 "Photo:")
Amanda Samsel, who has been recently hired as the new coordinator of Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services, believes it is more important for students learn from their transgressions than the sentence they receive.
"I want people to learn from their mistakes, not just be punished," Samsel said.
Samsel believes her position is more than just distributing punishment.
"It's more of a positive than negative thing that we do," Samsel continued. "I'm excited to try and break out and reach the campus. Usually my position has just been defined as 'the mean person.'"
The Coordinator of Judicial Affair is a position under Student Life that deals with violations and educational sanctioning.
"We seek to promote student learning, growth, and development by increasing awareness of the university's expectations of behavior. [Also, by] holding students accountable for violations of these expectations, and developing educational sanctions designed to help students learn from their mistakes," according to the Judicial Affairs Web site.
The position's function is to hear the cases of students who have been charged by MTSU or local law enforcement for various acts that range from plagiarism to public intoxication and to determine their punishment.
"To put it in layman's terms, basically my job is, when students get in trouble on campus whether it is alcohol misdemeanors to drug use to parking violations, I head the committee that determines the severity of the consequences," Samsel said.
Samsel's approach to the position is one grounded in fairness, but with an eye toward being firm. She keeps a balanced mindset when it comes to doling out punishment.
When asked about the severity of her own code of ethics and how she will apply them to students she expressed a firm, yet understanding position.
"I think punishment really depends on understanding of the rules. When you are a freshman, obviously we will [be more understanding]," Samsel said. "But when it concerns an upperclassman, you know what is expected of you and what the policies around here are."
Laura Sosh-Lightsy, the Assistant Dean for Judicial Affairs and Mediation Services, went through a laborious interviewing process. Samsel was picked from 116 applicants for the position.
"We narrowed it down to 12 for phone interviews, then down to 5," Lightsy said.
Lightsy choose Samsel based on her connection with students and an ability to communicate with them on an equal level.
"She has a sincere desire to help students. That's important and it is also the number one characteristic I was looking for in applicants," Lightsy said. "There were two things that stood out about Amanda. She had a lot of enthusiasm about the position and using it as a platform to help students as much as possible."
On a personal note, Samsel is excited about her upcoming position for many reasons.
"I've always been interested in this branch. I love the legal side of things. Also this position is great because I can still work with students while incorporating the judicial aspect of it."
Lightsy supports Samsel's attempts to bring more to the position than what others have never done before.
"She has lots of creative ideas such as using sanctions to promote better student life. She is very fresh out of grad school, but she is current on development theory and higher education which is important in this position," Lightsy said.
"I hope that this proves to be an excellent entry-level position where she has the ability to grow and develop as a professional. I will lean on her heavily because of her connection with the students."
Samsel will officially take office Oct. 2.
Be the first to comment on this article!