LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) 102 (001): Introduction to Inclusive
Community Building
Thursday, 1-2:30PM
Mundelein 612
Instructor Information:
Jonathan Merrill
Assistant Resident Director, Department of Residence Life
Office Phone: (773) 508-3680
E-mail: jmerrill@luc.edu
Tim Griffin
Residential Director, Department of Residence Life
Office Phone: (773) 508-8961
E-mail: tgriffin3@luc.edu
Office Hours
Office hours are scheduled by appointment.
Description:
This course is designed to increase resident assistants competence in building inclusive
communities and is supplemental to the positional training offered in August. Specific
attention will be paid to developing skills in intrapersonal reflection and interpersonal
communication skills. Resident assistants will need to be aware of their intrapersonal
processes and values and how these impact their interpersonal and community
relationship in order to understand how to build inclusive communities with their
residents. This course will prepare resident assistants for service as competent, wellbalanced student staff in Loyola University Chicagos diverse residential communities.
Objectives & Outcome:
Course Objectives:
As result of taking this course, resident assistants will be comfortable in engaging in
conversations with people who hold different identities about their differences as well as
have a greater understanding of their self. Ideally, students will be motivated to continue
to practice of self-reflection in their everyday lives.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, resident assistants will be able to:
1. Articulate their core personal values.
2. Identify elements of social justice.
3. Connect their personal values with issues of social justice.

4. Utilize communication skills to mediate conflict, issues of bias, and

mental health.
5. Use knowledge of reflection skills to increase self-awareness.
6. Value creating inclusive communities.
Institutional Policies & Philosophies:
Academic Honesty
Academic honesty is an expression of interpersonal justice, responsibility and care,
applicable to Loyola University faculty, students, and staff, which demands that the
pursuit of knowledge in the university community be carried out with sincerity and
integrity. The School of Educations Policy on Academic Integrity can be found at:
http://www.luc.edu/education/academics_policies_integrity.shtml. For additional
academic policies and procedures refer to:
http://www.luc.edu/education/academics_policies_main.shtml
Accessibility
Students who have disabilities which they believe entitle them to accommodations under
the Americans with Disabilities Act should register with the Services for Students with
Disabilities (SSWD) office. To request accommodations, students must schedule an
appointment with an SSWD coordinator. Students should contact SSWD at least four
weeks before their first semester or term at Loyola. Returning students should schedule
an appointment within the first two weeks of the semester or term. The University policy
on accommodations and participation in courses is available at: http://www.luc.edu/sswd/
Harassment (Bias Reporting)
It is unacceptable and a violation of university policy to harass, discriminate against or
abuse any person because of his or her race, color, national origin, gender, sexual
orientation, disability, religion, age or any other characteristic protected by applicable
law. Such behavior threatens to destroy the environment of tolerance and mutual respect
that must prevail for this university to fulfill its educational and health care mission. For
this reason, every incident of harassment, discrimination or abuse undermines the
aspirations and attacks the ideals of our community. The university qualifies these
incidents as incidents of bias.
In order to uphold our mission of being Chicago's Jesuit Catholic University-- a diverse
community seeking God in all things and working to expand knowledge in the service of
humanity through learning, justice and faith, any incident(s) of bias must be reported and
appropriately addressed. Therefore, the Bias Response (BR) Team was created to assist
members of the Loyola University Chicago community in bringing incidents of bias to
the attention of the university. If you believe you are subject to such bias, you should
notify the Bias Response Team at this link: http://webapps.luc.edu/biasreporting/
Electronic Communication Policies and Guidelines
The School of Education faculty, students and staff respect each others rights, privacy
and access to electronic resources, services, and communications while in the pursuit of
academic and professional growth, networking and research. All members of the

university community are expected to demonstrate the highest standards of integrity,

communication, and responsibility while accessing and utilizing technology, information
resources, and computing facilities. A link to the Loyola University Chicago and School
of Education official policies and guidelines can be found at:
http://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/education/pdfs/SOE_Cyberbullying_Policy.pdf
Requirements & Expectations:
Attendance
As a supplemental course to the resident assistant position, this class will only meet once
per week. Therefore, you must be present to engage fully in the course content. I
understand that sometimes life priorities can make this challenging. However, the
expectation is that you will be present for the full class session each week. Should you
miss a class, arrive late, or leave early, you are responsible for identifying and obtaining
missed material from your peers. Please notify the instructor via email prior to the start of
class should you need to be absent. Any absence will result in the loss of participation
points for that day. Routinely arriving or leaving late will result in the loss of
participation points as well.
Preparation
This course is designed using a traditional seminar format in which much of the learning
is emerged from group discussion, activities, and student engagement with each topic. As
such, preparation through completion of each weeks readings as well as thoughtful
reflection on the topics are critical not only for each individuals intellectual
development, but the groups collective development as well. Readings and multimedia
sources have been purposefully selected for their relevance to the given topic and
contribution to the overall literature. Given much thought has gone into the readings,
students are expected to complete them in advance of each class.
Participation
Given the seminar format of this course design, student participation in discussions and
learning activities is critical. However, it is important to note that how a student
participates is often a function of their particular learning style. Therefore, participation is
less about the frequency with which a student engages in class discussion and more about
the quality of the contributions. For the purposes of this course, participation is valued in
which students build upon one anothers comments, provide meaningful connections to
practice, share critical observations and insights on a topic, and generally increase the
complexity and richness of the discussion. Students are also encouraged to act as
gatekeepers to the conversation and encourage the participation of others as well as pose
questions to one another. To achieve this, a variety of pedagogical approaches are used to
ensure that each individuals preferred learning style is addressed over the course of the
semester.
Civil Discourse

Although deep and meaningful learning often comes as a result of cognitive and
emotional dissonance, I firmly believe that transformative learning is the result of
compassionate learning communities in which individuals feel both challenged and
supported. The underlying expectation of this course is that participants will approach
one another with the same ethic of care and developmental concern with which they deal
with students. This approach requires a willingness to engage in critical and
controversial, but ultimately civil discourse aimed at advancing our individual and
collective knowledge. Students are expected to engage in social perspective-taking, a
skill that requires both empathy and the ability to acknowledge multiple points of view.
Email
Email will be used as the primary mode of correspondence for this course. As such, it is
imperative that you activate your Loyola University Chicago account and check it daily.
Please also check your Loyola spam mail and mail foundry to ensure course related
messages are not misdirected.
Assignments, Evaluation, & Grading:
Assignment Expectations:
Assignments are due at the time specified in the course syllabus and should be submitted
according to the directions provided. Assignments are expected to be turned in on time so
please plan appropriately to avoid unnecessary penalties. Any assignment submitted after
the due date will be reduced by a half letter grade. An additional full letter grade
reduction will be applied for each 24 hour period after the original time due. Extensions
will not be granted. Note that the instructor will not hunt down missing assignments and
it is your responsibility to ensure that they are turned in by the stated deadlines.
Note that if an assignment fails to follow the instructions provided, a grade of zero will
be assigned. This includes adherence to page lengths and formatting as well as addressing
the core content specified for each assignment. Detailed explanations of assignments are
provided in the assignments section of the Sakai site. Students are encouraged to consult
with the instructor regarding any questions associated with assignments. Additionally,
most assignments will be submitted electronically through the Sakai system with clear
instructions on how to do so.
For all assignments focused on writing, please use the following guidelines when writing
your papers: Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1 inch margins. Cite all references in-text
and in a separate reference section at the end of the paper. Students will be provided
substantial feedback regarding content, structure, and grammar. It is the students
responsibility to ensure that the feedback provided for an assignment is integrated into
the next assignment. If problems repeatedly appear across assignments, the percentage of
point deduction will be increased. Students will be provided with a tracking sheet to
monitor feedback. They are encouraged to submit this tracking sheet with each
assignment as a means to demonstrate that prior feedback has been addressed in
subsequent work.

NOTE: Students should not exceed the suggested length of assignments as dictated by the
full assignment descriptions.
All coursework and assignments must be completed by the end of the term as grades of
incomplete are generally not assigned. The following point distribution will be used to
determine the final course grade:
Total Points Earned
100 94
93 90
89 87
86 84
83 80
79 77
76 74
73 70
69 60
59 0

Final Grade
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F

Assignment Approach:
Assignments and potential point distributions are detailed below:
Express
Weekly Journals
Confrontation Video & Reflective Essay
e-Portfolio Presentation
Total

20 points
20 points
30 points
30 points
100 points

Expression of Personal Philosophy Students will be tasked with articulating their

personal philosophy and value system. Students are encouraged to express their personal
philosophy and values in a creative form poetry, art, etc but writing a traditional paper
is also acceptable. Traditional papers should be 2-3 pages in length. Students interested in
pursuing a more creative form to express their personal philosophy will need to provide a
short paragraph (no longer than 1 page) to curate their submission.
Weekly Journals Students will be provided journals and will be required to complete a
short journal reflection on assigned weeks. In these reflections, students are asked to
connect their current experiences within the resident assistant position and personal
values to topics of social justice and other related course content. Ten minutes will be
allotted at the end of class for students to complete these journal reflections. Instructors
will collect these journals and provide feedback for each entry.

Confrontation Video with Reflective Essay In groups of two, students will video tape
themselves addressing a conflict, bias incident, and mental health concern. Each student
will complete a scenario in each of these three areas. Using the criteria established within
class, students will then write a 3-5 page reflection where they will evaluate and reflect
on their performance.
e-Portfolio Presentation Students will develop and e-Portfolio and present it to the
class. Students will identify themes of social justice that have arisen in their journal
entries throughout the semester and connect them with their expression of personal
philosophy statement.
Evaluative Rubric:
Assignments in this course will be graded according to rubrics provided in advance. This
should aid students in focusing on the specific areas of evaluation. Different assignments
draw on different learning outcomes with specific evaluative criteria outlined in the
detailed assignment descriptions.

Sequence/ Weekly Calendar

DATE
August 27

TOPIC
Course Description and Expectations
Course Expectations
Ice Breakers and Team Builders

ASSIGNMENT DUE

September 3

Identification of Values
In-Class : Values Activity

September 10

Principles of Social Justice

In-Class Activity: Social Group Membership Profile

September 17

Communication Skills: Mental Health Skills

In-Class: Guest Presenter from Wellness Center
In-Class Activity: Role Play

Journal #2

September 24

Communication Skills: Conflict Mediation

In-Class: Guest Presenter from OSCCR
In-Class Activity: Role Play

Journal #3

October 1

Communication Skills: Bias Incidents

In-Class: Guest Presenter from SDMA
In-Class Activity: Role Play

Journal #4

October 8

Behind Closed Door

In-Class Activity: Behind Closed Doors
Group Discussion: What is a set of criteria for evaluating
good performance in these skills?

Journal #5

October 15

What is Community?

Express & Journal #1

Confrontation Video &

Reflective Essay

Class Activity: Self-Assessment Discussion

Class will convene over dinner at a restaurant chosen by the class

October 22

Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: Denial

In-Class Activity: Exploring Privilege and Disadvantage
In Class Dialogue

Journal #6

October 29

Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: Defense

In-Class Activity: Multiple Identity Wheel
In Class Dialogue

Journal #7

October 29

Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: Minimization

In-Class Activity: Micro-aggressions
In Class Dialogue

Journal #8

November 5

Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: Acceptance

In-Class Activity: Critical Incident Review
In Class Dialogue

Journal #9

November 12

Model of Intercultural Sensitivity: Adaptation & Integration

In-Class Activity: What is an Ally? What is Empowerment?
In Class Dialogue

Journal #10

November 19

Presentations

e-Portfolio

November 26
December 3

Thanksgiving Break
Presentations