Ethical Professional Practice

 

Throughout my time at BGSU I have had the opportunity to develop my ethical professional practice competency to a proficient level through my formal coursework and my internship experience in the Office of Residence Life.

 

One of the most impactful class sessions that I have experienced during my tenure in the CSP program was during a discussion of professional ethics in CSP 6035: Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs.  During this class session, we discussed the importance of the ethic of care that implicitly runs throughout the profession.  Before this conversation, I had never before considered the possibility that a student affairs professional could unintentionally harm a student.  Through the class conversation I realized that an improperly facilitated social justice workshop or a poorly run conduct meeting had the potential to inhibit the development of a student, and instill in the student a distrust for student affairs practitioners.  This realization has led me to begin following up with students after conduct cases to better assess my impact as a student affairs professional.

 

My internship experience as a Graduate Hall Director has also provided me the opportunity to development my ethical practice competency.  In my internship, I regularly address ethical dilemmas in situations that involve competing student affairs values.  For example, one of my resident advisors had violated official residence life policy and my supervisor and I had to decide whether to release him from his position.  However, I knew that this student could not afford to pay for their education without the resident advisor position.  Additionally, residence life policy was not clear on whether the conduct violation warranted immediate termination.  I had to balance the values of student development, accessible higher education, and the student’s own responsibility to fulfill their job responsibilities.  While I ultimately decided to place the student on prohibition, this was an ethical dilemma as it involved competing values with no clear answer.