A Phenomenological Examination of the Responses to Judicialization by College Student Conduct Administrators - Qualitative Study

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca

Qualitative research explored the lived experiences of twelve college student conduct administrators facing the effects of federal and state regulation, case law, media influence, attorney involvement, parental participation, and the use of litigation to override traditional processes. Semi-structured interviews captured personal narratives and identified seven themes: communication, conservative decision-making, mental health concerns, perceptions of student conduct, campus legal counsel, the shift toward process-centered work, and impacts from students’ attorneys. Findings highlight both harms and strategies for wellness, self-care, and professional sustainability.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Purpose of the Study

Research Questions

Literature Review

The History of Student Conduct Administration

A Phenomenological Examination of the Responses to Judicialization by College Student Conduct Administrators Dr. Valerie Glassman University of North Carolina Dr. Travis Lewis East Carolina University A qualitative study of twelve student conduct administrators sought to capture their lived experiences relative to the impacts of federal and state regulation, case law, the media, attorney encroachment, parental involvement, and the use of litigation to supersede traditional processes on their professional work and personal lives. The interviews invited participants to share personal narratives about their lived experiences and led to the discovery of seven themes pertaining to the judicialization of their work: (1) communication,(2) conservative decision making,(3) mental health concerns,(4) responding to perceptions of what student conduct is,(5) the role of campus legal counsel,(6) the shift from being student-centered to process-centered, and (7) impacts of students’ attorneys. Findings revealed that although this phenomenon has created harms for these practitioners, it has also allowed them to develop strategies for wellness, self-care, and sustainability in the profession. Keywords: College Student Conduct, College Administrators, Judicialization Education Leadership Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Fall 2022 15 Traditionally, the role of the college student conduct administrator, or student conduct officer, is to receive reports of misconduct allegations, meet with a student to understand their perspective on the matter, and evaluate all information to determine if a policy has been violated based on a particular institution’s standard of proof (Dannells, 1997; Waller, 2013) . When a student is found responsible for violation of policy, the conduct officer issues sanctions commensurate to the nature and circumstances surrounding the violation, its effect on the community, university interests, posture of the responding student, and the student’s previous disciplinary history. Although sanctions may be perceived by students to be punitive, they are meant to be educational in nature, restore harms made to impacted parties, and address the health and safety of the community (Shook & Neumeister, 2015) . Student conduct administrators typically work under the auspices of a college’s or university’s student affairs division, and frequently as a department within the dean of students office, although this varies by institution. The last decade, however, has seen a significant shift in the practice of student conduct (Miller, 2018; Shook & Neumeister, 2015; Waller, 2013) . This shift has been led by misportrayals of this work by the media, heightened national attention to the adjudication of sexual misconduct on college campuses, and the encroachment of attorneys into the disciplinary process. Student conduct administrators can be left unprepared for a work environment that is more legalistic than developmental and may experience a precarious mix of emotions as they navigate case law, federal regulations, scrutiny by senior level administrators, legalistic language, and interacting with lawyers against the backdrop of training that did not prepare them for such intense effort. The encroachment of lawyers into the disciplinary process is a relatively new phenomenon that has emerged since the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued the Dear Colleague letter (Ali, 2011) that required complainants and respondents in Title IX-related cases be permitted to have an advisor of their choice—including attorneys—at their hearings. Previously unexplored in student affairs literature, this phenomenon is labeled herein as “judicialization” (Vallinder, 1994), a term borrowed from the political realm and interpreted within to describe the treatment of the undergraduate disciplinary process as aquasijudicial/legalistic system. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to explore the impact

FAQs

What is the study’s main purpose?

To explore how judicialization impacts student conduct administrators’ physical, emotional, and psychological reactions in response to public scrutiny of their work.

What research method did the study use?

A phenomenological approach was used to examine participants’ experiences and the conditions surrounding those experiences.

What key themes were identified about judicialization?

Seven themes were identified, including communication, conservative decision making, mental health concerns, perceptions of student conduct, campus legal counsel, the shift from student-centered to process-centered work, and impacts of students’ attorneys.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca