Former Mayor Quentin Hart on Building Higher Education Systems That Meet Students Where They Are

The Student Success Stack is a newsletter written by Jordan Stein, Head of Public Affairs at EdSights, focused on the policies, people, and ideas shaping student success in higher education.

In this issue, Head of Public Affairs and Communications Jordan Stein sat down with Quentin Hart, former Mayor of Waterloo, Iowa, and founder of Hart Civic Strategies. Before leading his city for a decade as its elected Chief Executive, Hart spent more than nine years in student affairs and student support at Hawkeye Community College—experience that shaped how he thinks about equity, belonging, and what institutions owe the students they serve. Here, he discusses what those years taught him about supporting students and what he believes institutions must do differently to meet the moment.

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SST: Before serving as mayor, you spent much of your career in higher education and student affairs. Looking back, what lessons about supporting students most influenced your approach to leadership and public service?

Mayor Hart: One of the most important lessons I took from my higher education career was that equity is not a concept, it is a practice. It means giving students what they actually need, not treating everyone the same and calling it fair.

In recruitment, I saw students arrive full of optimism. Nervous, yes, but genuinely ready to succeed. No one comes to college planning to drop out. Then as a retention coordinator, I started seeing those same students on the other end of that journey, weeks or months before they walked away. The excitement had eroded. Not because they stopped wanting to succeed, but because the institution was often applying the same approach to students with very different circumstances.

That experience shaped everything that came after. In public service, cookie-cutter thinking produces the same inequitable outcomes it produces on campus. If you want to lead well, you have to meet people where they are and provide what they specifically need to move forward.

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SST: You have spent your career working with students, families, and communities. What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing today's students, and where do you see the greatest opportunities for colleges to make a difference?

Mayor Hart: The biggest challenge facing today's students is that life does not pause because you are enrolled. A single parent's child does not wait to get sick until after an assignment is submitted. A working student's financial pressure does not take a break during midterms. Students are carrying real weight into the classroom every day, and institutions that ignore that reality will keep losing students they could have kept.

The opportunity is real. Colleges have a chance to reimagine how education works. That means multiple formats—in-person, online, televised lectures, flexible scheduling—so that education bends toward the student's life rather than the other way around. It means teaching content that is relevant, so students can see themselves and the opportunities that exist for them. And it means wrapping all of that in wholistic support and programming that addresses the whole person, not just the academic one.

Colleges that get this right will not just improve retention numbers. They will change what higher education means to the communities they serve.

SST: Student success is often discussed in terms of academics and finances, but you've long emphasized belonging and engagement. How should institutions think about creating environments where students feel seen, supported, and connected?

Mayor Hart: Belonging in higher education means students have a sense of comfort that allows them to show up as their authentic selves. Free from microaggressions. Free from judgment. Able to see themselves reflected in the campus environment, in the faculty, the curriculum, the programming, and the leadership. When that is missing, students feel it immediately, and it quietly chips away at their ability to focus on why they came.

A well-rounded educational experience requires institutions to be intentional about creating that environment. It means building safe spaces for freedom of expression where students feel genuinely empowered rather than just tolerated. It means designing learning environments that offer multiple formats so students can engage in the ways that work best for them. And it means giving students room to be creative, to bring their full selves into the learning process.

Institutions that get belonging right do not treat it as a side program. They build it into the daily fabric of campus life.

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SST: As mayor, you had a front-row seat to the connection between education, workforce development, and community wellbeing. What role do colleges and universities play in helping communities thrive?

Mayor Hart: As mayor, one of my four strategic goals was called Waterloo Works, focused on building the most educated and credentialed workforce in the state and the Midwest. That goal was rooted in a belief I hold deeply: the more educated your citizenry, the greater the opportunities available to them. The better credentialed your community, the more attractive you become to business investment. The more training pathways you create, the greater your odds of raising the standard of living for everyone.

That meant thinking about education at every level. Short-term credentials and certifications alongside traditional degrees. Our school district transformed the educational experience by creating the Waterloo Career Center, offering technical training pathways for students who might not see themselves on a four-year track but absolutely see themselves building a career. I also served on several local and statewide workforce boards, working alongside educational institutions to align workforce investment with community need.

Colleges and universities are not separate from community wellbeing. They are central to it. When higher education leaders understand that duality—that their work inside the institution directly shapes what is possible outside of it—that is when real transformation happens.

SST: If you could give one piece of advice to higher education leaders focused on improving student success over the next decade, what would it be?

Mayor Hart: Student success is community success. It is the attraction of business. It is the very essence of what every community needs to grow. And it requires leaders who understand that equality does not equal equity. Those are two different commitments, and we have to be clear about which one we are practicing.

My advice is this: do not let the current climate convince you that diversity and inclusion in education has anything other than a positive impact on our daily lives. To me, college is a collage—a collection of theories, ideas, terminologies, and personalities being placed in the minds and hearts of people. That exchange is the point. Higher education is the last resting place before what some call the real world, and we have an obligation to give students a well-rounded experience that does not fluctuate based on the whims of presidential leadership or political pressure, because every shift in that direction adds its own biases.

The student's mind is a tapestry. The ideas and perspectives we share shape their minds, which empowers their hearts, which shapes their behavior and the spirit of their expectations. That is the work. Higher education leaders who hold that line over the next decade will be the ones who deliver on the promise of education itself—which is freedom, liberation, and growth.

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