Passing of the Gavel 2011

 ISU
Apr 112011
 

On Sunday April 10 I had the pleasure of once again spending the evening with our student government leaders as we inaugurated a new group of executive officers and senators for the 2011-2012 year. The previous administration of David Marquis was a very successful one, resulting in numerous new initiatives and more than eighty pieces of passed legislation. The new Office on the Quad program increased SGA visibility, and after two years of trying, SGA implemented a new student discount card with local merchants. Add some important internal Association improvements, a revamping of the Association’s transition process and Emerging Leader Program, and it is clear that our student leaders had a very active and productive session.

New Student Body President Zach Owens and his team were sworn in, and we had a wonderful time both celebrating the accomplishments of 2010-2011 while also looking forward to the year ahead. I am very excited to see what the coming year holds for this very talented group of student leaders.

Something very noteworthy about our student government is how much a part of the shared governance process SGA is at Illinois State. SGA has had its Constitution signed by University President Al Bowman in recognition of SGA’s status as the official governing body for students at Illinois State University. Students hold twenty-one voting seats on the Academic Senate (all twenty Senators plus the Student Body President), granting SGA a degree of influence that is very rare in higher education. Finally, a student Trustee serves as a voting member of the University’s Board of Trustees, and serves as an ex-officio member of the Academic Senate and the Student Government Association.

Rick Olshak, 2010-2011 Student Body President David Marquis, 2010-2011 President of the Assembly Douglas Schlesser

2010-2011 Executive Director Lauren Martin, Rick Olshak, 2010-2011 Student Body President David Marquis

Rick Olshak, 2010-2011 Secretary of Sustainability Rob Martin

Vice President of Student Affairs Steve Adams swears in the 2011-2012 Executive Officers: Zach Owens (Student Body President), Aaron VonQualen (Student Body Vice President) and Kara Davis (Executive Director)

The OCR “Dear Colleague” Letter

 Student Conduct
Apr 042011
 

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to colleges and universities regarding the issue of responding to claims of sexual violence. The letter can be accessed at the NCHERM website, and is worth a read by anyone working in higher education. (Update: The letter is now posted as a pdf to the USDOE website)

It is no real surprise to me that this letter was released to the media prior to actually being presented to the higher education community. As one colleague pointed out on Twitter, OCR is likely still reacting to criticism that arose from the study done by the Center for Public Integrity on college and university responses to allegations of sexual assault. Frequent visitors to this site know that I was one of the people interviewed for this study, and I also was fortunate enough to appear on NPR’s Talk of the Nation with Kristen Lombardi, CPI’s lead investigative reporter for this study.

My perspective when being interviewed is the same one that I have now. It is my genuine belief that most colleges and universities do the best job that they possibly can responding to allegations of sexual misconduct, and do so with staff that have proper training and experience. This is my experience in the institutions that I have worked at, in my continual conversations with colleagues over the years, and in my review of college and university processes. Having said that I am known for making the rather blunt comment that there are just enough people in our profession not doing the right thing to give our entire profession the proverbial black eye. Thus, when Ms. Lombardi shared with me some of the stories that she had investigated, I was horrified. How is it that institutions of higher learning will not take such complaints seriously, not investigate them to their reasonable conclusion, or choose to put forth staff whose lack of training and/or experience makes them wholly unfit to manage such cases? I respect that there are two sides to the cases that Ms. Lombardi investigated, and that FERPA restrictions prevent institutions from sharing their own versions of the events, but some of the information that I have read is deeply troubling. Preferential treatment for student athletes. The strong-arming of victims attempting to come forward. The lack of published processes. Poorly trained investigators and/or hearing panels.  At some point, no matter how many of us are doing the right things the right ways, our work is undone by those who are unable or unwilling to provide fairness and equity to all students in our conduct and grievance processes. That’s exactly what invites governmental intervention through legislation, and in some cases through strongly worded statements such as the “Dear Colleague” letter released today by OCR. While the manner in which the letter has been released is political, the fact of the matter is that the letter contains some very important points that college and university administrators must heed. Continue reading »

Exciting week at ISU

 ISU
Mar 312011
 

It’s been a terrific week at ISU as we inch toward the end of the spring semester.

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Matt Spialek (SBP '09-'10), David Marquis (SBP '10-'11), Zach Owens (SBP '11-'12), and Rick Olshak (SGA Advisor)

First, our student government elections were held this week and the ticket of Zach Owens, Aaron Von Qualen, and Kara Davis was elected as our set of new executive officers. There were some growing pains attached to this elections process, as we have made a transition towards an elections process that is more open to independent runs and will hopefully result in a more diverse student government. It’s going to take a couple of years for us to see the type of engagement that we would like to see, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that most elected positions were filled (we have three elected executives and twenty legislators). Moving forward, only five of the twenty legislative seats will need to be appointed. Voter turnout was only around 11%, which is low for us, but I do think we will see things pick up as the new elections process takes root.

The starters awaiting their introductions versus Arkansas

The other major happening this week has been the deep run that our women’s basketball team made in the WNIT tournament. The Redbirds beat Central Michigan, Wisconsin, Duquesne and Arkansas to advance to the WNIT Final Four for the third straight season. Unfortunately, for the second straight year a PAC-10 powerhouse came in and ended any WNIT championship hopes. Last year the Redbirds lost to California (Berkeley) who then beat Miami (FL) for the WNIT championship. Last night USC came in and crushed the Redbirds, and now USC will face Toledo in the championship game. None the less, it was a tremendous season for the Redbirds, who finished the season 24-11 and 17-1 at home. This was supposed to be a “rebuilding” season under first-year head coach Stephanie Glance (WBCA Rookie Coach of the Year), but the Redbirds finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference (12-6) before going on their run in the WNIT. Although our team is graduating quite a large group of seniors, there is plenty of talent remaining, led by Katie Broadway, Marley Hall, Alexis Jenkins, and Candace Sykes. Hopefully the Redbirds will find themselves in another deep post-season run next year. Congratulations to our Redbirds!

 

Thoughts on social media…

 Social Networking
Mar 222011
 

I am often asked about my view on student affairs staff participating on social media sites such as Facebook, and particularly on whether or not to actively engage with students in the virtual world. Truthfully, it is a topic that I have had some different thoughts on, but I think I have arrived at a place where I am comfortable articulating what I choose to do and why.

I’ll say up front that I understand both of the strongly held views between engaging openly with students online, and not engaging at all. Just a couple of years ago, I booted everyone work related off of my Facebook friends list and set up a separate account just related to professional contacts, both students and professional. But I found that to be way too much effort for me to manage, as well as too difficult for many people to understand, and I realized I had not addressed the broader philosophical question as to whether or not to engage. So, here we are.

I will offer that there are two different ways to connect via social networking. In the more structured environment, I am very in favor of setting up “official” blogs and Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn accounts to be able to effectively educate and market to students. This is something we do pretty actively where I work, and the challenge seems to be keeping up with the technology that students are utilizing, and communicating to students in a way that effectively communicates the message that we are trying to send. There are no easy solutions to these challenges, and we seem locked in an ongoing conversation as to how to keep up with our students. I don’t think this is a negative at all… it is simply the way things are, and the way that they will likely continue to be.

The larger question, and the one I am asked about, is whether or not to open ourselves up as professionals and “friend” students, allowing them to see into our lives and allowing us to see into their personal worlds as well. While I am in favor of doing so, I try to take a practically cautious approach to accomplishing this. Continue reading »

Teaching Again

 ISU
Mar 182011
 

Earlier today I got the news that I will be getting the chance to teach the Learning in Communities (LinC) class for our first-year students again in Fall 2011. The course focuses on student transition to college, career exploration, and civic engagement. There is a great deal of flexibility with the syllabus, so naturally my students get a healthy dose of understanding conflict and conflict management styles! As often happens, there were some things I wish I would have done a bit differently last fall, so this will be a nice opportunity to make some adjustments and offer my students an ever better course next fall.

Welcome!

 Conflict Resolution, Social Networking
Mar 172011
 

BloggerI’ve been contemplating adding a blog to this site for a little while now and have decided there is no time like the present. This space will be mostly dedicated to my practice in student affairs, but may include some personal commentary as well. If you have a question that you would like to see me add to this page, please send it to me via the Contact page. I’ll do my best to respond within a day or two, either by posting here or by email.

Several people have been wondering about the status of the new mediation materials that a number of colleagues and I have been working on for the past few years. In truth, a number of us have been collecting edits ever since the original version was published through LRP. About a year and a half ago I tried to get a group started to move the project along but haven’t had the time to dedicate to seeing it through. As my dissertation proposal moves closer to fruition and the research gets underway, I am confident that a few of us will be able to get together not just to look at all of the edits that we have made over the past few years, but also to re-conceptualize the training model itself and to develop new material. Some new material has already been developed and more is on the way. The new material will ultimately remain a problem-solving approach to mediation, but with a strong emphasis placed on cultural competence and through a model promoting social justice. Several of my colleagues have brought me around on this adaptation, and I am excited to see what we will be able to create. More information will come as the materials are developed, and no decision has been reached yet as to how these materials will be published. But thanks to our friends at ASCA we do have exclusive use of the original materials, which gives us a great head start.

One topic I will likely write about a great deal is the need for both needs assessment and program assessment for conflict resolution and mediation programs. As someone who has been training mediators in the college and university setting for many years, I have been somewhat disheartened at the number of programs that have sought training, but who have not been adequately prepared to be able to move forward with or to sustain a formal program. In the past couple of years, both my consulting and my writing has moved in this direction, and it is my strong counsel to people entertaining the idea of adding conflict resolution options that they do so thoughtfully and deliberately. In times of tight resources, we have to make sure that we know what outcomes we intend to achieve, and know whether or not the resources we are allocating will achieve the desired result. It is my sincere hope that I will be able to assist my colleagues across the US and Canada to deliver programs and services that will stand the test of time and achieve their desired results.

I think that is all for this first entry. I do owe a “shout out” to my friends on both Facebook and Twitter. I have been pleasantly impressed with how these tools have aided professional networking. I will have more to say on Facebook the next time I post, as I have gotten several questions on my views about social networking as a student affairs professional. Stay tuned for more!

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Spring Break Week

 Personal
Mar 092011
 

March 9, 2011

It’s spring break week at ISU, which means the perfect time to catch up on some projects in the office. I will also be taking a couple of days to work on my dissertation proposal as my literature map continues to evolve.

There will be more information coming on the Campus Mediation Project as the services and their related proposals are in the process of being re-vamped. The new site will be linked off of this one, as opposed to maintaining a separate domain name. I am also hoping to post some additional resources and links to the site, but that won’t happen until I make more headway on the proposal. None the less, if there is something specific you are looking for, please let me know. I will either post it, or email it directly.

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