Talking Stick - July/August 2018 - 59

research." S. Nicole Ferguson, director
of student conduct at the university,
recognizes how this mission and her
institutional type influences her conduct practice. "We have around 5,000
students. It is easier to take the time to
schedule an entire hour for a student
than at a larger institution and to take
that time to really meet them where
they are and attempt to elicit change.
Getting to better know my particular student population has made a
vast difference. We are an Hispanicserving-institution, so I frequently
stay abreast of what is happening in
the government and in the media that
could be causing the violations I see
with my particular student population.
I definitely seek to first understand,
and then sanction as needed."
As professionals who are expected
to support the institutional mission,
housing and conduct staff should,
to some extent, consider if the mission and policies align with their own
philosophy. Vinay Patel, assistant
director for residence life, upperclass
experience at Tulane University in
New Orleans, Louisiana, asks penetrating questions about this responsibility.
"Does your philosophy fit within the
context of the institution? Or, how
can you make it fit? The culture of
the institution matters. Some of the
questions I ask are, 'Is the institution
selective?' 'What is the focus of the
institution and the department?' That
may affect how conduct and sanctions play out. Previously, I enforced a
departmental policy regarding smoke
detector tampering. A likely sanction was the student's removal from
housing. While I found enforcing this
policy difficult, there was context of
why the institution had those policies
in place." Ultimately, however, one's
personal philosophy must serve the
larger community. "You can have your
personal philosophy and opinions,
but they have to fit the overall culture
of the institution, too. If they don't, it
is time to move on. At the end of the

day, my personal philosophy cannot be
bigger than that of the department or
university."
As an institution's conduct philosophy develops, it will shape and
be shaped by its language. Conduct
professionals should ensure that the
words in the campus or departmental
code of conduct match the institution's
philosophy. They should also examine
the student code of conduct in terms
of how inclusive it is of all members
of the student population. Conduct
documents and procedures should
use inclusive language that eliminates
gendered terms and acknowledges the
gender identities of all people: genderinclusive pronouns such as they, them,
themselves; sie, hir, hir, hirs, hirself;
or zie, ze, zir, zirs, zirself. They should
also adopt gender-neutral titles such as
chairperson, chair, or moderator. Hearings and processes may be scripted to
ask participants which gender pronouns they themselves use. When filling out forms, students should be able
to select from non-binary options or
to fill in a blank. As Caley Logsdon, an
area coordinator at the Rhode Island
School of Design in Providence, notes,
"The student, or respondent agency,

should be allowed to define their
gender identity instead of selecting a
box. If they have to click a box, the box
can say, 'Please provide your gender
identity' with a text box. I think it is
truly important in the conduct process
for students to have some degree of
agency at all levels." In addition, campuses with a large number of students
who do not consider English as their
primary language may want to translate the code of conduct into different
languages or to provide interpreters
during campus hearings.
While documentation and hearings related to the student conduct
process have some similarities to
a judicial process in a court of law,
many campuses intentionally use
language that separates campus
conduct systems from the criminal
justice system. Rather than using
terms like "plaintiff" and "defendant,"
substitutions like "reporting party"
and "respondent" are often used.
Instead of "judging," terminology like
"reviewing" may seem less condemnatory. Ferguson had the opportunity to
rewrite her campus code when she began her position there. "The language
definitely did not match my philos-

AS PROFESSIONALS
WHO ARE EXPECTED
TO SUPPORT THE
INSTITUTIONAL MISSION,
HOUSING AND CONDUCT
STAFF SHOULD, TO SOME
EXTENT, CONSIDER IF THE
MISSION AND POLICIES
ALIGN WITH THEIR OWN
PHILOSOPHY.

JULY + AUGUST 2018

Talking Stick - July/August 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - July/August 2018