Examining equity in university student conduct adjudication: a phenomenological investigation of administrative resolution

Abstract

University Conduct Administrators independently manage university discipline programs with minimal guidance and oversight from the U.S. Department of Education to ensure compliance with civil rights laws. Informal resolution through administrative agreement typically involves a one-on-one discussion between a conduct administrator and student in which the alleged policy violations are discussed and resolved through mutual agreement. This commonly applied traditional adjudication pathway positions the student as particularly vulnerable to the knowledge, skills, and disposition of the administrator managing their case. The Office of Civil Rights under the U.S. Department of Education has never conducted a postsecondary cross-institutional assessment for disparate discipline practices, despite having published a comparable analysis of disturbing disparities among Black and Hispanic males and students with disabilities within public K-12 institutions. This interpretive phenomenological study examines the experiences of 11 university conduct administrators who resolve university misconduct administratively to better understand the intersection of professional discretion and case context as they relate to decision making and case outcomes. Aligned with the method chosen for this study, the researcher, an in-group member of the study population, offers her pre-understanding and location to the problem of practice as reflective tools used in research design and interpretation of findings. Findings include three hermeneutic statements which are supported by themes extracted through the pursuit of the hermeneutic circle. The findings emerging from this study are bound to the experiences of study participants; it is through the interpretation and curiosity of those reading this paper that value is generated.