Social Justice & Inclusion
"This competency involves student affairs educators who have a sense of their own agency and social responsibility that includes others, their community, and the larger global context. Student affairs educators may incorporate social justice and inclusion competencies into their practice through seeking to meet the needs of all groups, equitably distributing resources, raising social consciousness, and repairing past and current harms on campus communities" (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p.14).
Level: Proficient
Higher education has historically been a system contributing to societal inequity. However, over the passing of time, institutions have become more accessible to marginalized folks. It is the hope that this trend continues as more and more people have the ability to enter and thrive in higher education. In order for this to happen, student affairs professionals must develop a competency for social justice and inclusion. Over the last three years, I have worked to learn more about identity, privilege and oppression, and systems of inequality. This knowledge has made it possible for me to “incorporate social justice and inclusion competencies into…practice through seeking to meet the needs of all groups” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 30).
Through curriculum development, I have been able to “design programs and events that are inclusive, promote social consciousness and challenge current institutional, national, global, and sociopolitical systems of oppression (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 31). As an AmeriCorps VISTA, I designed a training protocol for student mentors to better prepare them to mentor students from disadvantaged backgrounds in an ethical manner. In some training, we discussed the stigma of the “at-risk” label and explained socioeconomic status. One of the activities that had the best response was to determine micro and macro reasons for poverty. This forced students to recognize that poverty is not just cause by individual factors. Rather, there are contributing systemic factors such as unemployment and education inequity.
Additionally, as a practicum student with the Center for Community and Civic Engagement, I developed curriculum for the Bowling Green Alternative Break (bGAB) site leader training course. As I created the syllabus, I made sure to incorporate social justice throughout the training. The first few lessons are dedicated to students learning more about themselves and how they identify. From there, the lessons turn to learning about working with others, particularly about the importance of understanding privilege, power and oppression. Lastly, the course covers how all of this will influence service work in communities of which they are not a part. We cover the importance of understanding community needs, the importance of asset-based thinking and the pitfalls to making social change (such as a savior complex, paternalism and cultural assimilation). This knowledge all contributes to site leaders having an ability to work in an ethical manner with students and communities that are disadvantaged by systems of oppression.
In addition to curriculum development, I have engaged in critical dialogue with students to “effectively address bias incidents impacting campus communities” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 31). For example, in fall 2016, I served as the advisor of the Student Budget Committee. The group’s ultimate purpose was to allocate general fee dollars to student organizations for programming, travel and operational expenses. However, as an advisor I was also concerned about guiding them through their experiences as students. After the election of Donald Trump, the Bowling Green State University campus had instances of bias and overall feelings of tension and fear. I wanted my students to know that we did not expect them to continue business as usual, so I addressed issues around campus with the committee. We were able to have a good conversation about the incidents as well as any bias they had seen and/or experienced and what they could do to address it.
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Further, I co-facilitated a conversation in the CSP 6035 course that allowed me to contribute to “dialogue about issues of social justice, inclusion, power, privilege, and oppression in one’s practice” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 31). This conversation was part of the Each One, Teach One assignment. My group created a 45-minute lesson plan to discuss allyship. Within our presentation, we were able to present important information concerning key tenets of effective allyship as well as facilitate a productive conversation concerning the role of student affairs professionals as allies.
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Overall, developing a competency in social justice and inclusion is vital to my practice as a student affairs practitioner. Moving forward, I will continue to do self-work consisting of reflecting on my identity, researching new scholarship on justice within higher education and practicing allyship for my students.
ACPA: College Student Educators International & NASPA − Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs educators. Washington, DC: Authors. ​​