Elizabeth Rugel - Week 1 - Mississippi University for Women Dean of Students

Elizabeth Rugel - Week 1 - Mississippi University for Women Dean of Students

Activities:

• Conducted an Inventory Audit with Sirena
• Met Housing and Student Affairs professionals at the W
• Researched Mississippi IHL Freedom of Speech policies in order to draft a policy for the W

Reflections on Practice:

Fant Hall

The first thing I noticed about Mississippi University for Women (MUW or the W) was its beautiful and historic campus. The W is in the center of historic Columbus, MS and was established in 1884 as the first public women’s college in the U.S.. The historic architecture and large oak trees create a whimsical environment.

Source: http://www.8ball.co.uk/inspired-by-austin-powers-t-shirt-one-million-dollars

Like MSU, MUW has many buildings that have been deemed historic landmarks. While I considered this to be a bonus, Sirena explained to me that this is actually a current obstacle for the university. The building (Fant Hall) pictured here and its twin building (Peyton Hall) are both historic landmarks that cannot be torn down. These buildings are also residence halls that are too dangerous to house students. “But aren’t renovated buildings the coolest?! They’re beautiful but functional too!” It’s true. But renovating just one of these old buildings costs over 1 million dollars, a lofty sum for a smaller institution like the W. Until administration can decide how to afford the renovations, these buildings are left empty.

Source: http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/CAVEMAN%20INVENTORY_49774

My supervisor, Sirena, is currently transitioning out of her role as the Director of Housing and into her new role as the Dean of Students, a newly created office. This means that her days are always different and busy with meetings for both housing and student affairs. She is passing the torch to a new Director of Housing while still giving the office and its staff advice about current and upcoming obstacles.

With that being said, my days shadowing her are full of varied tasks as well. My first day, we walked all around campus for an inventory audit. Since Sirena is no longer the Director of housing, she needed to audit and sign over her housing inventory (residence hall flat screen tvs, computers, etc…) to the new Director. This is a side of housing management that I had never considered before and was amazed to realize how much stuff is needed to equip a residence hall.

We walked through every residence hall on campus and scanned every tv, computer, large piece of furniture, and basically everything that costs over $1000. The residence halls were beautifully historic just like the center of campus. MUW isn’t scared of bright and happy wall colors and has done a beautiful job of restoring the inside of these halls.

Source: https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/231079/multiple-hats-how-will-you-switch-hats-and-how-often

One thing that I learned on this tour of campus is that with a smaller university comes a smaller staff. And a smaller staff means that people wear more hats. The staff member who conducted the audit with us, Margorie, manages inventory, conducts all inventory audits, helps with event sent ups, and does a job that MSU would have at least 4 people (and probably a graduate assistant) doing.

I noticed this same “multiple hat” pattern in student affairs as well. There is only one staff member for the Office of International Services, an office that employs 9 coordinators at MSU. This one man handles immigration paperwork, international student orientation, cultural activity planning, and student services for international students.

My final project at the W this week was researching best practices for creating a Freedom of Speech policy for the university. As the Dean of Students, Sirena is focused on creating necessary policies to protect the rights of students. She has asked me to research common practices and models used by other Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.

I searched each IHL webpage and student handbook for 1st Amendment Policies or clauses and compiled a list. I also investigated the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) website to find information about Freedom of Speech on college campuses (FIRE, 2015).

Initially I was weary of this project. Policy writing, proposing, and enacting sound difficult and dull to me. But then I learned a lesson that Dr. Goldberg emphasises all the time. “Don’t try to reinvent the wheel!”

Now that I have all the IHL policies I can use them as a model for MUW’s policy.

Practice: Application of Course Reading


The thought of multiple hats, as mentioned above, led me to ask Sirena about the study abroad office. This “office” is really just one man who is also the Director of the Honors College. Dr. Thomas Velek, Director of the Honors College and Study Abroad Coordinator, coordinates the two annual programs offered by the W in addition to his directoral duties. I was not surprised to learn this. Often times the Honors College is the first arena of a university to offer study abroad programs. Because the Honors College has less to worry about in the way of student success and retention, they are often the first to embrace collaboration with student affairs offices and look for innovative ways for outside-of-classroom learning. This same collaborative idea is discussed in Amey and Reesor’s (2009) chapter “Collaboration with Academic Affairs and Faculty” in their book Beginning Your Journey. Indeed, international programs and study abroad is one of the offices with potential listed in this chapter. 
The book discusses the need for each office, one academic and one student affairs, to understand the culture of the other in order to successfully collaborate (Amey & Reesor, 2009, p.90). This can certainly be a hurtle for many distinctly different offices on campus. But, study abroad and honors colleges have a similar motivation and take on learning. These offices want their students to go above and beyond what is necessary for a degree. They both encourage critical thinking and outside of the classroom learning. These qualities are what I believe facilitates this natural collaboration.

Theory:

This week, perhaps because of the Learning Contract, I thought a lot about my professional competencies. I usually only think about the skills that I have and lack in terms of things that I need to build my resume. But the Learner Outcomes that fill up a page of every one of our syllabi are just as valuable of skills and resume builders than anything else.

Source: http://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/top-stories/2015/02/24/sjw2015-students-rights/

With this in mind, I am thankful that I have the opportunity to work on this Freedom of Speech policy with Sirena because I would have never expected to do such work. This project maps perfectly onto learner outcome #21 : Advocate for policies, programs, and services that are equitable and responsive to the unique needs of postsecondary students.

The initial motivation behind creating this policy is a conflict that arose at the W last semester. Sirena informed me that students were chalking information that was offensive to some students but not all. The university, without a Freedom of Speech policy, did not know how to respond. With this in mind, my work in creating this policy will be both equitable and responsive to protecting the rights of students.

Throughout this policy planning process I have also enhanced my self-awareness (Learner Outcome #6). As I explained above, I always expected that I would hate working with policy in any way. But I have found that I have become passionate for the cause and highly motivated to create this policy proposal. Policy, in the end, is about students’ rights and safety. Yes, having a policy can be a “CYA” precaution for a University if need be. (That stands for Cover Your…. Butt for those of you who haven’t taken Dr. Goldberg’s career counseling course). But as long as I keep the students’ rights in mind, I find that the activity interests me more and more.

This week I have been working to develop a freedom of speech policy for the W. I have collected similar policies from other IHL universities and drafted a version for MUW. This work has made me consider student affairs and student policy in a new light. I always think about policy as a disciplinary measure and set of rules for students. But, at a public university, it can very much be about student rights as well. The idea of a university protecting a student's right to freedom of speech reminds me of the Student Personnel Point of View of 1949. (American Council on Education, 1949).

This document's first new goal was "Education for a fuller realization of democracy in every phase of living" (American Council on Education, 1949). This goal was a result of the shifting American mentality. WWII inspired American to become more patriotic and focused on the good of the group. As it so often does, the field of higher education followed the government's lead and began to encourage these same values in students. As a result, ACPA added these three new goals to the SPPV.
But what does this have to do with policy writing? As I mentioned previously, I have a new respect for the student rights that some universities protect. It would certainly be simpler to ban all unregistered demonstrations and prohibit aggravating and troublesome loudmouth students. But instead, the Dean of Students is promoting democracy and American rights by providing this policy.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition of “E at the W”!

References

American Council on Education. (1949) The student personnel point of view. Washington, DC: Retrieved June 14, 2015, from http://www.myacpa.org/student-personnel-point-view-1949

Amey, M., & Reesor, L. (2009). Chapter 5 collaboration with academic affairs and faculty. In Beginning your journey: A guide for new professionals in student affairs (pp. 89-108). Washington, D.C.: National Association of Student Personnel Administration.  

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. 2015. Retrieved from: https://www.thefire.org/