Within the context of higher education, student conduct administration is drenched in risk, compliance with local and federal laws (Glick & Haug, 2020). In short, student conduct is a complex, and challenging functional area to work in, as administrators to balance educating students, protecting the campus community, and mitigating institutional risk (Miller & Sorochty, 2015; Lancaster & Waryold, 2008).
This qualitative, phenomenological study aimed to explore the lived professional experiences of student conduct administrators; to better understand their struggles and needs, as they would describe. Semi-structured interviews were used to capture depth in the shared experiences of ten participants and describe the meaning assigned to the phenomenon being explored.
The findings of this study were captured in 4 main themes: (1) Clashing with the Regime, which looks at SCAs challenges navigating political ecosystems within their respective institutions and states, (2) Encountering Turbulence, which captures common challenges SCAs experience while resolving cases (3) Nurtured by Leadership, which looks at the role of SCAs direct supervisor in fostering support and (4) Leaning on the Village, which captures the network of support SCAs receive outside of their direct supervisor.