From Disciplinarian to Change Agent: How the Civil Rights Era Changed the Roles of Student Affairs Professionals

Little has been written about the roles and functions of student affairs administrators during the civil rights era. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how the civil rights era influenced the student affairs profession, paying particular attention to the roles played by student affa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NASPA journal 2005-07, Vol.42 (3)
Main Authors: Gaston-Gayles, Joy L, Wolf-Wendel, Lisa E., Tuttle, Kathryn N, Twombly, Susan B, Ward, Kelly
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Little has been written about the roles and functions of student affairs administrators during the civil rights era. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how the civil rights era influenced the student affairs profession, paying particular attention to the roles played by student affairs administrators in relation to students, other administrators, and the community. A secondary analysis was conducted based on interviews with 18 student affairs professionals who served on a variety of college campuses during the civil rights era, primarily from the 1950s through the 1970s. Our findings suggest that these administrators took on roles such as educator, advocate, mediator, initiator, and change agent in order to effectively and efficiently resolve issues that arose on their campuses as a result of the civil rights era and the student protest movement.
ISSN:1559-5455
0027-6014
DOI:10.2202/0027-6014.1508