Complex Cases in Student Affairs

Preparing Early Career Professionals for Practice

Michael G. Ignelzi, Melissa A. Rychener, Molly A. Mistretta, Stacy A. Jacob

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781315516431
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

Complex Cases in Student Affairs provides students and professionals with a deeper understanding of how problems in student affairs might be addressed through the application of relevant theory/research and practical considerations of professional practice. Featuring 22 original cases situated at a range of different types of institutions, this important text covers many functional areas, represents the experiences of a diverse set of student populations, and addresses a variety of complex and intersecting issues that student affairs professionals regularly face. A clear process for applying theory to practice along with case-specific questions prompts readers to engage with the issues presented in the cases, identify and analyze problems, and construct robust solutions. Whether you are a student affairs or higher education graduate student, faculty member, early student affairs professional, or staff supervisor, reading, analyzing, and crafting resolutions to the cases in this book will better prepare you to effectively consider and address the challenges of the field.

Part I
Introduction

Chapter 1
Why a Case Study Approach?

Michael G. Ignelzi and Melissa A. Rychener

Introduction

As a professional staff member, whether it’s your first year or your 25th, you will face situations that catch you off guard. You will be asked questions that you aren’t sure how to answer. You will find yourself in the midst of events unfolding in ways that you never expected. The professional work of the student affairs division can be confusing and overwhelming, but it will also provide you with many opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of students … if you thoughtfully prepare for your profession.

Most student affairs preparation programs seek to teach the theories and perspectives that help new professionals make sense of the world of student affairs on college campuses. As essential as this theoretical base is for effective professional practice, becoming a skilled navigator of the unpredictable waters of campus life requires practice as well. Together with our students, we have developed a book of case studies straight out of our experiences on college campuses. Reading, analyzing, and crafting resolutions to these cases will better prepare you for the challenges that await you in the field—whether you are in the captain’s seat or part of the crew.

One of the lessons of experience is that there are almost always more options for responding to questions or crises than might be obvious at first glance. When faced with a crisis, however, we may find ourselves responding instinctively, seemingly automatically, to the complex situations that present themselves. These ‘automatic responses’ may create more unanticipated problems than they resolve.

What we advocate for in the following pages is an approach that begins with reflection, an attempt to understand the problem itself, the perspectives of the people involved, your own analysis, and the relevant thinking (theories) of scholars in our field. Out of this reflection and analysis, you will form nuanced responses that take into account all of these perspectives. These responses take into consideration short- and long-term solutions and intended as well as unintentional consequences. By creatively analyzing and thoughtfully resolving real cases, you will gain the kinds of experience that will allow you to be a more effective student affairs professional.

Personal And Formal Theories

For the purposes of the opening Chapters (1–3), we ask that you read the case “Student Veteran Support and Discrimination” (Chapter 4) before continuing. We are utilizing this case as an example of the type of real-life situations student affairs professionals face in their work, and we are relating specifics about the case analysis approach and process in these opening chapters to that case.

Now that you have read the requested case, consider the following question: “If you were in the position of Tabitha Cole, Financial Aid Officer in the case, what might you do to address the concerns raised by the veteran student, John, and the related issues experienced by other veteran students at Southeast Community College?” Once you have thought about this question and noted a few of your ideas, return to reading this text.

Based on our experience as instructors in presenting complex situations/problems to our students, we expect that most of you experienced and/or approached this task in one of two ways. Some of you probably experienced difficulty in constructing an answer to this question. That is understandable because you have likely never thought about this scenario before, and you may not feel you have the knowledge or experience to address the multiple, complex issues the case presents. For others, however, you may have thought of one or several ways Tabitha Cole might begin addressing the issues raised by these veteran students. If you generated one or more potential resolutions to the issues raised in the case, identify the source or basis of your resolution ideas. In other words, what information, experiences, sensibilities, and/or values did you utilize to come up with your answer? When individuals are first presented with such real-life cases and questions, we have found that most rely heavily on life experiences that may have some overlap with the case, on their related beliefs and values about such situations, and on their personal feelings and sensibilities about the particulars of the case.

These bases for understanding and decision-making that we all use represent our personal theories. These theories consist of the complex accumulation of our own experiences, thoughts, beliefs, values, and feelings that we apply to understanding situations and making decisions that we face in both our personal and professional lives. While our personal theories are the accumulation of the sources noted above, we may experience them as intuitive or instinctive views; they are not always the product of conscious reasoning. When you experience a strong sense of what should be done in a situation but can’t easily explain or articulate the rationale for that judgment, it is likely that an internalized personal theory is being utilized. In such instances, we just feel or believe that we know the best or right thing to do.

Personal theories are valuable sources of information and decision-making because, regardless of our ability to clearly articulate their origins, they are usually based on a complex, internalized set of factors that represent our best current thinking and response to an issue. As such, individuals should pay meaningful attention to these personal theories in considering how to respond to and resolve situations in their personal and professional lives.

Personal theories, however, have limitations, particularly when used as the sole source of making decisions in complex situations, such as the veteran’s case. First, by definition, personal theories are highly personalized; they are largely the product of our own experience, thinking, feelings, beliefs, and values. As such, they are largely limited to our perspective, which may substantially differ from other equally valuable or superior perspectives on the situation. Making decisions, particularly in a professional context, solely from our own personal perspective does not effectively utilize the available knowledge (e.g., theory, research) relevant to the professional field in which we work.

Formal theories, derived from the literature relevant to our professional field, can both support and/or challenge our more intuitive perspectives or personal theories. Formal theories have the advantage of being researched and/or reviewed by content experts, which invests these theories with evidence to support their validity or trustworthiness, and their utility. Such information is tremendously valuable in providing studied understandings and perspectives that can inform our own views. Formal theory is not meant to supplant our personal theories, but rather to provide useful material to enhance our current understandings and to consider in modifying and further developing our own perspectives.

A second limitation of personal theories is that they may not be supported by a rationale that can be clearly articulated to students or professional colleagues, so that they can understand the basis for decisions being considered or made. Regardless of what actions are taken by Tabitha Cole to attempt to resolve issues in the case, individuals affected will want to know and have a right to know the rationale for those actions. Utilizing professional knowledge (i.e., formal theory and research) to inform our personal theories provides a more common, professionally accepted information base and language from which to support those actions with others. It also allows for clearer communication about the considered outcomes among interested parties and as a basis for evaluating those outcomes.

Last, our personal theories may contain biases and/or limitations based on the particulars of our life experience and related beliefs/values. Our personal theories are directly related to our larger ‘worldview’, which is necessarily influenced by the contexts, cultures, and individuals we have experienced and those we have not. Whether or not Tabitha Cole has any experience in her life with the military, veterans, or veteran’s issues, the nature of that experience, and the feelings and beliefs she has constructed from them, will inevitably influence her personal theories about how to best address the concerns raised by John. To the extent that Tabitha’s views may be ignorant due to a lack of experience or unintentional bias, formal theories and research, combined with carefully listening to the views of veteran students at SCC, may inform her about best practices for understanding and assisting veteran students.

The Relationship Between Using Formal Theories And Professionalism

Student Affairs is a multidisciplinary professional field. Formal theories and research that are taught in graduate preparation programs are drawn from both student affairs and other disciplinary fields including, but not limited to, human development, organizational behavior, person/environment studies, law, higher education, multicultural studies, women’s studies, and LGBT studies. These areas of study collectively have much to offer to our understanding of both students, the primary service recipients of student affairs practice, and higher education institutions, the contexts in which student affairs work is performed. Moreover, the theories and research from these disciplines provide useful guidance on how student affairs practitioners can effectively create conditions within collegiate contexts to enhance student learning, success, and wellness.

As in any profession, relevant formal theories and research findings are taught in student affairs preparation programs to ensure that practitioners have some common body of knowledge and standards to employ in their professional work. As discussed earlier, the personal theories of individuals are primary and valuable, but are insufficient when not informed by the more formal theories, research, and standards of a profession. An important goal of student affairs education is to assist in developing practitioners to identify and examine their personal theories in light of the formal theories of the discipline. This process may lead to confirmation, modification, or occasionally, rejection of a particular personal theory. This reflective educational process results in practitioners developing more informed, complex, and adaptive personal theories for use in professional practice.

Some individuals working in the student affairs field, mostly those who have little or no graduate education in student affairs, argue that having a caring attitude for students, good communication skills, and good judgment are most critical to success as a student affairs practitioner. While we acknowledge such professional characteristics are important, we agree with Carpenter (2001) who asserts, “Being a good person or good with students is not enough to be a student affairs professional any more than doctors or lawyers or mechanics are valued for their affability” (p. 311). To illustrate this view, imagine that your medical doctor, who has a good “bedside manner”, is treating you for a serious medical condition. She suggests a particular form of treatment to address your illness. When you ask her reasoning for prescribing this treatment, she tells you that this form of treatment makes sense to her, it has seemed to help a couple of her other patients, and she trusts it would help you as well. When you question her for further medical details about why she thinks this treatment would be the best course of action for you, relevant research on this treatment for someone with your particular condition, and for comparative information on alternate forms of treatment, she is unable to adequately answer. We suggest, regardless of her other qualities, you look for another doctor!

While student affairs professionals do not make decisions about the treatment of medical conditions, they make decisions and advise students on issues critical to students’ learning, development, and wellness. Students and the higher education institutions that employ student affairs professionals have the right to expect that those professionals’ judgments and actions are informed by current knowledge and best practices from relevant theory and research. Student affairs professionals should be cognizant of the personal theories they utilize, those theories should be supported by formal theory and research, and professionals should be able to effectively apply and explain those theories to others. Whatever courses of action Tabitha Cole chooses to pursue in the Veteran’s case, the aforementioned criteria should be met.

There is an additional benefit to those student affairs professionals who learn to utilize the knowledge of their discipline in the ways described here. Academic environments, the central home for the generation of theory and research, and the individuals who inhabit them (e.g., faculty, academic and student affairs administrators) recognize and value the ability to utilize theory and research in addressing complex problems. The degree to which you master the reflective and applicative use of theory and research in your work as a professional will significantly influence how you are viewed and evaluated within your institution and the larger student affairs profession.

Mastering The Use Of Theory In Your Work

So how do you learn to master the use of theory in your work? First, you must become familiar with and study the relevant historical and current theory of the profession. If you are in a student affairs preparation program, this will largely occur through your active engagement with the literature and experiences you are exposed to through your academic courses. If you are a practicing student affairs professional, this process continues by staying current with new theory and research in the field through regularly reading relevant literature (e.g., books, journal articles) and participating in professional development opportunities (e.g., conferences, workshops, trainings). Being an engaged student affairs professional involves seeing oneself and behaving as a life-long learner, and pursuing valuable learning opportunities, whether as a student or as a full-time professional and whether or not those opportunities are required.

Immersing yourself in the relevant knowledge of our field is the easiest part of the process. More difficult is internalizing and integrating that knowledge into your own thinking, and learning how to apply theory to practice. The process of internalizing and integrating professional knowledge into our thinking involves uncovering and comparing our personal theories to the formal theories and research of our field. When reading and studying course material, we encourage students to engage in the reflective activity of considering how a newly learned theory or concept compares with their current understanding (i.e., their personal theory). Questions for consideration include: What are the similarities and differences between the formal theory or concept and your own personal theory? How do you make sense of that? What are the strengths and limitations of the formal theory to your understanding of the phenomena it purports to explain? Does the formal theory have value for informing your current personal theory? If determined useful, how might you modify your personal theory in light of the newly learned formal theory or concept? Through this on-going reflective process, supported by course discussion, activities and assignments, students internalize and integrate knowledge from the student affairs field into their developing personal theories of professional understanding and practice.

Learning to apply theory to practice is often difficult because it involves applying generalized, often abstract concepts to real-life situations within a particular context. Situations and persons are more complex than any theory; no one theory is able to account for the variety of differences in persons and situations we must address as student affairs professionals. As such, a theory typically cannot be applied in whole, but rather concepts from multiple theories (personal and/or formal) need to be combined to effectively understand and address the complexity of real-life situations and problems. This complicated task requires both careful reflection and practice.

Case Studies As A Tool For Applying Theory

How can early professionals ensure they have sufficient opportunities for this needed reflection and practice? You can, of course, directly apply your fledgling, evolving theories to your real-life work as student affairs graduate assistants, interns, or new professionals, but this is often impractical or ethically questionable. It can be impractical because early professionals may not yet hold positions or responsibilities that place them in situations where they have the professional autonomy or authority to effectively implement their ideas. More critically, applying your ‘under construction’ theories to real-life professional situations, where actual consequences are at stake for students and other constitue...