Talking Stick - May/June 2018 - 57

can affect all members of the community, or where compromising the
educational living environment can
threaten personal and academic success. Kevin Carmody, associate dean of
student life and Title IX coordinator at
Ferris State University in Big Rapids,
Michigan, defines his philosophy as
being community-oriented, educational, and holistic. "While I love restorative justice practices and to be educational, safety for the community must
come first. I often think of Maslow's
hierarchy: If we don't first establish
safety, then nothing else that we attempt will matter. Secondly, I believe
that behavior can be changed when the
right intervention can come into play.
I think that being educational is much
more than just assigning reflection
papers. I actively assess interventions
to find out if they're making an impact
on behavior; I seek to understand what
the core issue is and attempt to tailor

educational interventions specific to
that thought process, belief, or misperception that informed the behavior."

A holistic conduct process considers the whole student - their experiences, traumas, and backgrounds -
when evaluating the conduct case and,
if appropriate, when assigning sanctions. S. Nicole Ferguson, director of
student conduct and case management
at Colorado State University-Pueblo,
draws from her counseling background
to influence her conduct practice. "My
philosophy stems from a counseling
background and the knowledge that a
student is likely to act out when some
other aspect of their life is out of their
control. I believe that all students
have the potential to learn from their
mistakes, but we have to encourage that
learning more than others encourage
the violations. Breaking the rules can
be fun! We have to remember the cost
of fun sometimes." Anthony Ungaro, a

former residential community educator at Oklahoma State University in
Stillwater, explains how considering the
whole person can serve as a learning
experience. "Most sanctions are set and
are given to multiple people when it
might not match the deeper issue. With
alcohol, there is often one blanket sanction, but the remaining need to be used
based on individual need, not a matrix.
All students come into the meeting
with different backgrounds; the same
sanctions will not work for everyone
and will start to inhibit learning rather
than aid it."

Finally, a punitive system is one
in which the process is viewed as a
punishment, and fines may be levied
for violations beyond restitution costs.
Few, if any, conduct systems will
openly state that their processes are
punitive; however, the terminology
of some codes of conduct give them a
punitive feel. Purposeful language and

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Talking Stick - May/June 2018

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