Student Affairs Philosophy Script

Congratulations! You did it! You survived a semester of graduate school. All the

readings, papers, coffee fueled late nights, and days that you spent questioning why you’re even

doing this have culminated in your success. What is your reward? You get to go home and field

all the questions from your friends and family about what it is you actually do, and why you’re

still in school after all these years. But what do you tell them?

Most of them are convinced that you’re a teacher now, but you have to find a way to

explain that higher education is a field that extends beyond the walls of a classroom. Higher

education encompasses the entire college experience, from the class room, to campus, and

beyond. Students don’t stop learning when they leave class, and they shouldn’t. Higher

education and student affairs exist to promote learning in students’ lives, and ensuring their

continuous personal development (Calhoun, 1996). The ACPA Student Learning Imperative

calls for student affairs practitioners to provide students with the opportunities to develop and

learn both in and outside the classroom. Student affairs practitioners also need to ensure that the

opportunities provided by higher education are equitably accessible to any student that would

wish to participate (Castro & Cortez, 2016). Most importantly, student affairs professionals help

students navigate their college experiences. Whether that’s developing study skills, being

exposed to different identity experiences and thinking critically about them (Johnston, Ozaki,

Pizzolato, & Chaudhari, 2014), or finding connections with their institution and peers (Kuh,

2009). Higher education and student affairs encompass all of this.

Assuming you haven’t lost anyone during your explanation, you still need to talk about

how you fit into all of this. Why are you working in higher education and student affairs? Well

you want to make a difference, and help students navigate their college experience. You
benefited from student leadership experiences, and they helped you become more successful

during your time at college. Because of this you strongly believe in the benefit of student

involvement, and the development that these experiences promote in students (Kuh, 2009). You

also believe that these experiences need to be made available for all students. There are many

barriers that can deter students from participating in involvement activities, and you know that

you have a responsibility to try and remove these barriers, or at least help students navigate

around them (Kuh, 2009). These developmental opportunities contribute to a well-rounded,

liberal education (Nussbaum, 2010), which students need in order to be aware and active

members of society.

It’s around this point that people will say that these sound like some pretty lofty

expectations. And they’ll ask how are you able to determine if you’re being successful? That’s a

pretty fair question, and one you ask yourself a lot. While your definition of personal success as

an educator is constantly developing, when you think about it the image of success to you as an

educator seems pretty obvious. Success to you looks like students learning something new about

their peers, and gaining perspective on their own life experiences through the lens of someone

else’s experience (Johnston et al., 2014). Success is helping students from all walks of life

become actively engaged and involved with student activities and leadership opportunities (Kuh,

2009) so they can make the most out of their college experience. But, at the end of the day,

success for you as an educator can be achieved by teaching a student something that they may

have never been able to learn in a classroom, and being able to help round-out their education

(Nussbaum, 2010). Now, how will you know when you have achieved success? The truth is,

you don’t know if it’s actually possible to be completely successful. There is a lot standing in

the way of success for a large number of your students (Castro & Cortez 2016; Johnston, 2014;
Kuh, 2009; Wilder, 2013), and it seems unreasonable to assume that you can combat all of it by

yourself. But you can take satisfaction in the victories that you do achieve. Every time that you

help a student navigate a deterrent, or see things from a different perspective you achieve

success. There’s even success in the willingness to show up every day and keep trying. But the

ultimate sign that you have been successful as an educator is getting to see your students achieve

their definition of success.

Alright, those are all good points, but how do you go about accomplishing them? Well

you haven’t been working in higher education for long, but you have had opportunities to act on

your beliefs. Your role within student leadership has allowed you the chance to provide students

with involvement opportunities, and to ensure that these opportunities are made available to

wider variety of students (Kuh, 2009). In just this semester you oversaw two separate positional

elections, both with students of various backgrounds and levels of ability running for positions.

You were able ensure that all of these students were supported during their campaigns, and

provided resources and advice for those that didn’t win. You were also given the opportunity to

personally develop the leaders that you advice by utilizing the Learning Partnership Model

(Baxter Magolda, 2004). You challenged your students to think outside their normal ideas, and

nudged them just beyond their comfort levels. You were able to encourage students to voice

their own thoughts and concerns regarding both their education and their organizational

responsibilities by providing them with a designated space were these discussions could take

place in a productive manner. Through these discussions students were able to learn better

communication and conflict resolution skills that they will be able to use in the future, and

provide perspectives beyond what they are learning in the classroom (Nussbaum, 2010).
 Needless to say, it’s been a busy semester. Luckily you’ve made it out on the other side,

and if this video is any testament, you seem to have actually learned a thing or to. So enjoy your

break. Spend time with your family and friends. Now that you’ve gotten all this explaining out

of the way they can finally understand what you’ve been going through for the last few months.

At least until they forget again in about five minutes and you have to start all over again.

Unfortunately you’ll probably never stop having to explain what exactly student affairs is, and

what it is you do. But that’s probably a good thing, because as you learn and develop in this

field, your understanding and view will develop with you. Which means that every time you

explain it to someone, you’ll have a new story to tell.

 References

Baxter Magolda, M. B. (2004). Learning partnerships model: A framework for promoting self-

authorship. In M. Baxter Magolda & P. M. King (Eds.), Learning partnerships: Theory and

models of practice to education for self-authorship (pp. 37-62). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Calhoun, J. C. (1996). The student learning imperative: Implications for student affairs. Journal

of College Student Development, 37(2), 118-122.

Castro, E. L., & Cortez, E. (2016). Exploring the lived experiences and intersectionalites of

Mexican community college transfer students: Qualitative insights toward expanding a

transfer receptive culture. Community College Journal of Research and Practice. Advanced

online publication. DOI: 10.1080/1068926.2016.115867

Johnston, M.P., Ozaki, C. C., Pizzolato, J. E., & Chaudhari, P. (2014). Which box(es) do I

check?: Investigating college students’ meanings behind racial identification. Journal of

Student Affairs Research and Practice, 51(1), 56-68.

Kuh, G. D. (2009). What student affairs professionals need to know about student engagement.

In S. R. Harper, J. F. L. Jackson (Eds.), Introduction to American higher education (pp. 189-

212). New York, NY: Routledge.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2010). Not for profit why democracy needs the humanities. Princeton, NJ;

Princeton University Press.

Wilder, C. S. (2013). Ebony and ivy: Race, slavery, and the troubled history of America’s

universities. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Press.