The purpose of these principles is to provide a framework for student affairs professionals at Catholic colleges and universities in their reflection and conversation, staff development, and planning and assessment. These principles are born out of our Catholic tradition and shared across our many and diverse institutions. This guide is a tool to support and assist the transformative work of student affairs practice and can be used to catalyze discussion with a broad array of leaders across Catholic higher education.
Brief History
The Principles emerge from highly collaborative efforts over many years. The following is a timeline of the steps taken in the document’s creation, implementation, and development.
Re-Imaging the Principles
In 2019, additional steps began that called for a re-imagining of the Principles and led to the new edition being launched in Summer 2022.
Many thanks to the “Re-Imagining the Principles Writers’ Retreat” Participants and all those who have contributed to this newest edition!
Principles and Diagnostic Queries
Each principle is accompanied by five diagnostic queries that may be used for the purpose of formative self-assessment and strategic planning. They are:
- What does this principle mean for me, my functional area, and my institution?
- How do we animate this principle through programs, policies, and practices?
- What evidence do we have to judge the effectiveness of our efforts?
- What does the evidence tell us about our effectiveness?
- What will we do with the information we have gathered about our effectiveness?
The principles have a normative dimension, describing good practices at all Catholic colleges and universities. It is expected, however, that the principles will be implemented differently depending on the institutional culture that reflects a specific history animated by a distinct charism.
Explore the Nine Principles
Principle One – Embraces All Students as Valued Members of an Inclusive and Diverse Community That Embodies God’s Love for All.
Student affairs professionals at Catholic colleges and universities create policies, practices, and programs that result in developing a student’s sense of belonging. They design equity-minded initiatives that reflect the manifestation of God’s love. They support campus culture that reflect social justice and an inclusive campus that holds sacred the dignity of each person.
Principle Two – Equips Student Affairs Professionals with Knowledge and Perspectives to Contribute to the Catholic Mission of the Institution. Grounds Practice in the Living Tradition of the Church, as the People of God on a Journey to the Truth.
Student affairs professionals engage in regular review and discernment of how the university’s policies, practices, and decisions draw on the Catholic mission and tradition. Components of the tradition include, but are not limited to, reflections on Scripture, Church teaching, theology, spiritual writings, and ethics. Many institutions also benefit from charisms, spiritualities, and the personal witness of their founding religious congregation. Student affairs staff development focuses on deepening this understanding and awareness.
Principle Three – Accompanies Students on Their Search for Truth, Meaning, and Integration Through Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning.
Catholic colleges and universities foster the development of the whole person. In addition to supporting students’ intellectual and social development, there is a particular emphasis on students’ faith and spiritual development.
Student affairs professionals in this context support learning throughout the student experience and provide learning opportunities for the search for meaning, for conscience formation, and for contributing to the human family by:
- cultivating vibrant learning communities on campus;
- linking personal accountability to self-reflection and its impact on community;
- creating student engagement opportunities where students learn empathy and a sense of their place in the world and how their actions can lead to a more equitable society, and,
- connecting personal interest with the common good.
In all this, faith is integrated with the intellectual life, bringing faith and reason into dialogue as students integrate these core aspects of their lives and development.
Principle Four – Inspires and Equips Students to Live Solidarity and Commit to the Dignity of All People, Embracing the Goals of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in a Community of Love.
Catholic social teaching calls upon all people of good will to care for one another and to live in solidarity and compassion, especially with those whom the world undervalues. This calls us to commit to the sacredness and dignity of each human person, including the various intersections that make up each individual, so that all might flourish. Work for racial justice, respect for life, human rights, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, sheltering refugees, eradicating poverty, climate sustainability, and other matters of human concern are ways of realizing this call in the present day. In a university context, we assist students in their attempts to better understand and promote awareness of such injustice at the local and global levels and to promote transformational change.
Principle Five – Calls and Challenges Students to Personal Integrity, Reverence, and Care for Self, One Another, and the Community.
Student affairs professionals have a responsibility to teach students about the inherent dignity of the human person and to model “care for the other” in our day-to-day professional practice. Staff should partner with religious leaders; mental health professionals; diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals; and others to call and equip students to act in ethical and loving ways. Staff also foster environments where students can learn and grow as whole persons and build capacity to treat themselves and others with care, respect, and integrity. Students learn about their own agency and gain perspectives on how to make choices in coherent and integral ways.
Principle Six – Invites and Accompanies All Students to Develop and Active and Meaningful Relationship with God.
Student affairs professionals share responsibility with campus ministers to support students’ spiritual growth. For students who are Catholic or wish to explore this tradition, we offer activities such as liturgy, sacraments and other prayer opportunities, faith sharing groups, retreats, spiritual direction, and instruction in the faith.
Students enter our campuses today with both religious and nonreligious identities. As student affairs professionals in Catholic contexts, we believe it is our responsibility to support all students in their search for meaning and for the Transcendent by providing varying resources and community connections for this purpose. We further invite students into conversations with all people of good will to foster understanding, respect, and shared action for the common good in a religiously pluralistic world.
We recognize that equally integral to this work of spiritual growth is the celebration of the religious diversity on our campuses, which cannot tolerate any form of religious discrimination.
Principle Seven – Facilitates Relationship Building, Dialogue, and the Pursuit of Common Ground Among Individuals and Communities with Differing World View, Contributing in the Work for a More Just World.
It is the role of Catholic colleges and universities to engage the great questions facing humanity. We do this work humbly and always with love, and from our Catholic belief that all human persons are created in the image of God. Student affairs professionals work to create space for those who disagree with one another to hear and consider another’s thoughts and lived experiences. We recognize that it is never enough for a university community to critique the present order; we must become part of the solution.
We recognize the importance of self-examination, aware of our need for continued conversation, and attentive to the ways the culture of student affairs practices, policies, and structures might embody the justice and love we hope for the larger world.
Principle Eight – Assists Students in Discerning and Developing Their Vocational Directions and Guides Students in Reflecting on How Their Gifts and Talents Connect with the World’s Needs.
Christians believe that their life work is accomplished in partnership with the God who gives life and purpose. Student affairs professionals guide students in their discernment process to integrate professional, personal, and relational commitments over the course of their lives. At Catholic colleges and universities, these conversations help students in their search for meaning and purpose by integrating their beliefs, gifts, ambitions, and hopes with the world’s needs.
Principle Nine – Intentionally Develops the Profession of Student Affairs at Catholic Colleges and Universities as a Vital Component of Catholic Higher Education.
Student affairs professionals at Catholic colleges and universities bear a responsibility for developing the vocation of our profession. We consider what is distinctively Catholic about this work and draw upon the myriad resources in this Catholic tradition to enrich the practice. We recruit, prepare, mentor, and support those who will impact and lead student affairs at Catholic universities in the future.
Student affairs professionals are also teacher practitioners