Alexandra Hughes:
Welcome to season three of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast. The podcast where we talk about the student conduct profession in higher education. I'm Alexandra Hughes, your Viewpoints host.
Alexandra Hughes:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast. As always, I am your host, Dr. Alexandra E. Hughes, and here we are. Welcome. I really don't know where to start. It has been a whirlwind since our annual conference two weeks ago. So the first thing that I need to do is, of course, just apologize for not having an episode out last week. There was a winter storm that happened for those of you who are unaware and maybe new to the show and new to our ASCA Viewpoints podcast. Of course, I host it. I actually currently live in Texas, and last week, which was the week after our annual conference, there was a winter storm, which resulted in power outages and loss, and not being with power for days and water frozen in pipes, and I think the world kind of knows what happens or what happened last week.
Alexandra Hughes:
And so it was definitely not something that I planned for. I am extremely happy that our annual conference was the week prior because I didn't have wifi. I didn't have power. I didn't have anything. So it was, I guess, just perfect timing to say the least, but yes I am okay. I'm very thankful, and I am happy to be able to be sitting here recording this. I do want to bring attention to the fact that there were so many people and so many of our colleagues that were impacted by this. And so many people that were not as fortunate as I was during this time. So I definitely want to make sure that I'm bringing awareness. There's so many just different programs and resources and things out there. And so I just kind of want to bring people's attention to that, just so people know.
Alexandra Hughes:
So that was last week. Not what I expected to happen or what I thought was going to happen, but it did. And as we know, in higher education and student affairs, we can have plans all day long, but the best laid plan often goes astray. Well, the first thing, or I guess the second thing at this point, that I wanted to do was really just welcome all of our new subscribers, all of our new listeners, to our show, to the ASCA Viewpoints podcast show. I am so excited. I am our host of the show. We talk about all things student conduct. We have episodes, of course, with this year that are coming out every single Wednesday. And those episodes really consist of either a viewpoint from a special guest who comes on the show, or it consists of my own viewpoint, just talking, sharing tips, tricks, information, whatever it may be just to make sure that we are the best student conduct professionals that we can be.
Alexandra Hughes:
We have a very specialized area field, and I think one of the things that I personally love about our conference is that I am surrounded by people who truly understand the day-to-day work of what I do. We understand each other when I have questions, when I need suggestions, when I need help, whatever it may be to really exist in this community with people and others around me, is just something that I thoroughly enjoy. And so that's what I like to bring to the podcast. We are on social media, on Instagram, at ASCA podcasts as well as Twitter. We're there, we're here, we're doing things. And so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to email the show as well. All of our contact information, of course, will be in the show notes. So that is kind of the premise of our show.
Alexandra Hughes:
This is the podcast for all student conduct people. If you want to be student conduct and you're not student conduct, then maybe some of these episodes will help you think through some of the things that we deal with in our field. So that's kind of an overview, if I can say the least. So for today's episode, I'm going to keep it short and kind of brief, especially in light of the rearranging that we and I have had to do in reference to just the craziness that has happened over the past couple of weeks. But one of the things that people came to me and talked about was that they loved when I did short episodes, so I think this one will be great to have a short episode just to kind of keep people thinking and just thinking about different things in our brains, if you will.
Alexandra Hughes:
So last week, when I didn't have power, it gave me the opportunity to have some conversations. Like no internet, no wifi, nothing to distract me, and so during the course of one of the conversations that I was having, it was surrounding kind of a personal life experience. And how different situations and people in life and people hurt you and what... All that type of stuff. So in this particular situation, it was regarding, I guess, someone in the past who had, I felt that they had hurt me and although I had moved forward, and this was quite a number of years ago, I refused to allow them or give them the opportunity to repair the harm that they did. I guess the best way I could say it was that every time this person tried to extend an olive branch towards me, I burned it. Completely burned it down.
Alexandra Hughes:
And it took me years to recognize this. And I think it even took me more years to recognize and admit what I just shared with you in regard to the situation. But I just refused to accept any form of olive branch forgiveness, any of the stuff. Now, everything I'm saying, please take with a grain of salt because every situation is different. This doesn't apply to everything. Context is important. And because I'm not sharing with you, the context of this personal situation, it's hard, but just recognize that it was a situation that happened.
Alexandra Hughes:
Now, I realize that the person who hurt me did the work. However, I refused to see their side of the situation and hear their story. Now it's easy for me to say that and admit that because the hurt that happened in this space had to deal with me. I was a participant in this situation, which is something very different for us as student conduct administrators, when situations are brought to our attention, because typically it's the people involved that are hurt and they're bringing it to us. But I still started thinking about it and realized that I refused to see their side of the situation and their story.
Alexandra Hughes:
Honestly, I just refused to see this person's own humanity. And I forever defined them by that particular mistake, although they truly thought that it was the best decision at the time. So this whole situation, kind of vague, just work with me here. It got me to thinking last week about the work that we do as student conduct professionals and about the idea of personhood and humanity, and really made me ask the question, are we allowing our students to exist in their personhood and their humanity and recognize that they are people as well? Are they bad people? Did they just make a bad mistake?
Alexandra Hughes:
We're always asking for people to see our own humanity, but are we willing to give that same grace to others involved? When I think about it, and I think about the situations that we get in our office, oftentimes, I know just experience that I've had, I've had to catch myself because I find myself really looking at students and being, how did you not know this? Or why did you do this? Or this was just a dumb mistake. I'm thinking of these things in my head.
Alexandra Hughes:
But really recognizing that in some instances, students really thought that made the most sense for them at the time, whatever decision that was, and it got me to thinking, especially because of the winter storm and me being at home, I could not answer anything. I couldn't respond to anything. I couldn't really do anything. There wasn't really much I could do without power. And coming back into the office this week, I think probably the first line of everything that I did, and honestly, the same thing that I did with this podcast was, hey, winter storm, emergency happened, this happened, haven't had a chance to do this, trying to catch up, give me grace, give me and see my humanity in this space.
Alexandra Hughes:
And I started wondering if we always do that for our students. I think we have to remember that our office is very much so a part of a student's educational journey, just as a history class, a biology class, whatever class that may be. And I think that we remember this when it comes to explaining our role and purpose to fellow professors, or student affairs professionals, but do we ever remember it ourselves when examining a student's sanctions? The care that we give after to a student and allowing students to learn the lesson from our office. Do we really allow students to repair the harm done to the community and then continue to be a productive member of that campus community? Or do we, as professionals, have a slight little blank asterisk by their name, if you will, in regards to how we feel about this individual student and who they are to our office.
Alexandra Hughes:
Again, not saying any of us are perfect, not saying that this is something that we're going to have an answer to, or even you're going to have an answer to in this moment. It's just something that kind of came to my mind. Are we truly seeing our students or a person's humanity in this process or as a student, just another number, another case in our office. Now I know this is easier said than done. I get it with the craziness of the world. We're still in a panorama. Yeah, I've stopped saying pandemic. I will say every other word with a P. But are we recognizing that the same humanity that we want people to give us, we started with COVID and everything else.
Alexandra Hughes:
Sometimes I think we need a reminder to ourselves that they're dealing with the same thing too. I don't know. It's just something that came to my head, and kind of connecting those personal experiences with that of these professional ones that we do as well. I told the person that I was talking to, I said, I think we, as human beings, sometimes we have made somebody out to be the villain in that particular story, whatever story it may be, or they're the bad person, or they're the person that was wrong so much that I wonder if that's the story that we've written, that we never allow ourselves to see that person's humanity or personhood in another way.
Alexandra Hughes:
Again, every situation is different. This can't be applied to all things, but I do want to just implore us to think about that and that humanity piece as we move forward with cases. I think we have done a really good job as professionals and as a field of remembering that. But I do know that I've definitely sat in some meetings with some people where I'm listening to us talk and we've definitely gotten comfortable with not seeing the humanity of the cases that we are reviewing.
Alexandra Hughes:
And so I just want to remind everyone and, quite frankly, even just remind myself, to do so. And so that's everything I have for everyone. It's a quick little exert. It's just me sharing a thought. I hope that you enjoyed it. I don't know, maybe you think that it's absolutely absurd, but I just wanted to throw that out there. And more importantly, just thank everybody so much for being a part of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast community. Thank you so much for all of your support. I'm so excited for this year, the episodes, the people that we have speaking on the show, the different topics that we're going to cover. I'm just elated. Thank you again for seeing my humanity and all of the things that have happened.
Alexandra Hughes:
And I'm sure that there will be times where I will ask you to see my humanity moving forward. So with that, I hope everyone continues to have a wonderful day, a great rest of your week. Please connect with me on all of the interwebs because that's a thing. I'm on the interwebs. I know I say interwebs. I just think it's better. Probably aging myself. That's okay, but I will meet you there. That's everything I got. Stay safe. Stay warm if you are in Texas, which now, the next week, it's 80 degrees outside. So it's Texas for you. What can I say? But for everyone else, stay warm, please stay healthy. And I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Alexandra Hughes:
This episode was produced, edited, and hosted by Alexandra Hughes. That's me. If you're enjoying the podcast, we ask that you like rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps others discover us and become more visible to our podcasting community. If you have suggestions for future guests or would like to be featured on the podcast yourself, feel free to reach out to us by email at ASCApodcast@gmail.com or on Twitter @ASCApodcast. If you'd like to connect with me on Twitter, you can find me @Alexandrasview. Talk to us. We talked back.
Welcome to season three of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast. The podcast where we talk about the student conduct profession in higher education. I'm Alexandra Hughes, your Viewpoints host.
Alexandra Hughes:
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast. As always, I am your host, Dr. Alexandra E. Hughes, and here we are. Welcome. I really don't know where to start. It has been a whirlwind since our annual conference two weeks ago. So the first thing that I need to do is, of course, just apologize for not having an episode out last week. There was a winter storm that happened for those of you who are unaware and maybe new to the show and new to our ASCA Viewpoints podcast. Of course, I host it. I actually currently live in Texas, and last week, which was the week after our annual conference, there was a winter storm, which resulted in power outages and loss, and not being with power for days and water frozen in pipes, and I think the world kind of knows what happens or what happened last week.
Alexandra Hughes:
And so it was definitely not something that I planned for. I am extremely happy that our annual conference was the week prior because I didn't have wifi. I didn't have power. I didn't have anything. So it was, I guess, just perfect timing to say the least, but yes I am okay. I'm very thankful, and I am happy to be able to be sitting here recording this. I do want to bring attention to the fact that there were so many people and so many of our colleagues that were impacted by this. And so many people that were not as fortunate as I was during this time. So I definitely want to make sure that I'm bringing awareness. There's so many just different programs and resources and things out there. And so I just kind of want to bring people's attention to that, just so people know.
Alexandra Hughes:
So that was last week. Not what I expected to happen or what I thought was going to happen, but it did. And as we know, in higher education and student affairs, we can have plans all day long, but the best laid plan often goes astray. Well, the first thing, or I guess the second thing at this point, that I wanted to do was really just welcome all of our new subscribers, all of our new listeners, to our show, to the ASCA Viewpoints podcast show. I am so excited. I am our host of the show. We talk about all things student conduct. We have episodes, of course, with this year that are coming out every single Wednesday. And those episodes really consist of either a viewpoint from a special guest who comes on the show, or it consists of my own viewpoint, just talking, sharing tips, tricks, information, whatever it may be just to make sure that we are the best student conduct professionals that we can be.
Alexandra Hughes:
We have a very specialized area field, and I think one of the things that I personally love about our conference is that I am surrounded by people who truly understand the day-to-day work of what I do. We understand each other when I have questions, when I need suggestions, when I need help, whatever it may be to really exist in this community with people and others around me, is just something that I thoroughly enjoy. And so that's what I like to bring to the podcast. We are on social media, on Instagram, at ASCA podcasts as well as Twitter. We're there, we're here, we're doing things. And so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to email the show as well. All of our contact information, of course, will be in the show notes. So that is kind of the premise of our show.
Alexandra Hughes:
This is the podcast for all student conduct people. If you want to be student conduct and you're not student conduct, then maybe some of these episodes will help you think through some of the things that we deal with in our field. So that's kind of an overview, if I can say the least. So for today's episode, I'm going to keep it short and kind of brief, especially in light of the rearranging that we and I have had to do in reference to just the craziness that has happened over the past couple of weeks. But one of the things that people came to me and talked about was that they loved when I did short episodes, so I think this one will be great to have a short episode just to kind of keep people thinking and just thinking about different things in our brains, if you will.
Alexandra Hughes:
So last week, when I didn't have power, it gave me the opportunity to have some conversations. Like no internet, no wifi, nothing to distract me, and so during the course of one of the conversations that I was having, it was surrounding kind of a personal life experience. And how different situations and people in life and people hurt you and what... All that type of stuff. So in this particular situation, it was regarding, I guess, someone in the past who had, I felt that they had hurt me and although I had moved forward, and this was quite a number of years ago, I refused to allow them or give them the opportunity to repair the harm that they did. I guess the best way I could say it was that every time this person tried to extend an olive branch towards me, I burned it. Completely burned it down.
Alexandra Hughes:
And it took me years to recognize this. And I think it even took me more years to recognize and admit what I just shared with you in regard to the situation. But I just refused to accept any form of olive branch forgiveness, any of the stuff. Now, everything I'm saying, please take with a grain of salt because every situation is different. This doesn't apply to everything. Context is important. And because I'm not sharing with you, the context of this personal situation, it's hard, but just recognize that it was a situation that happened.
Alexandra Hughes:
Now, I realize that the person who hurt me did the work. However, I refused to see their side of the situation and hear their story. Now it's easy for me to say that and admit that because the hurt that happened in this space had to deal with me. I was a participant in this situation, which is something very different for us as student conduct administrators, when situations are brought to our attention, because typically it's the people involved that are hurt and they're bringing it to us. But I still started thinking about it and realized that I refused to see their side of the situation and their story.
Alexandra Hughes:
Honestly, I just refused to see this person's own humanity. And I forever defined them by that particular mistake, although they truly thought that it was the best decision at the time. So this whole situation, kind of vague, just work with me here. It got me to thinking last week about the work that we do as student conduct professionals and about the idea of personhood and humanity, and really made me ask the question, are we allowing our students to exist in their personhood and their humanity and recognize that they are people as well? Are they bad people? Did they just make a bad mistake?
Alexandra Hughes:
We're always asking for people to see our own humanity, but are we willing to give that same grace to others involved? When I think about it, and I think about the situations that we get in our office, oftentimes, I know just experience that I've had, I've had to catch myself because I find myself really looking at students and being, how did you not know this? Or why did you do this? Or this was just a dumb mistake. I'm thinking of these things in my head.
Alexandra Hughes:
But really recognizing that in some instances, students really thought that made the most sense for them at the time, whatever decision that was, and it got me to thinking, especially because of the winter storm and me being at home, I could not answer anything. I couldn't respond to anything. I couldn't really do anything. There wasn't really much I could do without power. And coming back into the office this week, I think probably the first line of everything that I did, and honestly, the same thing that I did with this podcast was, hey, winter storm, emergency happened, this happened, haven't had a chance to do this, trying to catch up, give me grace, give me and see my humanity in this space.
Alexandra Hughes:
And I started wondering if we always do that for our students. I think we have to remember that our office is very much so a part of a student's educational journey, just as a history class, a biology class, whatever class that may be. And I think that we remember this when it comes to explaining our role and purpose to fellow professors, or student affairs professionals, but do we ever remember it ourselves when examining a student's sanctions? The care that we give after to a student and allowing students to learn the lesson from our office. Do we really allow students to repair the harm done to the community and then continue to be a productive member of that campus community? Or do we, as professionals, have a slight little blank asterisk by their name, if you will, in regards to how we feel about this individual student and who they are to our office.
Alexandra Hughes:
Again, not saying any of us are perfect, not saying that this is something that we're going to have an answer to, or even you're going to have an answer to in this moment. It's just something that kind of came to my mind. Are we truly seeing our students or a person's humanity in this process or as a student, just another number, another case in our office. Now I know this is easier said than done. I get it with the craziness of the world. We're still in a panorama. Yeah, I've stopped saying pandemic. I will say every other word with a P. But are we recognizing that the same humanity that we want people to give us, we started with COVID and everything else.
Alexandra Hughes:
Sometimes I think we need a reminder to ourselves that they're dealing with the same thing too. I don't know. It's just something that came to my head, and kind of connecting those personal experiences with that of these professional ones that we do as well. I told the person that I was talking to, I said, I think we, as human beings, sometimes we have made somebody out to be the villain in that particular story, whatever story it may be, or they're the bad person, or they're the person that was wrong so much that I wonder if that's the story that we've written, that we never allow ourselves to see that person's humanity or personhood in another way.
Alexandra Hughes:
Again, every situation is different. This can't be applied to all things, but I do want to just implore us to think about that and that humanity piece as we move forward with cases. I think we have done a really good job as professionals and as a field of remembering that. But I do know that I've definitely sat in some meetings with some people where I'm listening to us talk and we've definitely gotten comfortable with not seeing the humanity of the cases that we are reviewing.
Alexandra Hughes:
And so I just want to remind everyone and, quite frankly, even just remind myself, to do so. And so that's everything I have for everyone. It's a quick little exert. It's just me sharing a thought. I hope that you enjoyed it. I don't know, maybe you think that it's absolutely absurd, but I just wanted to throw that out there. And more importantly, just thank everybody so much for being a part of the ASCA Viewpoints podcast community. Thank you so much for all of your support. I'm so excited for this year, the episodes, the people that we have speaking on the show, the different topics that we're going to cover. I'm just elated. Thank you again for seeing my humanity and all of the things that have happened.
Alexandra Hughes:
And I'm sure that there will be times where I will ask you to see my humanity moving forward. So with that, I hope everyone continues to have a wonderful day, a great rest of your week. Please connect with me on all of the interwebs because that's a thing. I'm on the interwebs. I know I say interwebs. I just think it's better. Probably aging myself. That's okay, but I will meet you there. That's everything I got. Stay safe. Stay warm if you are in Texas, which now, the next week, it's 80 degrees outside. So it's Texas for you. What can I say? But for everyone else, stay warm, please stay healthy. And I look forward to connecting with you soon.
Alexandra Hughes:
This episode was produced, edited, and hosted by Alexandra Hughes. That's me. If you're enjoying the podcast, we ask that you like rate and review us on apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. It really helps others discover us and become more visible to our podcasting community. If you have suggestions for future guests or would like to be featured on the podcast yourself, feel free to reach out to us by email at ASCApodcast@gmail.com or on Twitter @ASCApodcast. If you'd like to connect with me on Twitter, you can find me @Alexandrasview. Talk to us. We talked back.
