Policies, Procedures, and Conduct

"People say I make strange choices, but they’re not strange for me. My sickness is that I’m fascinated by human behavior, by what’s underneath the surface, by the worlds inside people." - Johnny Depp

     This past week I heard my first conduct cases, and the building I oversee saw its first policy violations. Consequently, I have had the chance to have some quality discussions about our polices and procedures for living in the residential community on campus, and how one's conduct in the community can affect those around them. Lots of educational moments.

     As I think is natural, I have left each of these conversations with the lingering thought, "Did I get through to him?" [disclaimer: every one of these conversations was with a resident who identifies as male] In other words, was the moment truly educational, or was that just happening on my end? Many elements of these conversations are scripted - I need to recite a policy or justification thereof, go through the sequence of a proper conduct hearing, or be consistent with the six residents involved in a single case. Due process in life is not always individualized, so we cannot individualize every hearing as officers. Overall, I am fine with this - not only is it part of the educational process, but it makes the process a lot easier for me.

      I think that the due process element of conduct hearings educates residents. It shows them that they are members of communities, and that they are all members of communities. The other elements - the non-scripted conversations, the rationale for decisions, etc. - are up for discussion. When I ask residents if they understand how what they did violate policy, they invariably agree, because the policy is right there in front of them. When I ask if they understand how what they did affected their academic pursuits and those residents in their community, they invariably agree, because I am right there in front of them. That is more of an issue. I need to be there to hear the case and ensure an educational moment, but my being there adds a stark difference in power/authority to that same moment.

     All I can really hope for now is to make the conversations as organic as possible. I start the conversations with asking them about their days, classes, environment. I try to be personable. I show them that I care about their growth more than their sanctions. How this comes across is also up to them, and I need to remind myself that more than anything - student development, especially their conduct, is at least a two-way street.

P.S. Apologies for the delay since the last post! More urgent and important things came up...see my post on Time Management for how I prioritize.

Quote Citation: Depp, J. (n.d.). Quotelicious.com. Retrieved from: http://quotelicious.com/quotes/famous/johnny-depp-quotes 

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A GA's Dilemma - to keep the door open or not...

"Every wall is a door." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

     Happy Labor Day! I promised a post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so this is me keeping said promise. :)

     Today I am going to comment on a dilemma I have been facing lately - whether or not to keep my office door open when doing my reading for classes. I have been attempting to not read in my and Jenn's apartment, because it is too easy to fall asleep, turn on the TV, and/or do anything but work there. Furthermore, when you add up all of my "scheduled time" - meetings with RAs, professional staff meetings and trainings, conduct hours, hall council time, committee meetings - that amounts to about 15 hours, give or take 1 depending on the week. To keep the good work-life balance I am still acquiring, I am supposed to work 20 hours a week. If I stuck to that, I would be in my office - available to residents to stop in, say hi, and most likely ask questions - only 5 hours a week. Since I do not find that fair, I read in my office when not doing 5 hours of preparing for the scheduled time (returning e-mails, preparing team-builders, writing reports, etc.).

     The associated dilemma is whether or not reading will actually be done in such an atmosphere. So far, the open door policy has proven quite helpful as far as assisting residents. I have helped residents to order refrigerators, switch rooms, watch "Pretty Little Liars" in the TV lounge, work through other crises, and more. When I am helping them, though, I am not helping my studies, because I need to focus my attention elsewhere for the moment, and then take time to refocus it upon my return. It is not an incredible interruption. Of course, there is also the noise factor - my office is right off of the lobby and near a lounge. Factoring in the usual noise from the front desk and the piano in the lounge, there are additional organic detractions to focus.

     Is the open door always helpful to residents? Emerson seems to lean towards "No" in the quote above. If they had a smaller issue - one they could fix themselves - then possibly a closed door could create an educational moment. As I have been learning more about the goals of higher education, I can now say with some authority that we hope for students to learn how to solve problems on their own. We want them to know their options, think critically about each of them, then use that thought to choose one and follow-through. By being so available, I am providing them a shortcut that they may not need, and thus taking away a potentially educational moment.

     Still, the fact that a larger issue - one in which a resident truly does need me or someone to talk to - could walk through my open door keeps it open for me. I still have not gone through my weekly routine yet, and will not until next week, so I cannot say definitively whether or not I have enough time to read in my office. I will report back eventually, but for now I may just need to turn up my classical music.

Quote Citation: Emerson, R. W. (n.d.). Goodreads. Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/31820-every-wall-is-a-door

Current Issues - Tiffin University's Ivy Bridge College

"News of the investigation comes just weeks after Tiffin's accreditor ordered the university to halt new enrollments at Ivy Bridge, an associate-degree program designed to serve working adults that has been recognized as an innovative model by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other organizations. More than 90 percent of the program's students received Pell Grants." - Goldie Blumenstyk

     I will be honest that I am only just catching-up on the news on Ivy Bridge College, but what a saga it seems to have been. You can find the article about the Justice Department's recently-opened investigation here, but if you want more background you should select the links within the article or even read the links below first:

• Initial article reporting on the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) order for Ivy Bridge College to stop enrollments
• Follow-up article HLC defending its decisions
• Article on HLC permitting Tiffin University to bring Ivy Bridge into its own online Associate's Degree program
• Almost most importantly - the Ivy Bridge College Facebook Page

     To summarize the "issue" at hand: The HLC of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools - a regional accreditor (basically decides what education is and should be) - told Tiffin University to stop enrolling students in Ivy Bridge College, its joint business venture with for-profit company Altius Education, Inc., the purpose of which is to offer online Associate's Degrees. Ivy Bridge's students appear to be primarily working adults from traditionally underserved populations. The HLC had originally ordered that all students must transfer either to another Associate's program or to Tiffin's Bachelor's program, but then alleviated some of the strictness in saying that they could continue in the online Associate's program originally offered by Tiffin before it created with Ivy Bridge. It is difficult to tell what, if any, of that has changed with this new investigation.

     The rest seems to be a battle of subjectivity and "he said, she said." There is disagreement as to the crux of why the relationship originally needed to end - the top reasons appear to be (1) The HLC having stricter rules governing such partnerships, (2) Tiffin University withdrawing its accreditation application for Ivy Bridge, or (3) The HLC's order, which it retroactively defended with claims of lacking academic integrity and oversight by Tiffin - but the primary reason depends very much on to whom you are speaking. Many words have been exchanged between and said about the HLC, Tiffin, and Altius Education, and most can be read on the articles and Facebook page. On one hand, we have a university that could have been a degree mill, simply taking Pell Grants to pay for pieces of paper. On the other, we have an innovative approach - regarded as such by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - to providing education to those who simply do not have any other option than this relatively inexpensive, online medium of academics.

     The issues of academic integrity and oversight bring us to the new investigation. Prompted under the Federal Claims Act, which covers the misuse of federal funds, the investigation seems to be primarily concerned with what recruitment measures were used by Tiffin for Ivy Bridge and what Tiffin's true role was in the administration and education occurring through Ivy Bridge. These factors play into whether or not the College followed federal-aid guidelines.

      I would like to bring some focus back to the students. The Chronicle's articles were at least decent in their profiling the students enrolled at Ivy Bridge, but more is deserved. These are mostly non-traditional students. They provide care and have dependents relying on them. Most are receiving Pell Grants. No matter what decision is arrived at, a disservice has been done unto them. If the DOJ decides that mismanagement occurred with their funding, I am confident in saying someone should be ashamed of their actions. If they decide nothing is wrong, then these students have been put through frustration for the second time in two months - not knowing if they will have to transfer (some of them for the second time, according to Facebook), not knowing if their degree is or will be worth something, or even attainable. One can only hope that their advisors are helping them each step of the way.

Article Citation: Blumenstyk, G. (2013). Justice Dept. opens investigation of online program at Tiffin U. The chronicle of higher education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Justice-Dept-Opens/141289/

A Day in the Life...Now a MWF Blog!

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." - Henry David Thoreau

     Yesterday was my first Tuesday of the semester, and it was eye-opening in some ways. A quick disclaimer: this will sound like complaining, but I enjoyed almost every minute of yesterday. Here is the schedule of yesterday's events:

• 5:30AM-6:00AM: Wake-Up; make breakfast for my wife, Jenn; and get ready for my run
• 6:00AM-6:45AM: Jenn leaves for work, and I go on my run
• 6:45AM-8:00AM: Stretch, shower, dress, eat breakfast, do the morning's dishes, and quickly check e-mail and schedule for the day
• 8:00AM-10:00AM: Get coffee, prepare for morning staff meeting, prepare materials for area-wide program later in the day, and answer e-mails
• 10:00AM-12:00PM: Area Hall Director Meeting
• 12:00PM-1:00PM: Lunch
• 1:00PM-3:45PM: Respond to multiple calls (all from different offices), show a campus partner a public space for a future event, assist a resident with multiple cable issues, call Tech Services to report that issue, prepare more for program later, prepare a form for my staff to do roster verifications, and prepare for class
• 3:45PM-4:15PM: Change for class and later program, carry items for program over to other hall (including a large cutout of the school mascot - it looked hilarious I bet)
• 4:15PM-6:15PM: Statistics Class (got out early!!)
• 6:15PM-7:15PM: Assist with final parts and clean-up of area-wide program
• 7:15PM-8:00PM: Dinner with Jenn
• 8:00PM-10:00PM: Hall RA Staff Meeting
• 10:20PM - Bed time!

     I hesitated in posting this, since it could look as though I am trying to scare future professionals away. That is not the intention at all - I have always disliked any program, be it undergraduate, graduate, or professional, that attempts to weed-out or scare its students. I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday and appreciated the reality-check of how the next two years will look every now and then. The only item yesterday that will not always occur is the area-wide program (which went really well!) - other than that, this is how Tuesday will look weekly for me. I am fine with it. I am both a student and a graduate assistant, and I want to be a student affairs professional, so this is what I signed-up for!

     Given all of that, I have decided to change this blog to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday blog. As you can see, Tuesday is slightly cramped, and my class with the heaviest reading occurs on Thursday, so I will rarely be able to prioritize posting if I have not already prepared something the day before. I promise the content will stay the same, if not improve! Thank you for staying with me as I continue this experiment in reflection. :)

Quote Citation: Thoreau, H. D. (n.d.). The quotations page. Retrieved from: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26843.html 

Running!

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." - Steve Prefontaine

     Sorry this post is so late, but I had errands today...and my graduate program orientation! Tomorrow I have my first-ever class as a graduate student of higher education, and I am honestly super-excited! Sure, looking over the syllabi was a wake-up call of just how much work this will be, and thinking about what professional development opportunities to take, what organizations to become involved it, and what research I should / want to do has been making my head spin at times. But overall it is exciting to think that tomorrow is the next big step towards my career.

     Adding classes and reading to my weekly schedule has sparked new thoughts on the ever-elusive work-life balance that many of my advisors have preached these past few months. The past few years I have developed a much higher regard for my own mental health and downtime. A momentous point was when I realized how much more productive and focused I was if I gave myself a break from work every once in awhile. Really, it worked.

     Thus, I have spent much time thinking of how to fit classes, readings for those classes, my assistantship, and some free time (which includes actually spending time with my wife of two months) into my weekly schedule. I know it is do-able, but these next two weeks will be an experiment in actually doing it. This brings me to the title of this post - running! Part of that free time needs to also consist of making sure that I stay healthy. My father has always taught me that maintaining physical health and shape is one of the most important parts of life, and I finally started listening in my senior year of college. 

     This past month, I have started running on weekdays in the morning after my wife leaves for work (I technically started last semester, but now I am much more consistent). I never thought I would like it. Against all odds, I have now begun to enjoy running. I do not know whether it is the participation in a mindless activity, how quiet it is on campus at 6 AM, or rocking out to my tunes, but I just feel great after finishing a run. And with my conduct hours all being in the morning, it is a good thing for students that I start the day off feeling good!

Quote Citation: Prefontaine, Steve. (n.d.). Brainyquote.com. Retrieved from: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/steveprefo177923.html

Current Issues - President Obama's New Plan

"The heart of the proposals is a controversial plan to rate colleges based on measures of access, affordability, and student outcomes, and to allocate aid based on those ratings. Under the plan, students attending higher-rated institutions could obtain larger Pell Grants and more-affordable loans." - Kelly Field

     The articles headlining today's Chronicle of Higher Education were a great incentive to start fulfilling a additional goal I have for this blog - to stay abreast of and reflect on trending issues in the field of higher education. Connecting some of these issues to practice may be difficult, but I will do my best. On such posts, I will start with a summarizing quote, then provide links to the information on which I am commenting, and finally provide some commentary, ideally sparking some of your own thoughts that you should please post as comments!

     The article I read today from the Chronicle can be found here. It is very informative article providing some of the reviews various people in the government and the field of education have given on President Obama's new plan for higher ed. The "Fact Sheet" that the White House has published can be found here. As the quote above states, the President's stated goal is to put federal aid where the "best" outcomes are being produced, and to make college more affordable for students.

     Overall, I can see where most of the worries given in the article are coming from - most were ones that I had while reading the fact sheet. How do we prevent colleges from "stacking the deck," as it were? How do we ensure that schools producing excellent graduates in lower-paying fields do not get hurt? What kind of ratings system exists or could ever exist that is actually a level playing field?

     At the same time, the plan makes sense to me. I am definitely biased, coming from a small, public, academically-focused school. I also look forward to reading more about this plan as the questions above are addressed. Two additional concerns that I have, though, are the potential for a "snowball effect" and the rating biases against certain schools. By a "snowball effect," I mean the idea that certain schools will not receive as high of ratings, will receive less aid accordingly, will not be as able to increase their ratings as a result, and then the cycle repeats. Is this fair? I do not know. It does not feel right to me, but at the same time it seems to be a goal of this plan.

     Similarly, I am unsure about not only how ratings will be developed, but also how they will be interpreted. What will a low rating say to a potential student, other than what it used to say in US News & World Report? At least one additional label that such a school will receive is now "You will not receive as much federal aid here." The plan for the ratings (so far) seems to be primarily based on academics and graduate earnings and performance, while as a Student Affairs professional I am confident in saying that is not all a student's campus experience is about. Colleges do so much more to develop students than teach them statistics and psychology. A student should still look at the full student experience when choosing school. And while such social development outcomes are not as measurable, I hope that the DOE's future metric will somehow account for them.

Article & Quote Citation: Field, K. (2013). Obama plan to tie student aid to college ratings draws mixed reviews. The chronicle of higher education. Retrieved from: http://chronicle.com/article/Obama-Proposes-Tying-Federal/141229/

Other Source: Office of the Press Secretary. (2013). Fact sheet on the president's plan to make college more affordable. Retrieved from: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/08/22/fact-sheet-president-s-plan-make-college-more-affordable-better-bargain-

Photo By: Me (view of Atlantic Ocean from Table Mountain in Cape Town)

Article Reflection #1 - Ally Identity Development

“If you've come here to help me, you're wasting your time. But if you've come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”       - Australian Aboriginal Leader Lilla Watson

     This post acts as an introduction to a primary goal I have for this blog - connecting scholarship and practice in Higher Education. While I have not yet started readings for classes, I have had the privilege today to read part of Keith E. Edwards's article "Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development," an article explaining a conceptual model of different types of allies, and how those different identities relate to diverse motivations for being allies. To read the entire article, please visit this link. The provide a brief summary, Edwards outlines three types of allies: the Ally for Self-Interest, Ally for Altruism, and Ally for Social Justice. These are listed in order of awareness of systems and actions of oppression - in other words, the Ally for Social Justice is most aware of the systems of oppression and how to "'speak with the oppressed without speaking for the oppressed'" (p. 50). 
     The purpose is not to fault the ally for self-interest or the ally for altruism, but rather to provide some insights into their motivations. The ally for self-interest is simply acting "to protect those one cares about" (p. 46), but does not have a complete of how oppression acts on a systematic rather than individual level, and thus can feel "deeply powerful and self-actualized when intervening on behalf of individuals they care about who are members of oppressed social groups" (p. 48). This unintentionally perpetuates the oppression that this ally is attempting to address. Similarly, the ally for altruism, while more aware of the systematic nature of oppression, is motivated primarily by guilt, and thus "distances oneself from others in the agent group in an attempt to minimize the guilt" and becomes defensive when their own oppressive actions are addressed (p. 49). This also unintentionally perpetuates the oppression, for these allies see themselves as helping the target group, which is not the goal of social justice. 
    The true goal is rather for everyone to work together for an equitable liberation of all peoples - both the oppressed and the oppressor, as both are affected by systems of oppression. Such is the goal of the ally for social justice: "to better connect all individuals...to restore individual and collective humanity and spiritual liberation" (p. 52).
     I read this article on a suggestion from our departments Coordinator for Social Justice Education, since the building I direct has a Living-Learning Community focusing specifically on social justice. A principle in our department is that our RAs are expected to at least be advocates for all residents, but not expected to be allies. If they wish to be allies, that is great, but we cannot require them to be. With this community being in my building, though, I see it as one of my own responsibilities to be as educated on social justice as possible, and this article was a great introduction. For example, I feel that I now finally, fully comprehend the opening quote to this post - one which our Coordinator used in a training session. See page 50 of the article for the point at which the lightbulb switched on. :)
     One manner in which I plan to utilize this article is for a better understanding of the development of the aspiring allies in my building. I know that I have many in that living-learning community, yet I do not expect them to be fully-developed allies for Social Justice. Many on that wing may be in Edwards's category of aspiring allies for altruism, while many throughout my hall may be allies for self-interest. Consequently, I expect issues and microagressions to arise through their well-intended actions, and having a better-educated background through this article prepares me to better address these issues. The same applies to both my own development as an ally and the development of residents who come to me for help with their own ally developments. I myself am currently on the border between an ally for altruism and an ally for social justice, but I hope that consistent reflections such as these will help push me over the edge.

       Please let me know what you think about my first attempt at addressing/connecting an article!

Article Citation: Edwards, K. E. (2006). Aspiring social justice ally identity development.  NASPA Journal 43 (4), 39-60.
Quote Citation: Watson, L. (n.d.). Goodreads.com. Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/306551-if-you-ve-come-here-to-help-me-you-re-wasting-your.
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