The Kind Academic

The opening chapter of Noel Cazenave’s Kindness Wars: The History and Political Economy of Human Caring has my mind buzzing with fresh perspectives on what kindness could mean in our universities. Cazenave challenges us to see kindness not as something sweet or sentimental, but as inherently political force that can either reinforce or disrupt existing power structures.

In this post, I’m wondering what a truly multi-dimensional approach to kindness might look like in our universities. What happens when we commit not just to addressing immediate needs (which we must), but also to wielding kindness to transform the systems that create those needs in the first place? What new possibilities might emerge?

The politics of kindness in higher education

One idea kept resurfacing for me as I discussed the chapter with my colleagues in the USNW Kindness Network: kindness isn’t enough if it only treats symptoms. The deeper call is to examine and change the conditions that create the need for so much triage in the first place.

This resonates strongly in the university context. Yes, we absolutely need to support students and staff when things go wrong, like when someone is burned out, grieving, overwhelmed, or in crisis. That support matters deeply. But if we stop there, we risk reinforcing a system that quietly produces those struggles in the first place.

Symptoms vs root causes in academic environments

I keep coming back to this thought: authentic kindness at the university must be holistic and multi-dimensional. I don’t think it’s an either/or proposition between immediate care and structural change. It feels like real kindness calls us to do both, recognising that they’re interconnected parts of the same commitment.

What would it mean for a university to wield kindness not just in the form of crisis response, but in its structural decisions? To use its considerable financial, intellectual and human resources to address the causes of stress, burnout, and disconnection?

A multi-dimensional approach to university kindness

Let’s take student overwork. If a student is drowning under pressure, we offer counselling or extensions, which are crucial immediate supports. But a multi-dimensional approach would also examine why so many students are overwhelmed to begin with. It might lead us to coordinate with colleagues to redistribute assignment deadlines across the semester, reduce unnecessary assessments, create more flexible learning pathways, or redefine what “academic rigour” actually means in practice.

Or think about staff wellbeing. When colleagues are exhausted from juggling excessive teaching loads, care responsibilities, and casual contracts, we might bring in resilience training or fitness initiatives. But what if we used that moment to ask: Why is this the norm? What staffing models are we relying on? What is being valued and rewarded—and at what cost?

Kindness that only treats the symptoms may feel like action, but it risks becoming a plaster over deep wounds.

Transforming university structures through kindness

As a structure, a set of policies and values, a space of possibility, the university has the capacity to do more. It has people with brilliant minds, powerful research, and deep knowledge about what helps communities flourish. It has students and staff who know what change could look like.

A multi-dimensional approach to kindness in universities addresses both immediate wellbeing needs and the systemic structures that create those needs. It recognises that true kindness requires the courage to question established practices, reimagine institutional priorities, and put human flourishing at the centre of educational missions.

Some questions about institutional kindness

I’ve been playing around with some questions that help me think about what multi-dimensional kindness might look like in practice. Perhaps they might resonate with you too:

• How might a kind university respond to immediate wellbeing needs while also gently investigating what causes those needs?
• What would happen if conversations about student and staff wellbeing were deeply connected to discussions about workload, assessment design, and resource allocation?
• In what ways do our wellbeing initiatives acknowledge (or remain silent about) structural factors like job insecurity, financial pressure, or institutional racism?
• How are the voices of those most affected by institutional policies centered in creating solutions?

I don’t have perfect answers to these questions, but I believe there’s something powerful in asking them together.

I find myself returning to this question: what if we let kindness be the driver of institutional change? Not as a vague aspiration that makes us feel better momentarily, but as a concrete principle that guides policy, shapes resource allocation, and transforms institutional cultures from within?

That, to me, is what a multi-dimensional approach to kindness in higher education could be. And it starts with asking tough questions about the structures we’ve built, the practices we’ve normalised, and whether they truly serve the flourishing of all who inhabit them. I don’t know exactly what the answers will be, but I do know we need to keep asking.

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Have you seen multi-dimensional kindness in action at your institution? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.