Student Leadership Development: How Do Liberal Arts Colleges Enhance Socially Responsible Leadership?

Abstract

Student leadership development is a key initiative at many colleges and universities in the United States today. Many of the liberal arts institutions in America have leadership development of their student population as one of the fundamental elements of their educational objectives (Astin, 1997; Durden, 2001; Rothblatt, 2003). This study utilized a qualitative, multiple-case study design to explore how two liberal arts institutions developed socially responsible leaders within their student population. An expert-driven, purposeful sampling strategy was utilized for this study. Using an interview and focus group protocol that was framed by the Social Change Model of Leadership (SCM), the researcher also used a documentation review to collect data. The findings were reported as two individual case studies, followed by a cross-case analysis looking for areas of convergence and divergence between the institutions. The SCM was an effective theoretical framework to determine how these liberal arts institutions develop socially responsible leaders. Each of the eight constructs from the SCM was addressed by the study's research question and subquestions. The findings from the study were consistent with the student learning and development analogous with the descriptions of the constructs from the theoretical framework. However, there were several influences on student leadership development that were underrepresented in the findings. Thus, the recommendations offered, along with other findings of the study, propose tactics for more thorough development of socially responsible leaders at liberal arts institutions.