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College Men & Post-Pandemic Resocialization
their masculinity and their roles as men on campus. Some participants felt that the
effects the pandemic had on their college experience-and the broader effects it had
on the world around them that influenced their understanding of their experiences
as men and as college students-created opportunities to rethink parts of their
core identity. Participants also indicated a noticeable change in how men on campus
viewed their masculinity as the pandemic wore on, which may have lasting effects
on how student affairs professionals and educators engage with men on campus
moving forward.
IMPLICATIONS
This study highlights several implications for practice and research, particularly as
institutions focus efforts on the student experience in a post-pandemic environment.
First, institutions should invest energy and resources into helping students establish
the next normal on campus. Campus life may not fully return to pre-pandemic patterns
of behavior, but concerted efforts to assist students in normalizing behaviors, accepting
changed expectations, and establishing new social norms will promote development.
Residence halls are often incubators of masculine stereotypes and behavior, so residential
life professional and paraprofessional staff must find ways to intervene appropriately
and effectively to establish new social expectations among men. Staff should
help reimagine stereotypical masculine spaces on campus, including a critical examination
of the culture of the residence halls toward which men gravitate. One step, for
instance, is to explore why some halls have distinct hyper-masculine cultures and then
to audit processes and systems to address the potential causes (e.g., reviewing housing
selection processes, assessing the effectiveness of conduct procedures, reviewing
building maintenance and aesthetics, among others).
A particularly relevant way of addressing concerns in masculine spaces is to offer
educational opportunities that leverage reconceptualized notions of gender identity in
a post-pandemic world to engage men in discussions about examining masculine expectations
and understanding what healthy masculinity is. Residential life staff may
consider creating cross-functional teams to assess, brainstorm, and implement programming
around topics of masculinity. In particular, identifying the men who set the
tone for masculinity on campus and engaging them in discussions about new norms
and social expectations would be fruitful. In this study, participants focused on returning
male students, athletes, and fraternities as the primary drivers of masculine culture
on campus, so it's important to discover from men on campus who they believe defines
masculinity in that space and then to create opportunities for intervention, engage.
. there has been a return to bro time on campus. Despite
the gaps in social development that may exist for many men,
they are back, and they are once again learning how to socialize
in campus environments.
42 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

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