What a week!

 Conflict Resolution, ISU, Personal, Student Conduct
Feb 142012
 

The week of February 1-7 proved to be quite an interesting one in my life, both personally and professionally. I started the week traveling to the annual conference of the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA), my first trip back to ASCA since they moved their conference location from Clearwater Beach, FL to St, Pete Beach, FL. The new location at the Tradewinds is a great choice, and the staff there demonstrated exceptional customer service and attention to detail throughout my visit. I began the conference by proposing to my partner Sandra (she accepted), so the week could have ended right there and I would have been happy.

But the week did not end there; it was only beginning. The conference focused heavily on issues surrounding Title IX, threat assessment, and conflict resolution. Perhaps the best session came right away in the conference when Brett Sokolow, Bernice Sandler, Wendy Murphy, and Nancy Hogshead-Makar presented a powerful session on Title IX and the Dear Colleague Letter. Sandler in particular was a treat to hear, given her history and deep involvement in Title IX. The follow up question and answer session was equally entertaining and enlightening.

The conference also saw the public introduction of NCHERM-CR, a professional practice group out of the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management (NCHERM). As the “CR” designation suggests, this group focuses on conflict resolution strategies beyond the adjudication of student conduct, focusing on mediation, conflict coaching, and restorative justice. I am honored that Brett Sokolow has asked me to chair this group, which at present includes such talented professionals as Chris Loschiavo (University of Florida), David Karp (Skidmore College), and Matt Gregory (LSU). We are currently developing our program menu and considering our initial projects as we launch what we hope will be a transformational effort in the area of student conduct and conflict resolution. I feel a debt of gratitude to Brett Sokolow, who sees this opportunity to benefit our profession and to give life to a network of professionals, several of us of whom were struggling to advance the former Campus Mediation Project. We will be adding more professionals over time, as well as working with consultants on a project by project basis. I am very excited about the work that we have to do. I am also now beginning the re-write of my original mediation training materials, which I expect to complete by summer in advance of the 2012-2013 training calendar.

While at the ASCA conference, I was also notified that I had passed my doctoral comps, a huge step towards finishing the degree that I have long labored over. I am currently developing my dissertation proposal, which I hope to defend at the end of the spring.

As a result of the need to focus on my dissertation and my getting married this coming summer, I am giving up my work responsibility of advising our Student Government Association (SGA). This is a particularly difficult decision for me, given my love of our student government, and my own roots as a student leader in college. But I have had the privilege of doing this for five years, feel very good abut where our SGA is in its development, and believe very strongly that it is time for someone new to have this opportunity. My colleague (Associate Dean) John Davenport will be taking over advisement reins at the Passing of the Gavel ceremony in April.

The first week of February unfortunately did not end with the one piece of news that I hoped for, as I watched the New York (New Jersey, let’s be honest!) Giants once again beat my beloved New England Patriots in Super Bowl XVLI. But given the rest of the week, I have to say it wasn’t all that disheartening, as the Patriots are well positioned to be competitive for the foreseeable future. All in all, I couldn’t ask for a much better week!

 

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Hello 2012!

 Conflict Resolution, ISU, Personal
Jan 182012
 

I know I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus from posting here, but it’s been very needed. The end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 have been very eventful, both in my personal and professional life. There is lots to share as I move forward this year, so keep checking back for regular updates.

The big personal news to date is that I have completed my comprehensive examinations (pending approval) and am now moving forward full-speed with my dissertation proposal, which I plan to defend in late spring. I have refined my research questions in the process of preparing for comps, and am now looking at a qualitative review of the preparedness of student affairs practitioners (most notably in student conduct and/or conflict resolution) to manage conflicts and to assist others in managing conflicts. It is based off a small pilot study I did back in 2004, and I am pretty excited about having a sense of clarity on my topic.

Work continues to go along well, and our Student Government Association continues to have a very productive and successful year. They have had many achievements this year, and have launched a new website to better connect with students. I am looking forward to seeing what this group can accomplish before they are done in April and a new group takes over.

In terms of conflict resolution work, I have decided that the Campus Mediation Project has finally run its course. While there is much work to be done in terms of promoting the development and implementation of more comprehensive conflict resolution systems on college campuses, the CMP is simply no longer the vehicle to be able to accomplish this. The movement is much bigger than mediation now, and needs to provide for a full spectrum of conflict resolution services. Additionally, the structure of CMP simply was not allowing me the opportunity to do as much as I would like.

However, there is an announcement coming in the next couple of weeks about my next project, which I am very excited about. More news will be posted on this site in early February involving campus conflict resolution efforts, so please stay tuned!

 

 

DoS staff members receive cultural competence training

 ISU
Nov 092011
 

Here is a very kind article written by Eric Jome that was written for “Identity,” which is Illinois State University’s online newsletter for diversity issues. The original article can be found here.

Dean of Students staff members receive cultural competence training

You can claim you have no pre-conceived notions about others, but that is simply not true. Somewhere, on some level, everyone has biases and prejudices. You may not always be conscious of them, but they certainly influence how you interact and communicate with others. It can be a sobering experience to realize this about yourself. It can also be a daunting, but ultimately liberating, experience to face those biases and move beyond them.

Facing up to personal bias and prejudice has been a cornerstone of cultural competence training programs for staff members in the Dean of Students Office. The ongoing training, organized by the unit’s 10-member Cultural Competence Committee, has helped A/P and Civil Service staff members and graduate assistants to confront and identify biases and find ways to move beyond them in order to better communicate with students and other campus constituencies. Associate Dean of Students Rick Olshak chairs the Cultural Competence Committee and feels that the overall mission of the Dean of Students Office has been greatly enhanced, and that staff members have benefitted from the training, both personally and professionally.

“A lot of us will say ‘I’m not prejudiced, I treat everyone equally,’” said Olshak. “The truth is we do have biases, and they cause us to treat some people differently. The ultimate purpose of the training is to move us beyond simply acknowledging and appreciating diversity and help us achieve a true level of understanding about others that allows us to be more open in our communications. The training sessions have been very empowering for staff members.”

Empowering and daunting. Olshak and other committee members began the training sessions in May 2010 by bringing in professional trainers to cover social justice issues. A staff retreat then took on the difficult topic of dealing with personal prejudices. That exercise was an eye-opening experience even for staff members who are used to dealing with issues of diversity in their daily work. “The issues became very real for people during those sessions, sometimes hitting a nerve,” said Olshak. “Staff members had to really examine questions like ‘what sets me off?’ and ‘how do I handle it?.’”

That self-examination process was not limited to staff members. All operations of the Dean of Students Office were examined using the cultural competency lens. Interactions with students and other campus constituencies were evaluated; the text, photos and overall message of the office’s printed communications and web content were examined; and the physical layout of offices was scrutinized. “We examined our whole environment with one question in mind, ‘Do people feel comfortable?’” said Olshak. He notes that the initial study and ongoing evaluation of communications and operations on all levels have greatly enhanced the already open and inclusive atmosphere in the Dean of Students Office.

Staff members continue their cultural competency training throughout the year with sessions that look at issues on both a personal and intellectual level. In addition to examining individual attitudes and ideas, sessions have focused on broader issues such as stereotypes and situations of dominance or submissiveness within a cultural setting.

Olshak credits Associate Dean of Students Rick Lewis for being an office role model and personal mentor throughout the cultural competency training process. “Rick has had a big influence throughout this whole process and has given me a lot of help coordinating these programs,” Olshak said. “His mentoring has helped me to think about my background a lot more, and how it influences my words and actions. With my professional background in mediation, I look for commonalities and ways to bridge differences. You can’t base your interactions with others on stereotypes. That’s just lacking in wits, and it’s dangerous.”

During the training sessions and discussions about cultural issues, Olshak has had time to reflect again on the deep prejudices held by members of his own family during his youth, and how growth experiences such as military service and college helped him to move beyond them. That personal experience helps him to put the whole process of cultural competency training into context.

“When you have a greater awareness of attitudes and prejudices. you start to examine your own thoughts, actions and words more carefully,” Olshak said. “That’s a learning process that never ends. Listening is the real key to that learning. You need to listen instead of thinking about what you’re going to say next.”

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Guest Comment: Poking holes in FIRE’s false arguments (by Dan Kast)

 Student Conduct
May 172011
 

From Rick:

First, I want to thank all of the people who either left comments on my last entry or who took the time to write me kind words. “OCR versus the One-Trick Pony” and my other DCL entries generated a lot more traffic and feedback than I expected, further reinforcing my belief that educators see this as a very important discussion.

Beyond the DCL letter being an important point of discussion, it is also becoming clear that FIRE is being exposed as an organization with a political agenda and as an organization that is either unable or unwilling to take a reasoned position in order to promote collegial discourse. There is nothing collegial about FIRE, and their alarmist hyperbole about grand conspiracies that lack evidence reveals their true nature. Last week’s continued assault on the preponderance test is an excellent example of projecting hysteria over facts, and served as fodder for a close friend and colleague, Dan Kast, to write a response which will appear in detail in an article in the Summer 2011 issue of the Journal of Campus Safety & Student Development. I have had an opportunity to preview it and promise that people will not be disappointed with Dan’s reasoned but pointed response.

Like myself, Dan also had some strong reactions to FIRE’s hyperbole and took specific aim at a separate article written by Samantha Harris, FIRE’s Director of Speech Code Research. I won’t talk much about Dan’s response, since he has been kind enough to forward it to me to share via this blog. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed this piece immensely, and once again find Dan’s logic to be solid and his argument pointed. Enjoy the read!

Poking holes in FIRE’s false arguments (by Dan Kast)

If FIRE plans to make a case for having a seat at the table as discussions move forward about the appropriate resolution of sexual violence claims, it would be well-served to educate itself about the real problems faced by all of our students, instead of ignoring the plight of victims while alleging non-existent conspiracies to deprive the accused of fundamental fairness.
On May 5, 2011, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) released its response to the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) “Dear Colleague Letter” of April 4. In this letter, FIRE argued that a preponderance of the evidence standard – used for decades by the majority of colleges and universities in all types of misconduct, and required by the Department of Education for the resolution of Title IX grievances – does not adequately protect the due process rights of accused students.

I had hoped FIRE’s oblivious lack of concern for, and disregard for the rights of, the victims of sexual assault was merely a consequence of its misguided belief in a widespread, systemic effort within higher education to force “political correctness” upon students and stifle freedom of expression. Viewed through this lens, an exclusive focus on the rights of the accused is understandable, though hardly justifiable. After all, FIRE’s mission is to “defend and sustain individual rights”; I can only assume this is meant to include everyone’s rights, not just those accused of serious misconduct. Continue reading »

OCR versus the One-Trick Pony

 Student Conduct
May 132011
 

Introduction

In a few bright, shining moments FIRE has been the champion of those who both deserved and needed it, and that is not a bad thing. But the continued vilification of higher education as a collective is unwelcome, unfounded, and wholly unnecessary.

I wasn’t planning to have any one particular topic dominate this blog for any period of time, but it looks like the OCR Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is doing just that, and for good reason. Although I don’t know anyone who works at OCR, I can only imagine that they would be thrilled to know that the conversation within the profession regarding the DCL is raging fast and furious on the profession’s leading listserv among student conduct practitioners. As a member of the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA), I have been a member of this list for many years (even running the group for a significant stretch of time) and I have been closely following the conversations of my colleagues.

Background and initial reactions

My overall impression is that most practitioners that I have encountered understand that there is not a consistently level playing field for aggrieved parties (otherwise known as “victims”) in sexual misconduct cases, and therefore support the stance taken by OCR. But there are those who believe that OCR is advocating too strongly for these people, and that it is somehow a zero-sum game that means that the rights of accused students are being violated or abridged in order to create a responsive environment for the aggrieved party. My response has been very simple; we have at least fifty years of case law (dating back to Dixon v. Alabama, 1961) which has instructed colleges and universities on how to manage conduct processes and protect the rights of the accused student. But with the exception of a few forward-thinking programs, those same rights are rarely granted to the person bringing the complaint in sexual misconduct cases. While many institutions across the United States have done their best to accommodate aggrieved parties, other institutions have not, and a culture has been created for many aggrieved parties (the overwhelming majority of whom are women) where reporting, investigating, and bringing these cases through our conduct processes has not been a priority. In 2010 this culminated in the publication of an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, where a review of many campus conduct processes entitled, “Sexual Assault on Campus: A frustrating search for justice” was very critical of numerous conduct systems who failed to adequately address these cases. According to the CPI website, “The Center interviewed 50 experts familiar with the college disciplinary process — student affairs administrators, conduct hearing officers, assault services directors, and victim advocates. The inquiry included a review of records in select cases, and examinations of 10 years’ worth of complaints filed against institutions with the Education Department under Title IX and the Clery Act, as well as a survey of 152 crisis services programs and clinics on or near college campuses. The Center also interviewed 33 women who reported being sexually assaulted by other students.” Continue reading »

More on OCR “Dear Colleague” letter

 Student Conduct
May 052011
 

Today I had the opportunity to attend a webinar from the National Association for College and University Attorneys (NACUA) on the issue of the OCR “Dear Colleague” letter.

First, the information and perspective offered by the presenters (Amy Foerster of Saul Ewing LLP and Gloria Hage of Eastern Michigan University) was poignant and on target. They reviewed the structure and purpose of the “Dear Colleague Letter,” the institutional obligation to respond to complaints, procedural requirements, grievance procedure requirements, and prevention measures.

Of all of the material covered, I particularly enjoyed the review of confidentiality issues. They reiterated the important point that a complainant’s desire to maintain confidentiality may ultimately limit the ability of the institution to respond, but does not relieve the institution of its obligation to investigate and to respond, as well as to offer appropriate relief to the complainant (such as switching classes, living accommodations, etc.). The presenters reinforced that this is a complicated issue and even OCR’s choice of language does not always provide clarification.

While understanding that this was a program offered by attorneys for attorneys, the one disappointment I had with this webinar was the model code that was offered. While the presenters frequently stressed that it was just a model, in truth it is a poor model that reflects a “judicial” process rather than a “student conduct” process. The presenters needed look no further than their own association to find what remains to be the best legally-grounded document that is written in student development language in terms of Ed Stoner and John Lowery’s Model Code of Student Conduct. While the practices offered in the proposed code today may have been legally sound, they reintroduce a great deal of non-developmental language that Stoner and Lowery had helped us eliminate. Thus, my advice to practitioners is to continue to use the Stoner & Lowery code as a model, and then supplement that code with the sexual harassment and sexual assault language offered in the presentation.

One particular part of the proposed code that I took exception to was the inclusion of what essentially amounts to a six month statute of limitations. Given our need as educators to respond to delayed reports, and knowing how rape trauma syndrome often handicaps a person’s ability to manage a response to an assault, I am concerned that such a seemingly arbitrary amount of time was applied. Why six months? Why not a year? Time prohibited us from being able to pursue this issue further, but it is one that gives me cause for concern.

Overall I thought it was a good webinar, and the presenters were well-versed in the material. Even campuses who handle sexual misconduct complaints well have fertile ground for continued discussion as a result of the “Dear Colleague” letter, and it will be interesting to see how campus practices evolve in the months and years ahead.

 

“So Say We All”

 ISU, Personal
Apr 252011
 

Long before I arrived at his presentation tonight, I knew that an evening with Edward James Olmos was going to be rewarding. After all, here is my favorite actor from one of my favorite shows (Battlestar Galactica) who is a social activist coming to our campus to speak about one of my favorite topics (social justice). No matter what my expectations however, they were far surpassed by the man who took the stage tonight and shared his gifts and talent. In all it turned out to be two hours of my life that could not have been better spent anywhere else.

Leaving the house lights on so that he could see each of us, Olmos began by talking about his own identity, or more aptly identities. Thanks to my education I have long viewed race as an imperfect social construct that creates more problems than it settles, but it took Olmos to really bring this to life for me and help me appreciate the destructive power of racial identity. Olmos reflected on his identity as a Chicano; half-Mexican and half-Spanish, born in the United States. He talked about the power of an identity that was five hundred years old, commenting that he would not be who he was without this mixture of cultures, and the strength that he draws from both. But before he could be a Chicano, European or a Mexican, he had to be indigenous to the Americas, a history of forty thousand years. And even before that, he had to be Asian for many thousands of years before those people crossed the Bering Strait into North America. And of course before that, he had his roots in Africa, as do we all.

The point is an obvious but powerful one; all of humanity comes from Africa, and the reason we are “different” from one another now is because we took different migratory routes off of our original continent. What Olmos wanted us to remember was that we have more in common than we have separating us, a fact too often forgotten. He drew upon Battlestar Galactica to see how one amazing science fiction series dared to challenge us by making us think about what it means to be human, particularly when we might identify more with the machine-race Cylons than we do with humanity. And it was that show’s grappling with issues of human rights, suicide bombers, terrorism, reconciliation, and right to life versus right to choose that ultimately resulted in the cast and creators of Battlestar being invited to the United Nations to discuss those very same issues in detail. Continue reading »

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