Podcast Host Debuts Book Club for Student Conduct Nerds

Fifteen student conduct enthusiasts gathered on Zoom on Thursday afternoon for book club. But rather than discussing a murder mystery or a historical novel, they chatted about a dissertation: “How the Student Conduct Process Impacts Student Sense of Belonging,” by Erin Kaplan, an associate dean and director of student conduct at Swarthmore College.

It was the first meeting of Just Desserts & Dissertations, a once-per-semester book club for student conduct professionals to connect with each other and discuss research in the field. Colette Shaw, who co-hosts the student conduct podcast Ms. Behavior, convened the group as a way to bring together her network of listeners and talk about how to apply recent research to their everyday work.

“There’s so much research that’s being done in higher education and in student conduct, and then it just disappears after people defend their [dissertations],” she said. “I feel like we need to get this stuff into our practice.”

Student conduct professionals, often housed in student affairs offices, are typically responsible for enforcing community standards and their institution’s code of conduct, informing students of their rights on campus, and shepherding them through the disciplinary process when they’re accused of violating college rules. Their work has been especially relevant in recent years; dozens of students faced arrest, expulsion or other sanctions for campus protests in support of Palestinians in the spring of 2024. A growing number are facing cheating allegations as artificial intelligence gets smarter and easier to access. And some students are also seeing their language scrutinized to a new degree; for example, Ellen Fisher, a Texas Tech University law student, sued the university after its honor council sanctioned her for speaking negatively about the late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.

Kaplan, who was present on the Zoom call, defended her thesis in 2025, earning her Ph.D. from Manhattanville University. Her qualitative study focused on the “secret outcomes” of the student conduct process, such as building rapport between students and staff or increasing students’ confidence in themselves, she told participants. Of the 17 students she interviewed for her dissertation, five became residence hall advisers after their own experiences in the disciplinary system. One became a peer tutor after facing discipline for cheating, and three others got involved in their student conduct office in some way after their cases were closed. Only four of the 17 said they had a negative experience with the student conduct process, she said.

Kaplan’s work “seems so transferable to folks in our field, but also if they’re adjacent in other areas of student life,” Shaw said. “[Kaplan] makes the case that our work is relational. And right now, as we’re all struggling with retention and student connectedness, it just felt like the perfect topic.”

The attendees work at institutions across the U.S., including the University of Missouri, Moravian University, Seton Hill University, Central Community College in Nebraska and Western Kentucky University. Most are employed in student conduct offices or in a student conduct–adjacent role. Others are former professionals hoping to keep up with the latest research.

One attendee at a larger university talked about how students ended up in their office as a result of peer pressure and the importance of approaching those students in a “relational” way instead of as part of a transactional process.

“The things that led them to talk with me in my office … are things that people said or their friends ‘said that they should be doing,’ that they thought was cool or that made them fit in,” they said. “A lot of them come from smaller towns, and [a big university] is kind of a shell shock for them.”

Attendees also vented about some of the misconceptions of student conduct work and how to change them. Many students see student conduct staff as enforcers and the processes akin to the criminal justice system. They often assume that their case will end in expulsion.

It’s a “great thing to get out of the way, given that like 99.9 percent of things cannot get you expelled,” one attendee said.

Shaw declared the inaugural event a success and plans to host another in the fall semester.

“We do work that’s often misunderstood, but … it’s meaningful and even joyful. A few folks at the book club and follow-up happy hour are former conduct administrators who still care deeply about students and each other,” Shaw said. “I remember in a job interview once being asked, ‘Why would anyone want to do student discipline?’ and I wondered, ‘Why would anyone want to do anything else?’ The book club showed me that I’m not alone.”