Eric Stoller's Blog

My blog post on affirmative action was recently included as a chapter in a book. The book, “Issues That Concern You: Discrimination,” was published by Greenhaven Press in December, 2007. It is the first time that something that I have written has been published in a book. The book has a hardcover and yes, it is on my desk at this very moment! I am giddy with excitement.

The post (and now book chapter!) was originally written for an assignment in a philosophy class at Oregon State University. The class, Ethics of Diversity, was/is taught by Lani Roberts. I am grateful for everything that she has taught me. Thanks Lani.

More photos of Issues That Concern You: Discrimination are after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »

I co-facilitated a College Student Services Administration (CSSA) class at Oregon State University today. Jessica White and Chris White are teaching a course on Technology Issues in Higher Education. Jessica and I presented an edited version of our “Blogs and Student Learning” presentation. After an hour on blogs, blogging, rss, etc., Chris and I facilitated a discussion on podcasts / podcasting in a higher education context. I had a great time. The class asked a lot of questions and the discussion was lively. It felt good to be back in the classroom.

Ottobib creates citations for MLA, APA, AMA, and Chicago Style based on a book’s ISBN. I tested it out on one of my CSSA textbooks. I quickly found the ISBN (International Standard Book Number), typed it into Ottobib, and presto — instant APA Citation:

Evans N., Forney D., Guido-DiBrito F. (1998). Student Development In College. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

In other news, Dell is now allowing folks to recycle any Dell-branded product (without purchasing anything!) for FREE! Apple needs to adopt a similar policy. Apple’s current recycling policy requires the purchase of a “qualified Apple computer or monitor.” I really hope they greenmyapple.

I wish to thank the following people for challenging and supporting me during my graduate program/assistantship. I have learned a lot from all of you and I look forward to our next adventure!

CSSA faculty/staff/instructors including: Jessica White, Rich Shintaku, Laurie Brendle-Sleipness, Larry Roper, Bob Bontrager, Tom Scheuermann, Tracy Bentley-Townlin, Melissa Yamamoto, Jackie Balzer, Tom Kirch, Eric Hansen, Bernie Liang, and Michael Hevel.

Additional faculty/staff that I wish to thank: Lani Roberts, Jim Day, Dan Crouch, Michael Ingram, Moira Dempsey, Wayne Robertson, Nancy Laurence, Blake Vawter, Kate Peterson, Joy Jorgensen, Jodi Nelson, Deb Burke, Dan Schwab, Resa Cochran, Janet Nishihara, Kris Winter, Marcus Langford, Rick DeBellis, Carol Andrews, Janet Morandi, Kyle Cassady, Edie Blakeley and Allison Davis-White Eyes.

The 2004 CSSA Cohort. I am extremely grateful to all of you. I am graduating because of you.*

*Wendy, Tanya, Padma, Cat, Andrea, Gail, Tarah, Melanie, Justina, Dave, Rem, Kent and Sam – Thanks for listening!

I. Portfolio overview

• Blogging

• Blog Stats: There are currently 137 posts and 211 comments, contained within 19 categories. Web Stats: 11,249 page loads and 4,336 unique visits.

• Anonymity

• 1 year of content, comments, and community

• Portfolio + Blog = Blogfolio

• Portfolio pages with links to specific experiences and reflections

• Technology – WordPress

II. Competency #9: Multicultural awareness, knowledge and skills

• Area of Specialization – Social Justice and Organizational Change
• Self-Awareness 2004 – 2006
• Action oriented

III. Practicum experiences

• Academic Success Center Assessment
• Student Conduct
• Odyssey and Academic Success

IV. Acknowledgements

V. Questions

Why is technology vilified in Student Affairs?

This session from PaperClip Communications is full of shock and awe:
“Liabilities, judicial impact, legal issues, thorny topics, and professional dangers”

“Facebook, Myspace: Liabilities, Judicial & Legal Matters

Every day a new set of issues, concerns, liabilities and legal precedents are set in relationship to cyber communities.

Sites like Facebook and MySpace are rapidly evolving, attracting more and more users. Cyber communities are rapidly developing into a new social and communication platform for college students.

With this new platform comes a whole new set of legal issues, judicial concerns and potential liabilities for every college and university.

Join a panel of experts and your colleagues for a cross-campus discussion on the legal and judicial impacts of cyber communities.

During this dynamic live event you’ll hear from a panel of attorneys who will address thorny topics such as:

• What’s the status of free speech online when using university servers to access cyber community sites?
• Does monitoring cyber community sites create a new “duty of care” and therefore open the institution to new liabilities?
• What legal status do the provider’s terms of usage have on campus? Are there conflicting legalities between the cyber communities and the university?
• What legal rights exist for an institution to document on-line actions in real world judicial proceedings?

As the digital world evolves so do the legal ramifications surrounding these popular sites. There is a need for developing policy and reconsidering procedures as campuses consider how these digital domains intersect with the real campus world.

We will also discuss issues such as:

• What students may not, but should, know about their online community agreement.
• How addressing student conduct online impacts a student’s Freedom of Speech.
• If your institution reviews student activity/behavior/speech in online communities, are you as an institution opening yourself up to liability? Have you created a new duty of care standard that you will be held to?
• What are the implications for using information obtained from online communities in judicial hearings? What can be used, what should be used, should you use it at all?
• What are the implications of using this information in hiring or selection processes? Can or should cyber communities be consulted as part of the admissions process?
• What is the most effective plan for educating students about the personal and professional dangers associated with online communities? What is working, what is not? We will discuss what best practices are being employed by institutions across the country today to educate students.”

I think it’s important to educate all student affairs practitioners about the complete picture of online communities. It is important for us to know whether or not we have a duty of care. However, I do not think that “fear sessions” create a technologically competent profession. Where are the NASPA, ACPA, and Paperclip sessions on Facebook/MySpace.com and their potential benefits to retention and academic success? I think we should look at technology like we look at other areas in student affairs. Why do we not think holistically about technology?

Every time I think that I can shift my focus away from technology in student affairs…they pull me back in! This (see blockquote) is an online course that is being offered by the American College Personnel Association (ACPA). Can someone please inform ACPA and NASPA that technology is not an “emerging discussion.” It is this kind of language which causes student affairs administrators to remain stuck in 1995. Technology is CURRENTLY in use in student affairs! We have blogs, databases, wikis, rss feeds, vpn clients, web statistics, screenreaders, podcasts, etc. This course should be technical!

Who can I look to as a technology mentor in student affairs when almost everyone seems to think that technology and student affairs are mutually exclusive. NASPA needs to bring back the information technology knowledge community. ACPA needs to have highly technical classes on technology for student affairs practitioners. It is 2006. Technology needs to be part of our educational competencies. [end rant]

ACPA: Technology in Student Affairs

Course Description

iPods, Blackberry, MP3, and more! Today’s college students are awash in technology and have adapted it to their lives. How comfortable are we as college student educators with integrating technology into our professional lives?

This e-learning course is designed to provide an overview of the issues related to technology and the field of student affairs. Included in the course are sections on the current issues, decision-making, and practical applications. Discussion will center on the implications of technology in higher education and how it can best be managed within student affairs. Although technical aspects of technology will be discussed, it is not designed to be a “technical” course. A main objective for participants is to research and address a current technological issue with which they (or a functional area of interest) are dealing.

Course outcomes:

• Participants will be introduced to the emerging discussion of technological decision-making in student affairs.

• Participants will reflect on and discuss how professionals make technological decisions on their campus.

• Participants will research an upcoming decision (or potential decision) related to technology, develop specific goals and strategies to address the issue at hand, and share results with other participants.

• A comprehensive list of resources for participants will be provided by the instructor and expanded upon by the participants.

The official title of my OSU Graduate Assistantship is “Student Affairs Web Specialist.” Here are a few of the projects that I have worked on since I arrived in Corvallis in 2004.

OSU Admissions old
When I first started my assistantship at OSU, the Admissions web site looked like this:

The site was in need of an overhaul. The first few months of my assistantship were spent fighting fires. Various issues would arise that would need taking care of, and a complete overhaul of the Admissions web site would not happen for a long time.

OSU International Admissions
The primary project that I was assigned to was managing the re-design of the International Admissions web site (the version that is currently up is a progression from last year’s design.).

The International Admissions web site was re-designed using web standards and user feedback. The site was easy to navigate and loaded quickly due to its css-based layout.

The re-designed International Admissions web site received positive reviews from the OSU community and from several external audiences.

Eric Stoller’s Blog
Initially, the ESB was used to house my technology workshop lessons/links. The focus shifted when I decided that the blog could serve as my portfolio for CSSA as well as a personal journal. I blogged about life, school, and work. Eventually, my social justice posts became the primary focus of the blog. I think this is probably due to the fact that my passion for social justice came to the forefront of my life while I was in the midst of a life changing experience. I built the blog using WordPress. The theme was a free theme that I shaped to my own devices. I’ve added plugins for subscribers and recent comments/posts. The flexibility of a css-based design has allowed me to change colors, font sizes, etc. The php include construction of WordPress enabled me to add search functionality and comment functionality to posts/pages where it did not normally appear by default.

I have had quite the experience with the blog. It is personal. It is professional. It is a portfolio.

OSU Precollege
I was given this project as a quick and easy web re-design. The folks over at OSU Precollege needed a web presence that reflected a consistent look and feel of the overall OSU web. I utilized a template from OSU Publications and created a basic web site.

The biggest challenge with this project was the lack of “client” communication. The site was created by yours truly in a design vacuum. It’s not usually the way I would like to work. I prefer a collaborative process in which stakeholder involvement drives the project. The previous Precollege site had not been updated for a long time, and I fear that the current site design will exist for far to long. Unfortunately, I think this reflects the belief that as long as a site is online it is functioning. I believe this creates a static, cob web ridden presence that does not involve the actual users of the site.

OSU Success
This site was designed by an external vendor but I had a large role in the accessibility and usability of the site. The site was initially constructed in a format that was deemed to be boring for its intended audience. First-year students need a site that encourages participation as well as incentives for return visits.

I learned a lot about working with an external vendor on this project. There was a lot of planning, communicating, designing, and thinking that went into this project. The final project was accessible as well as standards compliant. The student response was very favorable and the site differed from similar sites.

A blog was created to compliment the student OSU Success site. Students were selected from the orientation staff and trained in the art of blogging. Site statistics showed that we did not have the best results with regards to visitors. However, I believe that the blog was a great experience for the student writers as well as for the students who read it.

OSU Success for Parents and Family
A companion site for Parents and Family was created to compliment the student version. Parents and family were given content which was relevant to their experience. The site design that was used was simple and easy to use. Once again, the site was accessible and highly usable.

Basecamp
While working with the OSU Success vendor, I became aware that the amount of email correspondence was becoming unmanageable. I had recently discovered the 37 Signals project management application: Basecamp. OSU staff and the external vendor utilized Basecamp for file transfer, deadline creation, and intergroup communications. The tool became an online archive for everyone on the project. Basecamp became a key component to our overall communications and project management strategy.

I’m really glad that I suggested Basecamp. For me, this clearly represented how online applications can be used to streamline group processes and communications.

OSU Graduate School
OSU Publications designed a new web site for the OSU Graduate School. I stepped in and was able to manage the interface between the folks from Publications and the Graduate School. I taught the GS folks how to update the new site as well as how to navigate a site that was structured using css and includes.

The Graduate School now uses online forms for a variety of data transmission functions. This should save them a lot of time, money and effort. The new GS site and online forms provides a heightened user experience for student users due to increased accessibility, usability, and functionality.

OSU Admissions new
The OSU Admissions web site re-design project was a terrific experience. It was a collaborative experience in which OSU Publications and OSU Admissions joined forces to create a standards compliant, user-friendly site. The site utilizes css and includes. We focused a lot on separation of content from the design. The new site includes a blog that has received a lot of visits. Written by an Admissions staffer, the blog showcases OSU Admissions as well as the accomplishments of the OSU community. I created the blog using WordPress (my personal blogging experience enabled me to set up the blog). The Admissions template encloses the new blog so that the user experience is seamless. The new Admissions site continues to grow and search engine optimization will increase as the site expands.

OSU Document Management Project
The OSU DMP is using a blog (another WordPress blog that I created) to transmit information to key stakeholders as well as enable users to interact with the site. The project is enormous in scope and will utilize the blog to maintain a constant stream of communication with users.

OSU Student Affairs
I am in charge of re-designing the OSU Student Affairs web site. The current version (pictured below) is not standards compliant and it is due for an overhaul. The primary users of this site are internal users. The site will serve as a central hub of information. I plan on using code from the OSU Admissions site design. The Admissions code is accessible and the site structure efficiently separates content from design.

OSU Student Affairs – redesigned

*One of my last projects will probably involve the creation of a wiki for OSU Enrollment Management IT. The wiki will serve as a repository of techie tips and experiential histories. I’ve never created a wiki before so I will need to research the wiki options that exist. OSU CWS currently uses a wiki and I will probably see if their site wiki would work for OSU EM IT.

A paper for my Multicultural Competency in Student Affairs class:

First of all, I want to clarify that I cannot stand the term, “plan.” It seems soulless when the context is multicultural action or social justice. A plan is something that does not reach my heart. For the purpose of this paper, I am going to use “journey” as the descriptor for what this document is all about. I think I’ve been on a multicultural competency journey since I started my graduate program. In the span of 2 years I have gained significant social justice “muscles.” I’ve written about white privilege, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, and ableism. I attended a multicultural institute. I have decided that I am going to be an anti-racist, feminist, ally. When I started my graduate program I talked about the importance of diversity but I was not aware of my white privilege. I was not aware that I was actively contributing to sexism. I did not realize that oppressions are interconnected. I was an ally for LGBT folks but I did not realize how much racism and sexism seeped from my psyche.

My journey into social justice is still in its infancy. It is my desire to use this paper as a letter to myself. It will serve as a reminder to me that I still have a lot of learning and self-awareness work to do. Hopefully I will read this paper 5 to 10 years from now and see progress. This paper will serve as my social justice time capsule. One of my professors said that living with purpose makes someone matter. Multicultural action and social justice are two things that matter in my life. I wrote a paper about how oppression harms the oppressor and I really feel that this place that I am now in allows me to work towards subverting the dominant paradigm and the system of institutionalized oppression that we all live in.

What multicultural issues do I want to learn more about?
Suzanne Pharr’s excellent work on the common elements of oppressions has helped me to understand the linkages of various oppressions. The oppression of one marginalized group via the marginalization of another group will not end oppression. I’ve heard this labeled as “the Oppression Olympics.” I really feel that this interconnectedness of oppressions is something that I need to research further. I also need to dialogue with others about how to articulate the fact that I truly believe that oppressions are all related. I have read a lot, but I need to experience more in my daily life. Thankfully, I have a great group of social justice educator friends who humor my thirst for conversation.

In addition to conversations, I am planning on reading more books by people of color, by folks who are transgender, by folks with disabilities, and by folks who write from the perspective of multiple oppressions. For example: radical women of color.

My knowledge of history needs to be re-made. I was taught that Columbus discovered America. How do Native Americans exist in that kind of educational system? I hope to use my white privilege to work towards re-educating my white sisters and brothers. I know very little. I have taken a few classes, read a few books, and had a few conversations, but I still have a lot of work to do. Another “issue” that I need to address is my own heritage. What do I know about Germany, Ireland, or the Cherokee Nation? Almost nothing. The truth of the matter is that I am white and my culture is unknown to me. I have to learn about my own history.

My social life
When I was growing up, all of my friends were white. I did not have any friends of color. None of the members of my family had friends of color that I knew of. Everyone that I associated with on a social level for the first two-thirds of my life were white, heterosexual, and low to middle class. Presently, I have friends of color, friends who are gay, and my partner is a woman of color. Does this mean anything? I think it means that I have come a long way in my understanding of what it means to appreciate and celebrate differences. My current friends are as diverse as my thinking. I have learned a lot from them. They have been so patient with me. Sometimes I feel like all I do is ask questions. Most of the time though, I feel like my social life is wonderful. I support my friends and they support me.

Conferences
As I continue my multicultural journey I have come to realize that I need to speak up sometimes. One venue where I feel that I need to voice my opinion in is the professional conference. When I hear a white person say something about “normal students” and then refer to students of color as “non-traditional,” I need to speak up. I think I will plan on presenting at the next NASPA conference. I think it would be appropriate if I presented a session on ally work from a student affairs context. Perhaps a half-day session so that material could be delved into. It has been too often the case, in my experience, that social justice sessions barely scratch a surface and rarely involve depth.

How will I approach institutionalized discrimination?
I think I will work hard to educate those who are in my sphere of influence that the institution is oppressive and works towards an educational subversion. White privilege is a powerful tool when it is used as a crowbar against oppression.

Blogs and Action
I have found that blogs, both reading them as well as posting on one, have proven to be a great way to connect with a diverse group of people. It takes a lot of energy to post on my blog as well as to take the time to read what other people are writing, but I think I have built virtual relationships that are fairly strong. They have been forged by our collective stance against oppression. Who knows if our blogs will always exist, but at the very least, they have given us ways to connect and to share with one another.

Conclusion
I realize that this journey letter, this plan, this smattering of thoughts is but a small part of my everyday existence. Multicultural competency is something that is an ongoing process in my life. I feel that I have so much to learn and to discover about myself but also about people all over the world. It’s frightening that someone can make it this far in life and still have no idea about who they are. The reality is that I am a long ways away from being a multiculturally competent student affairs practitioner. Most of the theories that I have been taught come from a supposedly generalizable, white-male specific foundation. I need to read about theories from people of color about people of color. I need to read about theories from LGBT folks about LGBT folks. My head is spinning with what I need to learn. (Eric — when you read this next, you need to have read some more, talked some more, etc.)

Questions for myself:

Why do I blog without an alias?
This blog started out as an impersonal storage space for my technology workshop series. It was a place for resource links, class outlines, and participant questions. I never thought I would be using this blog as all things Eric. It is now a respository of personal and professional thoughts and reflections. It’s a mix of my 9am – 5pm and my weekends. I post photos from my life in Oregon. It’s a journal and yet it’s a professional portfolio for my graduate program. My name is Eric Stoller. Read my posts, make some comments if you’d like, and have a great day!

Would you like to be featured in the Oregon State University Teaching With Writing Newsletter from the Writing Intensive Curriculum?
Sure! In fact, feel free to “print excerpts from my blog.” (What was I thinking…)

How would you feel if your personal writings mingled with your real world professional self?
I guess I have to realize that this blog is “out there.” It’s read by a few folks in a few states. I get Googled. People check out the site for a few seconds and then they move on.

What happens if your student affairs colleagues read the newsletter with snippets of your blog?
1) Panic….at least a little bit.
2) Inquire as to what posts were printed
3) Dig through a friends recycling to find a copy of the newsletter.
4) Gasp (while going very pale)!
5) See that the newsletter contains excerpts from this post — Oppression Harms the Oppressor.
6) Realize that several people now know that you are divorced.
7) Calm down and consider that you were and always have been honest on this blog.
Hope that my friends and colleagues continue to read my blog even after it eventually moves over to ericstoller.com.
9) Thank T and C for allowing me to vent, rant, and professionally freak out.
10) Thank the WIC for making me process the phrase “professional distance.”