CSSA Blog @ Oregon State University

Well, may the recent inactivity of the CSSA Blog demonstrate the sheer business of the Winter Term, for both the first year, second year, and part-time cohorts!  On my part, I blame my absence on the perfect storm: portfolio, legal issues, conferences, and the job search.

I would like to share with all of you my experiences attending the Association for Student Judicial Affairs annual conference in February. I received the ASJA Bracewell Conference Internship, which meant not only did I get to attend the conference in Florida for free, but I got to work alongside important leaders in my functional area in organizing and facilitating a 600-person conference. I assisted with registration, the conference evaluations assessments, volunteer training, and, of course, “other duties as assigned.” I am very grateful to the ASJA association for providing funding and opportunities for graduate students to attend conferences, which is not usually part of my GTA budget. I left the conference not only with an increased awareness of emerging trends in student conduct and best practices in responding to campus concerns, but established contacts with professionals and colleagues in my field. After attending the conference, I would recommend graduate students join professional associations – both the large and broad like NASPA and the narrower functional area-specific associations like ASJA or NODA – sooner than later.

It was apparent to me, however, that professional associations are not immune from the current state of our economy. Attending a conference can be very expensive – the airfare, hotel, per diem, and registration fees… it adds up. Most professionals at the conference reported next year their office will be unable to contribute any funds towards professional development, which is unfortunate given the need for us all to stay current on campus climate issues and students. I think professional associations, both the broad and specific, are challenged now to create more cost-effective and accessible professional development opportunities that do not require airfare. I predict we will see see an increase in regional conferences, webinars, online courses, and publications for download on professional development websites as fewer institutions are able to provide professional development funds.

While hopefully the education component of a professional association can continue despite economic hardships, I feel what will be missed most are those opportunities to connect and share with colleagues across the nation. For me, I loved being around people who got what I do. Student conduct can be a lonely, misunderstood job sometimes; let’s face it, the students do not always want to hug you after meeting with you and some colleagues find the work to be rather unappealing (which is why people like me exist who love it). It was really unique to be with people who could relate to the experience of enforcing campus policies, laugh with you about the funny incidents that occasionally happen on campus, and be part of important conversations about the transforming changes coming to our functional area. I think there is absolute merit in establishing yourself within an association and maintaining those relationships. Some professional I met had been to every ASJA conference since it started 21 years ago!

For those of you attending NASPA in Seattle (how lucky are we that it is so close this year?), my word of advice is to attend the social functions, participate in the concurrent session discussions and case studies (not because you want to “win” but to learn), take interest in other people and their institutions, and aim to build connections beyond just to find a job (though it cannot hurt). Seek out authentic relationships with your colleagues. If you are going with friends or peers, try to reach out to graduate students and new professionals who came alone from their institutions. I think taking active measures to make connections will improve your conference attendance experience.

A big congratulations is in order for the CSSA 2008 Cohort for making it through their first term of CSSA!  You all should be proud of what you accomplished and curious and excited for what you will undoubtedly accomplish next.

If I could give you one piece of advice it would be to not squander this winter break!  Catch up with friends, read the fourth-grade-reading-level books that have been collecting dust on your shelf, sleep, enjoy a few moments of non-responsibility, and store some energy for next term.  I know many of you feel like you have to make big decisions rightthissecond about your area of specialization/minor or whether to do a thesis or portfolio, but take time to connect back with yourself before you try to make any choices. I believe if you do, your decisions will better reflect who you are and what you really want to do with your time here.

I spent my last winter break trying to get ahead in the reading for my winter classes (who was I kidding?) and pouring over the OSU course catalog.  If only I knew I would be spending this upcoming break, my second year winter break, toiling away on my portfolio, I would have cut myself some slack last year and said “I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts!”

I wish you all a very relaxing break and I hope it can be spent with loved ones and friends.  Take care of yourself and take care of each other –  BQH

Chris Pittman is a 1997 graduate of the CSSA Program and shares the following as a guest author:

I am currently in Iraq establishing new Education Centers so our U.S. service members can take college classes on-site. I am already convinced that the service member student is as “non-traditional” as it gets but in a combat zone, “non-traditional” is taken to a whole new level. We just started the first two classes last night and had the “incoming” siren. That means mortars are being shot into the compound.

This happens at deployed sites fairly often. Needless to say the classes were disrupted for about 30 minutes and after the “all clear” signal resumed as if nothing happened. Just a perspective I would like to share. This also demonstrates the commitment of our service members have to get their education. Not to mention the civilian professionals providing it.

Chris Pittman

I wanted to reflect on an interesting professional development experience I had this week attending a panel discussion of disruptive behavior in the classroom setting.  The panel was designed for faculty members of OSU and on the panel was a number of influential and knowledgable professionals on campus, including the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, Director of Student Conduct, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, Director of Affirmative Action and OSU’s legal counsel.  The panel was advertised to address faculty concerns such as:

- What would you do if you felt a student’s classroom behavior was unsafe?
- What can you do if you find a student has posted inappropriate comments about you on a web site?
- What would you do if a student left a threatening note on your office door or mailed one to your home?
- What are your options if a student is making inappropriate sexual or racial comments in your class? What if those comments are directed toward you?
- What can you do if a student refuses to do an assignment based on his/her personal opposition to the material?
- What are your rights in the promotion and tenure process if a department chair or other administrator opposes your involvement in social justice teaching, research, and service?
- What are your rights when students give you lower teaching evaluations because of their personal, religious, and/or political opposition to the viewpoints you present in exploring social justice issues?
- Where do you go for help when you confront these difficult issues?

Obviously, with only two hours, we did not address half of these issues or potential concerns.  However, it was an informative experience nonetheless.  If you’ll indulge me, I would like to share some of my key observances and reflections.

My first observation was every faculty member in attendance was either a woman and/or person of color.  I find it hard to ignore the implication of what it means when there is an all-campus open presentation on safety in the classroom and only members of underrepresented groups are in atendance.  Without disclosing some of the personal stories shared in the forum, each person shared a negative interaction with a student that appeared (by their own self admission) to relate somehow to their identity or status as a female or minority faculty member.  This included several female faculty members sharing about intimidating male behavior in their classrooms, sexual harrassment, and their expertise being challenged because of their gender.

In a career where I am so focused on the needs and support of students, I was struck by how little advocacy faculty felt they had, too – particularly faculty from underrepresented groups.  I do not mean to imply this is a problem unique to OSU; I believe it is systemic across academia.  Several faculty members mentioned their fears of responding to student’s behaviors lest it negatively affect their evaluations and progress towards tenure.  One faculty member said she felt trapped because if she gave a student a low grade, her evaluation from the student would be unfairly negative.  She said she felt pressure to give better grades so she would be given a better review by her department chair.

Another valuable insight I got from attending this panel was to see a collaboration between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs (ahh, “The Great Divide”).  It struck me as very interesting that most faculty members did not seem to know the purpose and role of various services on-campus.  Many had never heard of the Critical Incident Response Team, which in part responds to reports from faculty members concerned with a student’s behavior.  I myself learned more about the role of the Affirmative Action office and their role in responding to disputes and conflicts between staff, students, and faculty.  I wonder how faculty are typically introduced to these services and if they are encouraged to utilize them.  One faculty member talked about being harrassed for over a year by a student and shared the psychological damages the experiences caused; yet there was no support for her.  Students can utilize CAPS, but faculty are left to manage on their own.  As the panel opened my eyes towards seeing students as less powerless in the faculty-student relationship, I wonder if we should be doing more for faculty, too.

I first had to ask myself “What is the responsibility of the institution to support faculty members?”  I do not pause for a second to think any member of the OSU community – whether faculty, staff or student – should have the right to a positive working and learning experience on-campus.  Whether they pay student fees or are paid by student fees, do we not have an obligation to respond to injustice and serve every member of our community?  Yet, I get the feeling that in disruptive behavior situations, most of our energy goes towards the student.  We connect them when appropriate to CAPS, advising, Disability Access Services, and Student Health Services.  Yet the faculty member who had to respond to the student’s behavior or may have experienced personally the student’s disruptive behaviors (threat, harrassment, etc.)?  What do we do for them?  Do we assume they know to seek counseling off-campus privately?  Do we assume the department chair can follow up with the faculty member and reach out in support? Do we assume that they can take care of themselves?

I dwell on this after the realization that we – both Student Affairs professionals and faculty members – are all potential victims of compassion fatigue.  Day in and day out, we are involved in – and sometimes held responsible for, usually by our own caring selves – the success of other people.  We give and give, emotionally investing ourselves.  Some of us meet with students on a daily basis who tell us of heartbreaking experiences with discrimination, racism, personal crisis, failures and loneliness.  We don’t want to complain; but it can be exhausting to be empathetic.  Yet we are so used to taking care of students that we forget to take care of ourselves, and sometimes each other.  I think we need to also recognize all of us could use the same support and services the campus provides for students.  We may need five free sessions at CAPS or the compassion of a colleague just the same.

I am not entirely sure what should be expected from the institution and I am sure I can find 1,000 people who would oppose the idea of faculty being eligible to utilize services on campus (though if staff and faculty can buy a pass to Dixon for the year for a fee, why can’t we provide Faculty Wellness Passes at a nominal rate for access to CAPS and Health Services?).  And of course I understand most offices are stretched thin as it is, just taking care of the 20,000 students at OSU.  But I wonder if inviting faculty into Student Affairs offices may benefit students in the long-run, as their awareness of these services may help them to make referrals and promote our services.

Any thoughts, dear readers and colleagues?

Friends, Romans, countrymen: The second year of graduate school has came, saw, and conquered me. And I still have 2.5 quarters of it to go!  Not to mention a job search and a portfolio looming on the horizon.

Gah, every time someone says “job search” my blood pressure spikes a little…!

As much as I complain or joke about being busy, though, I love every project I am working on.  I am continuing with my internship in the Office of Student Conduct, co-coordinating the Community Standards Boards with UHDS, designing a curriculum for a course I am TA-ing in the winter, and now in my assistantship in Career Services, supervising the paraprofessional Career Assistant staff.  This term I am a recitation leader for the U-Engage first year course. Every week I have the privilege of sitting in a class with 20 first year students and talking about transitions, healthy behaviors, campus involvement and the college experience. I leave the classroom every Wednesday energized and all the more affirmed of the need for Student Affairs professionals on college campuses. The opportunity to interact with students in a classroom setting is not too common for Student Affairs professionals but maybe it should be because it helps me to better understand students, theory, and yes, I daresay, develop a lot of respect and empathy for what faculty have to do every day!

Course-wise, I think this year will be a challenge for me because of the nature of the classes in the second year (or third year). Last year, our required program courses were familiar and comfortable subject for me – theory, identity studies, multiculturalism, history. This year, our classes are far more nuts and bolts – administration, budget and finance, legal issues. Of course, the nuts and bolts are important and necessary to any study of Student Affairs. But I feel less confident in these areas as I have had such little experience with leadership, finance, and you know, being a grown up.  Ultimately, I think my discomfort in these areas reflects that there is important learning occurring and I need these courses all the more.

As for other courses, I am loving the opportunity to delve deeper into my area of specialization in crisis management. Like most of my cohort colleagues, I am starting to branch off into my elective courses in other OSU departments. This term I am taking a conflict management course in the communications department. Next term I will take a public health course on violence in society. The challenge with these courses outside the AHE and CSSA department is to relate and connect the course material to the college campus, but I have found most of the course assignments allow for me to tailor the readings and class discussions to my interests. It is also nice to meet graduate students in different disciplines!

If you’ll excuse me, there is a beautiful fall day outside to be enjoyed.  I love OSU’s campus in the fall!

This is just a short post to say at approximately 12:50 p.m. on September 6, 2008, I officially started my CSSA portfolio.

Here goes nothing.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the last few posts about everyone’s first impressions of Corvallis and the anticipation for graduate school to start.  As my departure date from Scotland draws ever nearer, I must remind myself that if I have to leave beautiful bonnie Scotland, at least I get to return to beautiful Corvallis and the wonderful people there.  I miss my cohort, the farmers’ market, long bike rides through the Willamette Valley (Newcomers to Oregon, to save yourself the embarrassment I experienced when I first arrived in Corvallis, it’s pronounced Will-am-it, not Willa-met…!), and watching the leaves change colors as I walk across the quad.  Corvallis is a worthy consultation prize for leaving behind this unforgettable place.

My summer internship has been – agh, words fail me – just brilliant.  For the first half of the summer, I served as an advisor to the students studying abroad for the summer in the palace, planned different house field trips and outings around Scotland, provided administrative assistance to the director, managed community issues, assisted with the organization of house duties, catering and facilities management, responded to crises and conflicts, and really, in sum, just made sure the students were making the most of their experience abroad.  I went with the students on house trips to the Highlands, a ceilidh, museums, fly fishing at a loch, pubs to watch the Euro 2008 final, wanders around the city and estate, and more.  As I observed the students go through the many stages of cultural acclimation and adjustment, I provided support and hopefully they would agree, a willingness to listen.

The students left at the end of July, and I was very sad to see them go.  They were a wonderful group of students who made me feel very lucky  and excited to be entering into this profession.  They also restored in me the confidence that I just might be good at what I do.  I feel from working with them so closely, I have developed my own voice, style and – dare I say – philosophy for working with students, especially when it comes to addressing community needs, responding to developmental issues, and challenging them into new territory.  I feel rejuvenated and ready to return to my internship at the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards and my assistantship at Career Services in the fall.

After the students left, my internship responsibilities transitioned to more facilitaties and conference administration.  The director of the study abroad program went on holiday for two weeks at the end of July, leaving me in charge to oversee two large group conferences (with parties of 120 and 80 people, respectively).  This meant I was solely in charge of room assignments, overseeing catering (luckily for them we contracted out so I did not have to cook for these people, though I did wash dishes and cleaned up after the meals!), supervising support staff (housekeeping, caretaker, maintenance staff), facilities set-up, customer service, and providing assistance to the conference coordinators… I did it all and boy, was I exhausted when those 10 days were over!

Tiring as it was, it was also great leadership experience.  The director had entrusted to me to take care of the house and ensure the conference guests had a great stay, as conference groups provide a lot of necessary revenue for our program.  Therefore, I had to make sure the guests enjoyed themselves but not at the expense of the palace’s wellbeing (I don’t think the Duke would appreciate red wine stains on the carpet or mud on the tartan staircase) – not an easy feat (especially because one of the conference groups were a group of 120 economics professors – it was a little awkward reminding them that they could not consume food outside of the dining room or prop the front door open).  I also had to make decisions in times of extreme stress and crises, which tested my ability to make sound judgments with either very little information or very little time to deliberate, knowing I would be the one who had to justify my reasoning if something went awry while the director was gone.

After the large conferences were over and the director returned, my responsibilities shifted to organizing guest stays and working on a few projects.  My first project is to create bulletin boards for the program.  I decided to create a progressive and interactive series of boards that will be changed throughout the term, as new cultural adjustment issues arise.  Another project is to create invoices for the different conference groups who have stayed at the house and meet with my supervisor, the director, to learn about how she manages program finances, which I think will be a good introduction before I take Budget & Finance.  I am also hoping to create a few administrative systems that will help with the program organization and facilities management.

Like I mentioned before, I will be returning to Corvallis and graduate school with a different perspective towards the work I do, student interactions, community issues, and for my own sake, life balance.  My internship is a live-in position, much like the work I did as a Resident Advisor in undergrad.  At the start of the internship I felt myself slipping back to old habits of not creating enough balance for my own well-being and spirit.  It’s easy to get carried away and allow yourself to be at the beck and call of the students in the house.  However, I soon started to plan little outings for myself in the early evenings and on weekends.  From a breezy bike ride around the 820-acre estate to a weekend away in the Highlands, I feel I have become 110% better at making time for me, something I have struggled with for years upon years.  At the mid-program review in May of last year, my committee member Don warned, half-jokingly, that if I don’t find balance for myself over the next year, he would not allow me to graduate!

In fact, I think the only problem to look out for when I return is staying in one place!  I have picked up the habit of jumping on a train to a new place any time I can.  This summer I have been all over the Highlands, the Isle of Skye, the Isle of Lewis, Marseilles, Madrid, Lisbon, Oxford, London, and Alnwick, and this week I will be heading off for a week in Belgium and the Netherlands!  As exciting as starting another year of graduate school is, it will be hard to watch my passport collect dust.  However, I mustn’t forget that graduate school itself is an adventure and like all you are learning now, Corvallis can be a very exciting place with many hidden surprises, waiting with baited breath to be unearthed and discovered by us all.

Our organization has undergone a massive change since last I blogged!  Our Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs has left for a new position and our Associate Vice Chancellor/Dean of Students retired as of Friday.  As I walked into the office today, it was under the helm of new leadership–a new VCSA and a new Dean of Students began their work this week.  I think it’s rare to have two heads of a division move on at the same time, but this opens a door for tremendous change.  I have hope that my division will move forward in a positive direction.

This small world of Student Affairs just proves to get smaller and smaller.  The new VCSA has spent the last year working with one of my CSSA cohort members in a different state.  The new VCSA is also friends with the old head of the AHE/CSSA program at OSU.  Small, small world!  I think this just goes to show how important it is to maintain positive relationships with all in the SA world, especially when you’re a fresh graduate student.

On a personal note, I am leaving for a much needed vacation as of Thursday.  My next blog will appear sometime in mid-late August!

~Jill Creighton

Today I return to the CSSA Blog with my tail between my legs, embarrassed by my lack of updates.  How much longer do you think my excuse of “But I’m in Scotland!” will save me from not fulfilling my blogging obligations? 

It has been a rather busy month with my internship, though I am sure it has been twice as busy for the students I am advising.  After an intense four-day orientation, the students jumped right into their summer semester.  Each student is taking one general elective course with an American faculty member and the mandatory Globalization of Scotland course, taught by a British faculty member.  I could tell it took the students a few days to adjust to living with the faculty members and seeing their professors at the breakfast, lunch and dinner table everyday, but I think the novelty of it has finally worn off.

For their first weekend here post-orientation, I went with the students on a group trip to the Highlands and the misty Isle of Skye, on the west coast of Scotland.  We spent three days on the tour learning the history of the Highlands, Scottish folklore, and how much bigger and richer Scottish culture is than just tartans, kilts and haggis.  The trip proved to be a great community building experience and I learned so much about the students (which I think it inevitable when you share a communal bathroom and are with them from nearly 72 hours straight!).  Over the course of the weekend, students voluntarily told me all about how they selected their majors, what they hoped to get out of their study abroad experience, what they thought about their college campus, the significant relationships in their lives, and their burgeoning consciousness of what it means to be an American now that they were in a foreign country.  One night in the hostel a group of students and I gathered around a fireplace and I presented them with the Heinz Dilemma and afterwards we discussed moral reasoning. The Highland hills were alive with student development theory!

This internship so far has really challenged me in every which way to put theory into practice, which is frankly invaluable at this stage in my career.  I see Perry, Sanford, Kohlberg, Gilligan, Josselson, Marcia, Chickering, Schlossberg, and King and Kitchener brought to life every day.  I won’t pretend I always know immediately how to respond, but as the term continues I am growing more comfortable identifying where that student is in their developmental process and creating a mental game plan for how to support them through that transition.  Surely, putting theory into practice is a skill not mastered overnight, but I am going to make the most of every opportunity I have to try!

This internship has provided a good training ground for my area of specialization in crisis management, too.  There is nothing I can think of that tests your reaction skills so much as a 2 a.m. phone call from two students stuck in Glasgow or a Sunday evening call from a shaky voice informing you all 14 students have missed their train and are stranded in London.  Now that I’m settled in a bit, I want to delve in a bit more to see how conduct is handled or could be handled in a study abroad setting, as I think it would prove interesting to see how a Student Affairs professional manages conduct when governed by several different laws and policies (e.g. U.S. law, British law, home institution policies and program policies).

I cannot say enough good things about this internship.  Even if you put aside the fact that I am living in a palace in Scotland, I find the work immensely rewarding and enjoyable in itself.  I could be doing this internship in Small Town U.S.A. and still consider myself to be one lucky Student Affairs professional.  In the past few weeks, I have created a student blog for the program (hmm, I wonder where I got the idea?) to help recruit prospective students and also to provide a community space for the current students to reflect on their experiences and adventures, prepared room assignments for visiting conference groups, sat in on meetings about the program’s future and structure, planned a few group events and outings, and assisted my supervisor with orientation and guest services for a number of conference groups. I am currently in the process of reviewing (and eventually revising) the program’s policies and community standards. 

When the students are out of class, I fill my time with listening to them talk about classes and interpersonal conflicts, connecting them with resources, following up with them about their household chore responsibilities (all students here are required to complete 4 hours of household chores, which subsidizes the cost of the program), and finding ways to support them through the stages of cultural adjustment and homesickness.  I have no idea where the time goes; all I know is I start my day at 7:30 a.m. at the breakfast table with the students and I crawl into bed around midnight, equally content as exhausted.

I cannot believe I have already been here for a month, but far far worse, I cannot believe I only have two months left!  While I dread the thought of leaving, the looming countdown only motivates me to make the most of this experience.  Time has a nasty sense of humor, but I will be the last laughing!

Orientation is under way! This summer, we have 12 sessions with approximately 480 students each session. We’re expecting a record incoming class this year of about 5750. In my role, I work with the parents at orientation, offering up a session in conjunction with our University Police Department as well as the CU Honor Code (they handle academic offenses). We talk about student rights and responsibilities as they pertain to things like alcohol, drugs, assault, weapons, vandalism, theft, etc. We also sit at a general information fair with several other campus entities.

Yesterday, two individual sets of parents refused to speak with me at our table, citing, “My student does not drink or use drugs and is perfect so I don’t need to talk to you.” They say this with all seriousness–and I know that should an incident arise with their student, these are the parents first on the phone screaming that their student is, in fact, perfect, and that I must be mistaken (along with the hall director and the police officer). We encourage parents to work with their students before school begins to establish expectations and boundaries with alcohol, but it is not always the case.

I also work with students when there is a violation of the conduct code during orientation. We hope that students will honor their contracts and choose to be substance free while on site for orientation, but every so often, we get a handful of students who do choose to bring alcohol and/or drugs into the halls and onto the campus. I have to ask, “If you can’t make it through one night of orientation, how do you plan to make it through an entire academic year?” I recognize the chasm between the reality of alcohol and drugs on our campus and the community standards that are established by the university. The ideal and the real aren’t congruent right now…something that every campus struggles to bridge. But, if the problems begin at orientation, what tone and precedent does that set for the incoming class as a whole?

On a more positive note, it is really rejuvenating to see the hopeful and excited looks on the faces of our incoming class. I know that they will contribute great things to this university and to the global society in their time. I just hope that they can choose to be substance free.

~Jill