Relationships between students and professors could be either superficial and formal or personal and significant to both. It seemed like most people had a different opinion when it came to the kind of relationship they would rather have, but when a teacher opened up to give more than a class lecture, great things could happen. Harding had many teachers that were willing to do this, and Dr. Kevin Klein, department chair and associate professor of history, was one who stepped up to help build relationships. For eight years, Klein and his wife, political science and public administration instructor, Lori Klein, hosted the history department’s annual cookout in their own home. About 100 people showed up and had the opportunity to mingle among students and faculty, getting to know one another. All current students who were majoring in history and all faculty members of the history department were invited. Almost all members of faculty attended and were ready to meet with students and get to know them. Many students who attended felt the cookout was a great icebreaker. “Seeing the teachers outside of the classroom environment helps me to know that they really do care about your future,” senior history major Chelsea Work said. “They want you to succeed.” Klein suggested that student-teacher relationships were often stunted by the presence of grades. The cookout removed that burden. “You are able to interact with your teachers at a social level where there is no grade book,” Klein said. Taking the grade book away brought down barriers and created a path for deeper communication. “Harding is genuinely different by design,” Klein said. “It helps us break down the formality outside of class.” Small classes did not mean personal relationships according to Klein. There had to be something more to make those relationships what they could be. For that reason, he believed Harding’s campus life could not be like every other place. “Because I have an outside view of my professors, I feel more comfortable asking questions and seeking help when I do not understand,” Work said. Klein made the purpose of the cookout the opportunity for fellowship between brothers and sisters in Christ. Although formality was essential to proper behavior and teaching inside the classroom, it had to be set aside when outside the classroom. He agreed that, in order to bring this barrier down, a skill of hospitality needed to be learned. Klein’s ability and willingness to open his home to students for a cookout opened the door for deeper relationships with his own students. The cookout also opened the door for many to attend the Bible study he and his wife had created. “I know that the professors care not only about students in a school view, but they also care about what is going on in everyday life,” Work said. The history department’s annual cookout was one contribution that made Harding genuinely different. [Karol Figueroa] Off-campus cookout builds connections Communing 178 [academics]
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