career Services, student engagement, residential life) and dedicated centers (e.g., Multicultural centers at Bentley, Sacred Heart; Newberry Center at Boston University).
- **Community Building (Optimal):** Occurs when students actively *drive* community creation, gather to foster conversations that create safety, and *claim* spaces that support their identities.
- **Self-Belief as Foundation:** Belonging must begin internally: *"Belonging starts from within as you become comfortable with who we are what our values are what we want to put into the world and get out of it."*
## Numbers & Data
- **12 percent** of students reported feeling they *totally belong* to their University (according to the Sales Force Connected Student Report).
- **58 percent** of students reported feeling *some sense* of belonging to their University.
## Named Entities
- **Boston College:** Campus mentioned during the touring anecdote.
- **Bentley:** University mentioned with a Multicultural center.
- **Sacred Heart:** University mentioned with a Multicultural center.
- **Boston University:** University mentioned with the Newberry Center for first-generation students.
- **UMass Amherst:** Neighboring university mentioned with a Latinx cultural center.
- **Northeastern:** Neighboring university mentioned with a Latinx cultural center.
## Examples & Cases
- **Campus Tour Feeling:** Describing the feeling of being *"out of body and place yet so whole"* while touring Boston College.
- **First-Generation Student Experience:** The speaker recalling initial anxiety moving into a dorm, overcome by realizing *"I was enough."*
- **Intramural Sports/Casual Outings:** The feeling of belonging achieved by simply meeting peers across campus for informal outings ("grab food with friends on a whim").
- **Colleague Perception (Colleague A):** Belonging feels like *"she can be who she truly is no matter the circumstance."*
- **Friend Perception (Friend B):** Belonging is *"more than acceptance of Who You Are but support and celebration of Who You Are."*
## References Cited
- **Abraham Maslow:** Theorist who identified belonging as a fundamental human need.
- **Sales Force Connected Student Report:** Source for the 12% and 58% belonging statistics.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The assumption that *"fun events and programming are enough to sustain community"* is insufficient.
- The initial marketing message often suggests belonging is universal, when evidence suggests it is not.
## Methodology
- **Community Audit/Survey:** Gauging perceptions of belonging by asking peers and colleagues the question: *"what does sense of belonging mean to you?"*
- **Anecdotal Evidence Gathering:** Collecting personal stories from multiple students (first-generation peers, friends, colleagues).
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- Colleges and universities have the onus to hear their students and support them through challenges.
- Building belonging requires *everyone's commitment*: students, faculty, and staff.
- The goal is not a state of *"fully whole"* belonging, but the *process* of moving toward it.
- Students must be empowered to be the center of their own journey.
## Implications & Consequences
- A lack of institutional focus on student-driven community results in measurable feelings of alienation (e.g., only 12% feeling total belonging).
- True belonging supports self-actualization, as demonstrated by the personal growth of the speaker.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"The point is a sense of belonging on college campuses is often cultivated through strategic marketing beautiful amenities and show-stopping initiatives but is it truly created for every student is there space for students to gather to be themselves and to escape a place where they may feel isolated."*
- *"The truth is college is often marketed as being for everybody but it's just not designed for everybody."*
- *"how do students feel a sense of belonging and more importantly who is a sense of belonging cultivated for belongingness has been identified as a fundamental human need most notably by Abraham Maslow"*
- *"I had to remember however despite those uncertainties that I was enough"*
- *"it happens when students are the drivers of community and spaces"*
- *"it's being vulnerable experiencing comfort being heard and being seen"*
- *"Support and celebration of Who You Are"*
- *"I don't think belonging in all of its differences and expenses can ever be defined as fully whole but as long as it's progressing in that direction we're taking the right action"*