Working in the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (SCCS) has been one of the most important influences in my CSSA experience at OSU. This page is filled with my narratives of my own personal experiences and professional growth as a result of working with SCCS. But first, it is important to give some background as to how I came to desire working in student conduct and why I enjoy this work.

Who knew that my own violation of my undergraduate’s code of conduct could inspire me to work in the same capacity as those that once equated me as a delinquent and missed an opportunity to practice transformative justice? The 2014-2015 academic year was a year of extreme growth, but these growths would not have been possible had I not suffered my own personal setbacks. Academic probation and a minor in possession charge served as a proverbial 1-2 punch to the gut in my first year at the University of Northern Iowa that has helped me shape my “Why?” in terms of working in student conduct.

Despite a stellar high school career and track record, my transition to college was rough to say the least. As a first-generation student, I had a slew of misconceptions about what a college student was and what they did (or were supposed to do). I spent much of my time socializing, drinking, and putting myself in risky positions. All semester long, I was skipping classes and hardly participating in courses. For my Religions of the World final, I completely forgot to turn in my project and laughed it off. I truly did not anticipate being placed on academic probation up until the moment I was notified that because I had received a 1.6 GPA for my first term, I was being placed on academic probation.

Fast forward a month, I had recently moved into a new dorm room in a different residence hall. I thought a change of environment would help me freshen up my approach to my work and because of this recent change, my friends and I decided we should celebrate...after all, I had just gotten a single room all to myself. What could possibly go wrong? After just one week in my new environment, I was caught with alcohol while under the influence while hosting a party and ended up in the residence life coordinator’s (RLC) office. Rather than engage in a process that holistically concerned the student’s (me) wellbeing, my RLC immediately jumped to interrogating and judging me because of my violation of the code. The lack of compassion and care was glaring and I was sanctioned to take a class on alcohol education that I could barely afford to pay for and that did very little in terms of its objectives. The bigger picture in this story that the RLC never got at was my struggle with being responsible and the ways in which my current behaviors and actions were actively going against the values of who I wanted to be or who I thought I was as a person.

I tell this story not to place blame on the university, as I was the one who was engaging in behaviors that violated the code of conduct. I tell this story because it influences the way I work with students on a daily basis in a conduct setting. It is the foundation to my “Why?” when I think about the impact my interactions with a student can have on them for the rest of their lives. My “Why?” is grounded in being the student conduct professional that I wish I would have interacted with when I was at a very sensitive time in my young life. Each student I meet with has their own struggles, their own story. When I experience a rough meeting with a student, I am called back to my “Why?” and I am able to refocus and revitalize my professional self. The experiences that I speak to in this section of my portfolio are only possible because of my personal commitment to my “Why?”.

During my time as a Student Sanctions Compliance Assistant, I got the opportunity to shadow SCCS Coordinator Gemma Navarro as she investigated alleged violations of the Student Code of Conduct, adjudicated cases, and provided alternative resolutions for students. My drive to get a circular professional experience in the student conduct area of student affairs was rejuvenated as I saw the concepts of alternative resolution come to life in the interactions between hearing officer and student. Watching a recent CSSA alum and new student affairs professional work in an efficient and holistic fashion helped me begin to identify the ways in which I wanted to interact with students in a conduct setting. [Competency 5]

It can be difficult for me to speak to my general approach in working as a hearing officer with SCCS. The root of this can be found in that I encourage myself to practice awareness of dynamics and context with each individual student and adapt as necessary (makes sense as to why “Individualization” is my first strength). It is a professional value of mine to build up and build through our interactions with students to get to a place where both the student’s needs and the institution’s needs are represented in the outcome or resolution of a conduct process. Despite the work in the conduct office being seen as “teaching”, there are many lessons learned by students and staff in the setting which calls for the embrace of pedagogy. If I think further about my approach to the conduct-related work I do with students, I utilize thoughts from Freire’s (1972) critical pedagogy. Rather than communicate to a student that I meet with about how they should engage in their own community, I encourage the student to collaborate with me in the process where we can make a deeper meaning of the issue at hand. Following in the footsteps of hooks (1994), I bring in concepts from engaged pedagogy that emphasize the importance of creating space for a mutually enhancing experience between two active participants, rather than seeing myself as the knower of all things that serves to enforce and inform information to a passive consumer. [Competency 3] [Competency 5]

This open and collaborative space that is made possible by employing critical pedagogy (Freire, 1972) is excellent for some students, but for others, it can be intimidating. After all, I spend at most 60 minutes with an individual student who by the end is most likely hoping to never have to see me again (in that context of course!...I hope). This is why the importance of being flexible and adaptable in my approach to working with students is invaluable. Another guiding principle (or in this case, theory) that I incorporate in my practice is self-authorship theory (Baxter Magolda, 2001). One element from Self-Authorship Theory that is particularly important and core to my practice is providing enough comfort that a student feels comfortable leaning into discomfort to begin the process of trusting their own inner voice and self (Baxter Magolda, 2008; Drake, Jordan, Miller, Astin, & Astin, 2013). Incorporating critical pedagogy (Freire, 1972) and self-authorship theory (Baxter Magolda, 2001), I am encouraging professional supported growth within the students that I meet with. While these frameworks might not always lead to immediate and/or permanent success, it can spark a learning process within a student that is necessary for internal growth and meaningful experiences. [Competency 2] [Competency 3]

Even with the best of intentions, my approaches to my work fail if I do not first look within my own self and examine how my identities and privileges can show up and impact individuals I engage with. On a daily basis, I am working with students that have a wide range of identities that they bring with them into my office. The CSSA program has provided me opportunities to be true to the core value and principle of social justice. I have been able to take in class assignments where I reflected on my privileges and applied the importance and understanding gleaned in academic spaces into my own professional practice with students. A notable example of these reflections is found in a Critical Self-Reflection Essay that I wrote for my Multicultural Issues class. These kinds of reflections are exceptionally important for me as a student affairs professional that is navigating student conduct matters for many reasons. The first being the existing power dynamic between hearing officer and student and is inherently advanced by my many privileges if left unchecked. Secondly, it is essential to practice awareness when working with students from marginalized populations (specifically racial and ethnic minority populations) because despite the separation of student conduct and criminal justice system, there are certain parallels that require absolute attention and care to the dynamics of a situation that could be unfairly affecting students that have been historically/are currently marginalized and oppressed by higher education institutions and processes. [Competency 1] [Competency 3] [Competency 4] [Competency 5]

Upon joining the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards at Oregon State University, I was introduced to the “In Your Words” assessment tool. I was admittedly confused as to how one was supposed to assess our practice. It seems that for a long time there was a connection between my job working in auxiliary services at my undergraduate institution and in student conduct: there was an emphasis on numbers. While auxiliary services were trying to increase profit numbers, student conduct was concerned with lowering numbers of students violating the Code of Student Conduct and rates of recidivism. The In Your Words assessment tool is an opportunity to provide their biggest takeaway from the conduct experience.

Through conversations with the full time staff in my office, I have come to understand that the reports the office initially would create to assess their practice concerned the number of cases and how many cases they had resolved, were pending, and were open. There is a very tricky balance in conduct, in that your position is typically centered around working with students that have been suspected of and/or have been found responsible for violating the university’s code of conduct. While it is certainly important to consider the amount of cases that pass through the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, it is not an inherently “good” thing that the office has a large caseload, whereas other functional areas are usually proud of the large number of students that have utilized their services. Given the contexts of a decrease in available funds and a higher value placed on data-driven assessments, the student conduct office found itself in a bit of a conundrum and sought a different approach to assessment. [Competency 1]

The “In Your Words” assessment is an exceptionally powerful way to qualitatively assess learning outcomes and student development that often bring incredibly insightful responses and can serve as a way to either shift and/or validate our practices as we work with students through a potentially sensitive and stressful period of time during their academic career. I recently wrote a piece for the Office of Student Life (OSL) “Communique” describing my part in developing and overall use of this assessment tool and some examples of statements received from students navigating the academic misconduct process. This assessment tool was created prior to me joining the student conduct team but each term that it is utilized to assess our practice, we are able to stay current with students’ needs and lived experiences. To collect these responses, we ask students that have completed their meeting or administrative conference with a staff member if they would volunteer a “wisdom statement”. The prompt that I give is asking the student to write on a sticky note their biggest take-away from going through the student conduct process or an idea that was really sticking with them from our meeting. Students are free to interpret this prompt however they would like and reminded that it is voluntary to do so. Additionally, students are informed that all responses are anonymous and instructed to not put their name and/or student ID number on the sticky note.[Competency 2] [Competency 3] [Competency 4]

While the assessment tool has already been previously designed, each term we take these anonymous responses and have the responsibility of coding the responses into learning outcome categories. Some of the most common coded learning outcomes students are reporting are “self-management”, “life-long learning”, and “self-motivation.” The responses students give can be inspirational and oftentimes reminds me why this work is so important. Some examples of student’s takeaways are: “Challenge the notion that you have to be perfect” (anonymous student, 2019)or “Don’t be afraid to reach out when you are struggling. No one gets through anything worth doing by themselves” (anonymous student, 2019). The responses can be coded into categories and are then cross checked by another staff member so there are multiple eyes on the data and more than one person is agreeing with how to accurately code the responses.

The “In Your Words” assessment tool has provided many unforeseen positive results. While reviewing the coded responses does not necessarily influence the programming we are offering, the assessment does exceptionally enhance the ways in which we can communicate to other functional areas and campus partners the importance of our work. While it is not true of every campus professional, there are a lot of misconceptions about what our office actually does and the “In Your Words” assessment tool has sparked conversations from other student affairs professionals on campus that were enlightened about our work after viewing the responses from students. [Competency 2] [Competency 4]

Another beneficial result has been the mutual exchange of ideas and experiences between myself and the students I meet with. While I am responsible for setting the foundations of our meeting and guiding it, I get to collaborate with the student on the direction our conversation goes that in turn can influence the wisdom statements that they produce. I am personally inspired when I get the opportunity to read the responses from students and their own insights after going through the conduct process. For many of the students I meet with, their time spent with the conduct office is not typically the most positive in the moment. That being said, the lessons they choose to reflect on and learn for themselves with our professional guidance has been incredibly uplifting to experience as a staff member and has encouraged my own philosophy on how I can learn if I fail forward. [Competency 5]

Overall, my experience with the “In Your Words” assessment tool has greatly changed my understanding of the benefits of assessing practice. It is so important that in developing an assessment that one considers the potentially unique nature of the work that is being done and develop an assessment that accurately and efficiently creates space and data that is easily articulated and communicated when necessary. There might be a specific reason that an assessment tool is desired, but the overall benefits of engaging in assessment can bring great knowledge and understanding to the professionals absorbing and interpreting data. [Competency 3] [Competency 4]

I began my work as a Student Sanction Compliance Assistant with the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards (SCCS) in early October of 2019. After consistently and desperately searching for a place within the Division of Student Affairs at Oregon State University, I was given a chance to work under the guidance of the professional staff members in SCCS. While my role and individual responsibilities would grow, my initial start began with working with students regarding academic misconduct and the integrity that we hoped they would gain or enhance upon as a result of engaging in and reflecting on the academic misconduct process. This work has continued throughout my time with SCCS. [Competency 5]

The academic misconduct and integrity process can be complicated to outline. Essentially, I meet with a student if they have been reported to a College Hearing Officer (each individual academic college has their own hearing officer that investigates, adjudicates, and resolves alleged violations of academic misconduct that occurred in one of their respective academic colleges’ classes), found responsible for academic misconduct after the College Hearing Officer has conducted an investigation of the claim, and then sanctioned the student to complete the academic integrity course. The academic integrity course was designed by Gemma Navarro (Coordinator for SCCS) and has been maintained and monitored by myself during my time within the office. After the student completes the course and submits either an Academic Integrity Presentation or Integrity Research and Reflection Assignment, the student makes an appointment to meet with me as the SCCS Representative. [Competency 2]

There is of course administrative and organizational work that occurs prior to meeting with a student. One of these administrative responsibilities is developing a method and process for performing audits of all academic misconduct violations. Performed on a monthly basis, an audit of the cases encourages a more timely process which as a result promotes timely reflection and meaning making for students. Another important reason for the audit is that it gives the academic misconduct process an overall structure and helps with pinpointing potential errors or cases that have slipped past the College Hearing Officer and/or SCCS. An additional task that is performed prior to the academic follow-up appointment is reading and reviewing the presentation or essay to check that the submitted work meets the expectations of the assignment, as well as identify pieces that would be worthy of further discussion or acknowledgement. Should a student’s submission not meet the requirements, I make it a point to work with the student and give some specialized attention for referrals to resources on campus such as The Writing Center at OSU’s Valley Library. Being aware of other student support services on campus and the kinds of services they provide has been instrumental in helping many students approach their academic work in different and more positive ways. [Competency 2]

These conversations vary from student to student and cover a wide span of topics and depth that are dependent on what the student expresses a need for in moving forward. Additionally, the conversation can vary based on where (if at all) I see an opportunity to challenge the student to engage in some deeper individual reflection and development. Every single meeting is unique from the next because of the nature of the work. While some students might be signaling that they are struggling handling the remorse and guilt they are carrying as a result of being found responsible for academic misconduct, there are others that have not made space for the violation and the impacts to truly sink in. While the content of the conversations vary, there are many common themes that exist within each meeting with a student: checking-in with student regarding their understanding of the violation and expectations of the institution, using reflections and goals to encourage embracing of integrity in the many facets of a students life, and moving past the incident with dignity. [Competency 3]

These academic integrity follow-up meetings have greatly enhanced my skill set for identifying and asking the right questions that are matched with the appropriate tone. A philosophy I have regarding these appointments relies on Sentipensante pedagogy (Rendón, 2009). There can be a lot of trauma a student brings with them to this appointment and while the “point” of the meeting is to reflect on the course and what the student’s takeaways are, there is also a lot of pain that the student might be coming to grips with. By centering Sentipensante pedagogy in my practice, I have come to view one of my roles in these meetings as a healer for students to help them come to terms with the situation and provide them tools and space to begin or continue healing in the ways in which they individually need. While not all interactions with students yield deep conversations, it has been exceptionally helpful to draw on pedagogy as well as approaches used in student affairs, an experience and idea that I will bring with me regardless of what title I hold. After completing the CSSA 599 Academic Advising course, I began to utilize concepts and elements from advising approaches when engaging with students during the academic integrity follow-up meeting and process. One particular foundational approach that I have incorporated into my practice is the strengths-based approach (Schreiner & Anderson, 2005). This approach has been very beneficial to utilize to help encourage and support students. While I don’t fully incorporate every concept presented, it feels very natural to center the strengths of the student and use that as a starting point for how the student can pivot towards a better path that is influenced and shaped by the concept of integrity in their academics. [Competency 1] [Competency 3]

Professionally, I have gotten the opportunity to develop further around the concept of academic integrity as I attended the 27th Annual International Center for Academic Integrity Conference in Portland, OR. At this conference I attended a multitude of presentations by professionals from all over the world on topics that centered academic integrity. Some examples of these include establishing best assessment practices for academic integrity at institutions, creating a culture of academic integrity on campus, and how to work with student populations such as international students that might have a different perspective and understanding of what academic integrity is. In addition to the professional development of attending this conference, I was also a part of a planning committee that was tasked with planning the 2nd Annual Oregon State University Academic Integrity Symposium. Despite the fact that this event was not able to come to fruition in response to COVID-19, I got excellent experience in how to bring multiple campus partners together and put on an accessible event for the institution. The concept of academic integrity was not something that I expected to become an instrumental piece to my development as a professional in student affairs but has been an excellent vessel to further my knowledge of various intersections in the field, as well as what challenges student affairs professionals concerned with academic success and integrity are facing in the 21st century.[Competency 1] [Competency 2] [Competency 5]

Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2008). Three elements of self-authorship. Journal of College Student Development, 49 (4), 269-284.

Drake, J. K., Jordan, P., Miller, M. A., Astin, A. W., & Astin, H. S. (2013). Academic Advising Approaches Strategies that teach students to make the most of college. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Freire, P. (1972). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.

hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.

Rendón, L. I. (2009). Sentipensante (sensing/thinking) pedagogy: Educating for wholeness, social justice, and liberation. Sterling, Va: Stylus Pub.

Schreiner, L. A., & Anderson, E. C. (2005). Strengths-based advising: A new lens for higher education. NACADA Journal, 25(2), 20-29