JOURNAL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION - Naspaa

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Preparing for and Responding to Student Incivilitiesincreasingly dependent on the use of diverse teams to accomplish complextasks in the public interest, and with the need to facilitate public participationon issues that are often emotionally charged, civility on the part of publicadministrators is a prerequisite and not a luxury.Public affairs faculty may find disconcerting the notion of needing to addressincivilities within a professional graduate program that is devoted to publicservice, but it should come as no surprise. As James Madison noted in Federalist51, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were togovern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would benecessary.” Even in programs devoted to public service, some students will needpolicies, controls, and sanctions to ensure that they do not engage in abusiveexpressions of self interest. Preempting incivilities may well require actions thatmany professors consider antithetical to the reasons they chose to teach at thegraduate level. The recommendations presented earlier represent the first step.Additional steps to consider include the following: (a) more thorough screeningin the admissions process, (b) clear articulation of competencies regardingcivility, (c) requiring students to sign civility contracts, (d) requiring studentsto earn rights of full inclusion, and (e) commitment to the concept of civilityefficiency. [See Table 2]Table 2.Meeting the Challenge of Student Incivilities: Supplemental Recommendations forPublic Affairs Programs1. Engage in more thorough screening during the admissions process.2. Clearly articulate competencies regarding civility.3. Have students sign civility contracts.4. Require students to earn inclusion.5. Actively promote civility efficiency.As stated earlier in this essay, the recommendations presented here areintended to generate discussion about options and implications, rather than toserve as a universal blueprint for how programs should respond. These ideas arelargely drawn from methods used within professional work contexts. We presentthem here as techniques worthy of consideration, albeit largely unproven.Step 1: Conduct Thorough Admissions ScreeningIf prevention of disruptive incivilities is a desired goal, one option is to152 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Preparing for and Responding to Student Incivilitiesmore carefully screen applicants in order to identify and deny admission tothose with the propensity for incivility. Drawing upon the lessons from thefield of employment selection, there are several options available to gather moreinformation during the admissions review process. One approach might be tocheck social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn. Humanresources management officials in both public and private sectors use these sitesto gather background information on prospective employees. Applicants’ onlinepublic profiles are examined to see whether they portray an individual who hasa fondness for jokes that might create a hostile work environment, engages inrisky or illegal behavior, regularly uses foul language, posts revealing pictures, orcomplains extensively about supervisors, coworkers, or instructors (Lane, 2008).Alternatively, programs could use professional background checks to gathermore consistent information about each applicant. Some programs in the fieldsof nursing, law and social work have entered into contracts with private firms forprofessional background checks to be conducted on applicants. This may seemlike an extreme action, but arguably it may be necessary to protect programsfrom allegations that they contributed to harm. The concept of negligenthiring is well-established in employment settings as a factor that contributesto workplace violence and employer liabilities (Kondrasuk, Moore & Wang,2001). A similar concept of negligent admissions could apply in educationsettings if programs limit their admissions decisions to academic measures and,subsequently, students or faculty are harmed by the foreseeable actions of aperson who was admitted to the program.Step 2: Define Civility as a Core CompetencyA challenge for public affairs programs seeking to delineate measurablecompetencies is that a lack of civility does not always translate into a lack ofacademic ability. Some very intelligent students openly demonstrate incivilities,while other students are unwilling to invest their efforts in completingassignments, but will work diligently to beguile their peers and educators intothinking that they are earnest. As we prepare students to meet the accountabilitychallenges they will face in public service professions, we also must practicewhat we preach. A public administration program that is unable to successfullydefine its boundaries with policies that are carefully crafted and consistentlyimplemented ceases to be a credible source of policy knowledge and training.Graduates who secure positions of responsibility and then demonstrate a lack ofcivility have the potential to discredit not only an individual program, but alsothe branding of an MPA/MPP degree.Competence in civility can be assessed at the level of individual classes, aswell as at the broader programmatic level. Within courses, civility should bea universal theme and a skill that is regularly evaluated. At a program level,a code of conduct can articulate expectations and consequences. ExamplesJournal of Public Affairs Education 153
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