Chapter 4: Cultivating Supportive Campus Environments

As a Health Promoting Campus, Cornell University is dedicated to fostering a diverse, welcoming, and inclusive culture in which students, faculty, and staff can thrive. Every member of the Cornell community holds both the responsibility and the opportunity to contribute to a supportive and inclusive campus environment. 

This toolkit provides student leaders with key considerations, strategies, and resources to support them in creating supportive environments for their organizations. 

Supportive environments foster openness, active engagement, and holistic growth, enabling individuals to thrive and experience well-being (i.e., flourish). Within such environments, experiences of belonging and connection naturally emerge among group members. These experiences are deeply personal and shaped by people’s unique backgrounds.

Belonging matters 
Belonging is the sense of security and support that arises when individuals feel accepted and included as their authentic selves. A key aspect of belonging and connection is the feeling of being understood whether through social and emotional interactions, shared experiences, or meaningful engagement across differences. As you explore this toolkit, consider: How does your organization currently support a sense of belonging, and where might there be opportunities to grow? 

As leaders of student organizations, you have the privilege and responsibility to foster an environment where students can engage meaningfully with one another. Research supports the role of belonging in supporting student mental health. For instance, Cornell’s Spring 2024 Student Wellbeing Survey found that a sense of belonging helps students feel connected, supported, and valued, leading to increased resilience, engagement, and a greater willingness to seek help when needed.

As a student leader, it is as important to prioritize feelings of belonging and connection among group members, as it is to achieve your stated mission and goals. In fact, a lack of connection contributes to poor outcomes for student organizations such as low engagement. Consider a time when you have felt a sense of belonging within a group, what were key characteristics that contributed to this feeling (i.e. shared laughter, people checked in on each other)? 

Key Characteristics of a Supportive Environment 

Creating supportive environments requires intentional efforts to empower students to be open, engage as their authentic selves, and grow as individuals. Your leadership can make a lasting impact. By fostering belonging, you can help create a stronger, more connected and supportive campus community.  

Key strategies for cultivating supportive environments include: 

• Recognize and respect members as individuals with unique identities and experiences.
  • Ask members how they prefer to be addressed (name, pronouns) at the beginning of the year and honor their cultural and religious practices. What are some ways you might gather this information from your members?
• Embrace inclusivity, empathy, and shared responsibility.  Avoid making assumptions about others.
  • Make space in meetings for all voices to be heard, not just the most vocal- consider multiple avenues for providing ideas or feedback beyond dialogue, such as an online form. How do you gather ideas or feedback from members currently? What are some ways you might gain insight from members who contribute less?
• Foster openness, curiosity, and continuous reflection.
  • Use open-ended questions when you communicate with members so that you get to know their experiences form a place of curiosity. What are some open-ended questions you might integrate into check-ins at meetings? 

Based on the information above, what is one thing your organization will keep doing to cultivate a supportive environment? What is one thing you’ll stop doing? What is one thing you’ll do differently?