Running head: THIS I BELIEVE PAPER

This I Believe Paper

Domonique Crosby
Seattle University
Nina Valerio
EDUC 520: Social Justice in Professional Practice
June 04, 2014

THIS I BELIEVE PAPER

Abstract
Social justice is an integral piece of professional practice and must be included in all work done I
in Student Affairs. Social justice is to be promoted to students in a manner that allows them to
question and explore their identities and the identities of others. In order to include this concept,
it is best to question identity, beliefs, and barriers that stop the promotion of this concept. Prior
skills and knowledge allow professionals to promote social justice, but also allows for spaces to
grow and learn from and with students. Social justice allows professionals to mix their personal
and professional lives in a way that promotes education.

THIS I BELIEVE PAPER

Introduction
Social justice is the reason why I do the things I do. As a student affairs professional, social
justice is finding out, exploring, and validating the identities of students. In addition to that, it is
entering into dialogue with students about how their identities not only interact with our
institutions, but with the identities of anyone they come into contact with. The work I do pushes
students out of their comfort zones in order to involve social justice concepts in all they do.
Social justice is at the center of my professional practice in a way that allows me to help students
discover their identities while critically analyzing the systems of which they interact.
What do you believe is your responsibility in promoting social justice in your
professional practice? What will guide your decisions and actions?
As a student affairs professional, I believe it is my responsibility to promote social justice in
all that I do. I believe that I should be developing a level of multicultural competency for all
students. It is my duty to promote and teach the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to
develop multicultural competency (Pope, Reynolds, Mueller, 2004). I believe that as an educator
I should be ensuring that all students are thinking about social justice concepts because they are
so engrained in our daily lives. Power, privilege, and oppression are pervasive topics which need
to be presented and worked through with all students. I have a responsibility to my students as
they enter a time of questioning and understanding their identities and the identities of those
around them.
How can you/ will you promote social justice in your role as a professional? What
personal challenges or barriers do you expect to face? What systemic or organizational
roadblocks do you expect to face? How will you deal with those potential roadblocks?

THIS I BELIEVE PAPER

Social justice is an integral part of my professional and personal life. In order to promote
social justice in my profession, I must show students that the concepts are important to me
outside of work. Currently I speak with friends and family about the effects of power, privilege,
and oppression in order to educate those closest to me about a concept that guides my work. I
will continue to educate myself in order to best serve my students and show them that I am
dedicated to social justice. I will promote social justice in my profession through nonviolent
avenues such as dialogue (Deutsch, 2006). Dialogue allows students to hear different
perspectives and express their own in a way that is inviting and educational for all. I believe that
this is at the center of social justice education.
While promoting social justice is my focus in my work, I face personal challenges due to my
identity. My identity as an African American continues to serve as a barrier for me. For example,
it is difficult to engage in a positive dialogue with White students because the biases that come
out may deeply affect me. To overcome my personal challenge, I continue to work on my
identity and how I interact with others who identify differently. I also struggle with the concept
of accepting small wins as a solution. Many believe a series of small wins is more structurally
sound than a large win, but I dont agree and this must be changed to allow students to share
their opinions (Weick, 1984, p. 44). In addition, I face systematic barriers that may prevent me
from doing good social justice work. As a woman in the field of education, I know that there may
be limits to how far I can go in an institution. Most senior level professionals are men due to the
systematic oppression that women face on a daily basis. In order to overcome this barrier, I must
believe that the work I do in social justice will be recognized and I will be able to advance in my
career. By advancing, my hope is to reach more students with my social justice ideals.

THIS I BELIEVE PAPER

What skills do you possess that will enable you to make a difference? How will you use
these skills? What skills will you target for further development? Why?
As I want to work with my students around social justice, I think about what makes me
qualified to teach these concepts. I have been invested in social justice since my training as a
Resident Advisor at the University of San Francisco. In those trainings, I was taught how to
facilitate dialogue about identities and the exploration of oppression. These skills have/will come
in handy while talking with students and helping them dialogue with one another. In addition, I
attended the Student Social Justice Training Institute where I underwent a four day intensive
training in concepts of social justice. It was in this training that I was given definitions for words
such as racism, oppression, privilege, and power. These definitions have stuck with me and
continue to inform how I define words for students. Although I may have these skills, I would
like to develop my knowledge around certain identities because it will help me help others
process their identity. I want to further my knowledge around identities so that I can be the best
support for students possible.
Conclusion
Social justice informs my practice as a professional in the way that I interact with students
and how I encourage dialogue. I work to include social justice in all that I do in order to help
students understand themselves and those around them. I believe social justice to be an integral
part of higher education as this prime time for students to understand the systems in place in our
country. My practice is not perfect, but I will continue to improve it as I find social justice to be
important in my work. As a social justice advocate, I will continue to incorporate social justice
into my professional practice in a way that educates students and allows me to learn from them.

THIS I BELIEVE PAPER

References
Deutsch, M. (2006). A framework for thinking about oppression and its change. Social Justice
Research, 19(1), 7-41.
Pope, R., Reynolds, A., Mueller, J. (2004). Multicultural competence in student affairs. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Weick, K. E. (1984). Small wins: Redefining the scale of social problems. American
Psychologist, 39(1), 40-49.