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For administrators of student behavior like Erin Hungerman, Katie Meyer’s death was a wake-up call.
Meyer, a star soccer player at Stanford University, was found unresponsive in a bedroom on March 1. Her parents told her Ttoday that anxiety over possible disciplinary action by the university may have contributed to his death, which was ruled a suicide.
In a statement to the chronica Stanford spokesman said the university cannot discuss confidential student disciplinary matters.
The news brought increased scrutiny to university disciplinary processes, which Hungerman, the assistant dean of students at Youngstown State University in Ohio, knows can be scary, confusing and isolating. She wants it to be less.
“Obviously there are some things that we have to say, but I think the way we say them can look a little different,” he said. the chronic.
He is working with his staff to review existing documents and see how they can improve repetitive language to make it less intimidating and more empathetic.
Hungerman is among administrators and student behavior experts who say Meyer’s death should serve as a reminder of the importance of providing empathy and support to all parties in disciplinary matters, an idea that has gained traction in the past 10 years. But it’s not always like this. carried out. In Title IX hearings in particular, experts say, defendants are often not treated with the same compassion as complainants.
But experts also say the bigger issue is the pervasive mental health crisis on campus, and concerns about student discipline shouldn’t distract from that.
The power of empathy
Explaining the discipline process to students and building rapport are keys to making the process less intimidating, Hungerman said. Getting an email that you’re in trouble can feel like the end of the world for a student, and it’s important to know that it’s not, experts say.
“I think students need to understand that there is a future after a student conduct proceeding, regardless of what happens,” Hungerman said. “Yes, talk to them as an administrator and help them understand the process and how they can better navigate it and how they can better prepare for it, but also talk to them as humans.”
Martha Compton, who worked on student behavior at several universities and headed the Association for Student Behavior Management before joining the higher education consulting firm Grand River Solutions, said that in cases where one party accuses another of harm, administrators sometimes drain their communications of empathy in an attempt to appear as neutral as possible.
“Particularly when we start talking about Title IX, there’s a lot of scrutiny,” Compton said. “And if someone says to a whistleblower, even, ‘I’m so sorry this happened to you,’ in an email, that could be used against them as bias.”
In fact, regulations under Title IX, the federal gender equity law, add more complexities to supporting students through the conduct process.
For Brett A. Sokolow, risk management consultant and president of the Association of Title IX Administrators, there is a marked difference in the way administrators communicate with defendants and complainants in Title IX cases.
“The tone of the letters sent to the respondents is clean and clinical. There’s no warmth to it, and it’s bureaucratically formal,” Sokolow said. “While the tone for whistleblowers is welcoming, supportive, empathetic and friendly.”
In addition, universities are currently not required to offer the same support measures to defendants as they are to claimants under Title IX. Many colleges and universities offer support measures to both parties anyway.
“I think situations like Katie’s will hopefully help bring attention to the idea that the language we use in letters, the way we try to show someone the support they need in a time of crisis, that’s something that we can use for everyone. parties, not just the person filing the complaint,” Sokolow said.
restorative justice
The shift toward more supportive student behavior systems, or “restorative justice” systems, has spread in recent years.
This move involves changing disciplinary action to be more educational than punitive, with a focus on retention. Some offices have they changed their names to reflect new priorities and responsibilities.
“I think people see us less as people kicking people out, and really as campus partners who help retain students and make sure they stay on our campuses,” said Patience Bryant, president of the Association for Student Administration. of Student Conduct.
Colorado State University is one of the institutions with a new name for its office of student conduct. Changed from Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Services to the Student Resolution Center in 2016.
Amy Ferree, deputy director of CSU’s Student Behavior Services, within the Center for Student Resolution, said the behavior process is meant to be restorative whenever possible.
“We really tried to balance the needs of the students, the community both on and off campus, as well as others that were affected,” Ferree said. “And so we can really wrap [students] in support and at the same time holding them accountable.”
Grand River Solutions’ Compton said it’s the responsibility of student behavior managers to find out what’s driving problem behavior so a student can get the support they need.
“Sometimes a beer is a beer is a beer is a beer,” Compton said. “And sometimes beer or marijuana is, ‘My mom is dying of cancer, I’m failing my class, and my partner just broke up with me.’ And it’s really our job to figure out the difference between those two.”
Bigger Matters at Hand
Years ago, while working in student discipline on a college campus, Compton lost a student who was going through the conduct process and committed suicide.
The incident for which the student was in conduct proceedings was not serious, Compton said; the student did not face the threat of suspension or expulsion from the institution. And it was not clear that the student’s decision to take his own life had anything to do with the case.
Still, Compton tried to figure out what he could have done differently.
“I needed to talk to someone about it…and get a chance to sit down with my boss and [say]’Be honest with me, if there’s anything I missed that I should have done differently, tell me,'” Compton said. the chronic. “We went through all of that. And there was really nothing else in that situation that she could have done.”
For Compton, this experience showed how some things were just out of his control.
“I did all the right things,” he said. “And this still happened anyway. And I think it’s very difficult to get to a point where you recognize that you can still do everything right and that’s not enough.”
Compton believes Meyer’s death highlights the current mental health crisis on college campuses and the pressure on students to be perfect.
“Certainly when someone is an elite athlete, there is a significant amount of pressure there,” he said. “But there is a significant amount of pressure on every college student. Most of that is self-imposed, but often that comes from the family. That comes from the cost of higher education and from people who need to finish it quickly so they don’t incur more debt. That comes from just years of messaging, internal or otherwise, that failing is not an option.”
In Fall 2021 American College Health Association National University Health Assessment, which surveyed 33,204 students from 41 institutions about their health and wellness, 21.7% reported having been diagnosed with depression at some point in their life and 27.4% reported a diagnosis of anxiety. More than 17 percent had been diagnosed with both.
Kevin Kruger, president of Naspa, Administrators of Student Affairs in Higher Education, said that focusing on student behavior rather than mental health “gives a push in the wrong direction on how to solve this problem… We can’t finish with student behavior. It’s just not possible to have a community where these things are not part of the learning process.”
Instead, he told her the chronic, it is important that more faculty and staff members are trained to identify “signs of distress” in college students so they can get the help they need.
Yes, working on student behavior is hard work, Compton said. It requires the administrator to try to identify root causes that might be driving unacceptable behavior and connect students to resources, while sometimes imposing difficult consequences. But it is a job that he loves.
“I think people have a fundamental misunderstanding about student conduct work,” Compton said. “People often tell us, ‘My God, I don’t want your job, I’m glad I don’t have your job.’ We love our work. We get to really engage with students at a point where they’re often ready to make a change.’”
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