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Role Conflict around Disruptive Campus Activism

Heilmeier, Brian P.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1603904490988427

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Higher Education (Education).
Disruptive activism has been a part of college campus since 1766 when the Bad Butter Rebellion at Harvard took place (Dickey, 2016; Ireland, 2012; Moore, 1976). More recently institutions have been facing an increase in disruptive campus activism (Dickey, 2016). When disruptive campus activism occurs on a college campus it is often the student affairs professionals that are asked to help manage the situation. These professionals serve as both the advisors to the student activism and campus managers representing the university. Understanding how student affairs professionals reconcile the role they play will add to the existing research on activism on college campuses. The findings of this study show that operationalizing a specific role can be challenging when it comes to disruptive campus activism. Reconciling the role is also challenging, especially if you don’t have the preferred role of advisor. Student affairs professionals who perform the advisor role often understand what their role is and how to operationalize the function. Campus managers, however, have less of an understanding of how to operationalize their functions, and when disruptive campus activism occurs, they are forced into stressful situations. For both groups, there were six main factors that influenced how they reconciled their particular role. The student affairs professionals’ personal identities played a major factor in reconciling the actions in their roles. This factor was particularly influential when the 4 professional held a minoritized identity. All participants believed that the advisor role was more central to their work than was the manager role. The advisor identity was based on a core value of student advocacy and education. Interestingly, this value was articulated more clearly by those participants who occupied professional roles that were more managerial in nature. For both advisors and campus managers, the issue at the heart of the disturbance played a major factor. When issues occurred that student affairs professionals believed in, campus managers found it harder to impede activism and advisors encouraged to push the issue further. How the institution viewed disruptive campus activism played a large factor into reconciliation for all participants. If a professional felt they had institutional support, reconciliation was easier. For campus managers, timing of when they heard about an issue and their capacity to try and work with the students played a key factor. Lastly, the position level of the student affairs professional played a factor into their reconciliation depending on if they had more contact with higher level administrators versus their co-workers. Implications for practice include better defining roles for student affairs and teaching student affairs professionals how to negotiate the tension and fulfill the core value of advocating for students. This study can be used to help student affairs professionals better understand and negotiate the role conflicts they experience around disruptive campus activism.
Pete Mather, Dr. (Committee Chair)
Laura Harrison, Dr. (Committee Member)
David Nguyen, Dr. (Committee Member)
Dwan Robinson, Dr. (Committee Member)
147 p.
Education; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration
Disruptive Campus Activism; Student Affairs Professionals; Campus Manager; Advisor; Role Theory; Role Conflict

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Heilmeier, B. P. (2020). Role Conflict around Disruptive Campus Activism [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1603904490988427

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Heilmeier, Brian. Role Conflict around Disruptive Campus Activism. 2020. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1603904490988427.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Heilmeier, Brian. "Role Conflict around Disruptive Campus Activism." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1603904490988427

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1603904490988427
388
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This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.