I just received your email advertising the new blog – “Student Affairs OMG” and wanted to provide some feedback about the name and purpose of this blog. I know that as student affairs professionals, we strive to take a social justice lens to the work that we do.
While I understand that OMG is a slang acronym – it can be off-putting to many people who practice a religion / faith that has a God/god as it stands for “Oh my God.” Some people substitute God for “gosh” or some other word, however the original phrase is most common and many would consider taking God’s name in vain to be offensive. Overall, it is not an inclusive name for a blog and am hoping that the name is reconsidered.
Additionally, it seems problematic that as student affairs professionals, we create a public blog that documents “embarrassing”/”horror”/ “can you believe it” stories about our experiences as professionals that often involve our interactions with others. While
they might be funny tales now/ folks need a space to vent, I’m sure many of the situations were very serious and important for the student /job candidate/ etc. who the story is being told about and to mock them/ share their stories in a public forum does not seem appropriate.
Tera Nakata
Posted by studentAffairsOMG on September 17, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Thank you for your email and feedback. On the point of the name, the acronym OMG is very common nowadays. As you point out, it can be referred to as “Oh My G-” or “Oh My Gosh.” The title is not meant to offend anyone with deep religious beliefs.
While I understand what you state about the nature of the blog, it is not meant to embarrass anyone or put a negative light on the field. Every story is moderated by myself. Nothing gets published without my approval. Anything which names names or is inappropriate either is edited or not approved. My thought is we have to laugh about some of the situations we deal without causing harm to others. If you look at the personal essays in The Chronicle of Higher Education the academic side of the house is not bashful on showing the inner workings and dealings of faculty.
Stuart Brown
StudentAffairs.com LLC
Posted by studentAffairsOMG on September 17, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Thank you for the email. I appreciate that you took the time to reply to my feedback. I want to respond to some of the points that you have made.
In terms of the title of the blog – while I understand that “OMG” has somehow made it into our “common” language, it does not make it any less offensive. Today, it is also common to hear people say phrases such as “that’s so gay/retarded/lame,” “hey guys” when referring to a group that includes more than the male gender, or the casual use of the word “bitch.”
I understand that the title was not meant / intended to offend anyone, however that in no way takes away from the impact of using a title such as this. To just acknowledge intent without impact only recognizes the “offender’s” feelings without recognizing the impact on the “offended.” Additionally, I do not think that it is just people with “deep religious beliefs” that are offended by this title. I am an Atheist and still find the use of OMG, especially in professional documents, to be problematic.
Again – in terms of the content of the blog – I would challenge StudentAffairs.com to think about the impact of the blog content versus the well-meaning intent. I would make the point that while these stories have been moderated to exclude mention of names / institution, it still gives specific stories that reveal confidential information. For example, the story of the person taking his pants off during an interview: search / interview processes should be confidential and so to discuss individuals in the process/ specific examples and then say “needless to say, he didn’t get the job,” does not at all seem professional.
Yes, we all need to laugh at ourselves and our situations at times, however, the question is – should we be doing the laughing on a public blog? Student Affairs is a small field where everyone knows someone and can connect back to everyone (a la 6 degrees to Kevin Bacon). I find it unprofessional to create this type of venting space. We talk to our students about appropriately addressing difficult / embarrassing/ tough situations, but yet we participate in anonymous venting online?
As you mentioned, the personal essays in The Chronicle of HE discuss the inner workings / dealings of faculty, but in no way do these essays serve to embarrass or vent. Additionally, I would argue that expectations for how faculty versus Student Affairs administrators conduct themselves should not be drawn as parallel, especially given the various ways power and privilege intersect with behavior and function within institutions of higher education.
Seeing as how a number of other people have written to you with similar concerns, I would be happy to participate in a dialouge about this and would be willing to post my thoughts, however, I would hope that this is not a situation where majority opinion rules and the minority is ignored as often occurs in online conversation.
Please let me know how I should go about posting the conversation we have already started.
Tera Nakata
Posted by Ed Cabellon on September 19, 2009 at 10:29 am
I agree with Tera’s comments!
Stuart, it might make sense to revisit the name of your Student Affairs Blog in light of this feedback, especially if you want regular contributors to it. This is why the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog (http://www.thesabloggers.org) has success, because Debra, Tom, and the other moderators there have done a good job interacting with those who want to read and/or contribute.
I understand your concept of: “Introducing Student Affairs OMG, a blog to give student affairs professionals an opportunity to share those everyday nightmares, horror stories, embarrassments or ‘can you believe it’ moments with each other. You know, those tales we relate around the water cooler or regale each other with at conferences.” However, I think this does send the wrong message to prospective SA professionals and Graduate Students about our field. I think spinning it reflect more of our “everyday overcoming challenges stories, funny anecdotes, or ‘can you believe it’ moments” is a better presentation. Leading with “nightmares and horror stories” does not help us grow our profession, IMHO.
I hope you do consider changing it to something more inclusive, perhaps “StudentAffairsStories.wordpress.com” or “StudentAffairsThoughts.wordpress.com” ?
Thanks Stuart for providing this forum for feedback.
Best,
Ed
@edcabellon
Posted by Raquel on September 26, 2009 at 12:13 am
People get “offended” WAY too easily now a days!!!!!!!!! Leave the blog name like it is!! As a “religious” person….its really not offensive!!! LIGHTEN UP!!!!!!!!
Posted by emily on September 28, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I miss the old StudentAffairs.com blogs–the ones that actually let us in on a developmental experience, rather than rehashed anecdotes that I can frankly exchange any day of the week with colleagues.
Posted by Dora Elias McAllister on October 14, 2009 at 10:36 am
I agree that it seems problematic that as student affairs PROFESSIONALS, we create a public blog that documents “embarrassing”/”horror”/ “can you believe it” stories about our experiences.
Posted by K on October 15, 2009 at 11:07 am
I understand the impact many feel this may have, however I am a firm believer in the idea of: If you don’t like something, don’t support it. Those who dislike this blog, I believe that you can act against it by not supporting it. For those who do enjoy it and find some catharsis in it, they can enjoy it as they please. I find that one of the biggest issues we run into today is that people think everything has to fit into a complete right or wrong category or that we all have to agree whether or not something is appropriate. However, that can’t happen – we don’t live in that type of society and we shouldn’t have to. So, again, I say if you don’t like it, don’t support it. But that doesn’t mean that everyone has to agree with you.
Posted by Skeptical on October 21, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I joined this field because I thought I’d be working with a lot of energetic educators eager to make a difference in young persons’ lives. It seemed like it was a whole lot more REAL and OPEN than any experience I could have had in secondary education. I was excited to be respected both as an educator and an advocate.
I did not join this field to conform to a sanitized speak-no-evil sense of professionalism that is so concerned with itself it doesn’t even feel human and can never be candid.
It’s hard to respect such “professionals” so concerned with being PC in their professional dealings but totally nonparticipatory in any social issues beyond the campus borders. Our field is rich with educators trained in social justice and human development issues, but I still have to explain to people what Student Affairs is. Why aren’t we a powerful respected voice for politics and issues in our nation? I would have been so proud to march with the ACPA/NASPA contingent in last weekend’s National Equality March, but was the March even on anybody’s radar who doesn’t work in LGBT affairs? Perhaps marching for our colleagues’ and students’ rights is too controversial for our pristine, nonintrusive profession?
At the very least we can have a little blog to exchange candid stories about what we experience in the field. Surely we’re not so insecure that we have a problem discussing mistakes and mishaps that we all know are par for the course. Like “K” said, if you don’t like being reminded we aren’t all perfect professionals, you simply do not have to read it.
What saddens me the most is that I had to publish this comment anonymously. As a new young professional, I have to be CAREFUL that others don’t see my valid dissenting point of view and think me “unprofessional” for it. I wouldn’t want employers to think me to be a “trouble maker” and not hire me for posting comments on a blog. Let me tell you though, if you’re worried about the message you might be sending to new professionals, this blog isn’t what you should worry about.
Posted by CC on December 2, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Raquel and Skeptical have it right! Lighten up. It seems there are some who are so full of themselves or their position that they cannot seem to understand that a blog is a good place to vent or share situations that they have encountered. So much insight can be gleaned from the experiences of others. Again, if you don’t like it go somewhere else!
Posted by JobHunting on January 31, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Although there are fewer posts here than I would like, I must admit that, so far, I find this blog useful.
I am currently hunting for a job in student affairs and love the candid stories shared here and like that I have been able to learn a few things from reading.
I am also very tired and plain ol’ bored of the anecdotal stuff in student affairs literature, and like this blog for it’s sense of humor and would like to thank the contributors for sharing their stories and the lessons they’ve learned.
Don’t change the title. The only reason I visited this site was b/c of it’s title, it’s relevant lingo (culturally speaking), and I knew exactly what it was referring to – real life!
Please Blog On!