In Service To…

One of the messages that resonated for me during Kamala Harris’ campaign was that she has always had the same client – the people. She spoke of her work as an elected representative and her days as a prosecutor, rising to introduce herself as representing the people.

While there are many differences in the work of prosecutors and university conduct officers, one item is similar. When I was meeting with a student or presenting a case at a disciplinary hearing, I was there not as Gage, but as a representative of the university. And not just in the administrative sense, but also that I was standing as a representative of the entire university community. Part of our role in conduct is teaching and enforcing the standards of the great community. In effect saying, this is how members of an academic community behave; that is not.

I have worked at both public and private universities, but I’ve always liked the idea of being a public servant. I don’t know why that resonates with me as it does, maybe I picked it up in the 1960s though I have to admit, as a pre-teen, I was only slightly aware of the social movements of those years. But fundamentally, I see my work in higher education as fulfilling a responsibility to the larger community as much as it is working with individual students.

Several years ago, in a conversation with a colleague about our work in Student Affairs, she commented, “when I started this work, I felt like I sort of took an oath to work with all students, regardless of their beliefs and ideas.” I appreciate that idea. It means that we are in service to an ideal, rather than a particular idea. We are there supporting students on both sides, or multiple sides, of the complex issues being discussed and debated today. We have a responsibility to both students involved in an altercation or sexual assault. We don’t take the side of one or the other, much less the one whose parents manage to find their way to the Office of the President.

Public service and its counterpart in non-state organizations requires us to hold onto something bigger than the issues of the moment no matter how urgent and critical they may be. It’s what I meant when I told people my job was to make certain the institution worked for everyone who was part of it. And at a state institution, that includes the citizenry of the entire state. It’s not about making everyone happy, that’s never been possible. But it is about holding up a higher ideal of the purpose of the work that we are doing. It is about being in service to something more than the issues of the day, more than ourselves. It’s my belief that remembering this ideal is one of the things that makes it possible to do work that can be incredibly difficult some days, but also incredibly rewarding.

What ideals guide your work? What makes it possible for you to do difficult work? What are you in service to?

Take care,

Gage