It's challenging to encapsulate my philosophy of work without elucidating my experiences and identities that have informed their creation. Without naming my specific identities, I am someone who possesses an extreme amount of privilege and who holds parallel marginalized identities. From early on in my development as an advocate, I identified how I possess a unique set of characteristics that would enable me to be very effective in advocacy. In my view, I have been a very successful advocate for specific initiatives in local spaces.
Recently, a Lambda Delta sorority sister told me that I was the only staff member she trusted with her disclosure of suicidal thoughts. In my response, I followed mandatory reporting guidelines and addressed her mistrust of institutional resources by sharing the success stories of sisters I had referred to supportive university allies. She and many of her fellow sisters have stated that the sorority is their only community or network of friends. Lambda Delta empowers approximately 30 trans women to thrive authentically within and beyond our community. Founded on queer methodologies of care and mutual aid (Na et al., 2022), we foster grassroots aid networks where our members ensure each sister is cared for. This story shows how my philosophy of work; 'Community-Centered Stewardship' (CCS), is based on my experiences and contributes to broader social justice efforts.
CSS is informed by the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) with its tripartite theory framework (Singh et al., 2020). MSJCC is designed to address how popular counseling theories were not developed to dismantle systems of oppression (Singh et al., 2020). Using MSJCC, practitioners can recontextualize dominant colonialist frameworks of power, relationships, and identity to address the challenges students face at a systematic and developmental level (Singh et al., 2020). Through this, the advisor and student become collaborative change agents at various levels, contributing to the other's personal and professional development (Burke et al., 2016; Singh et al., 2020).
The following is a good case study that demonstrates CCS in action. Bee, a freshman woman, wanted to join the Davenport Esports team but was rejected by the male Head Coach. After my encouragement, Bee played with our teammates and spectated our games and practices. The coach had already expressed microaggressions against allowing AFAB women to join the team in the past. Bee was allowed on after I advocated to the coach for her to join the team based on engagement and, after a time, had reported it as an incident of Title IX discrimination. She would later grow to be one of our most community teammates. Bee’s case exemplifies how I advise and advocate for students using CCS.
CCS creates my ‘Philosophy as Praxis’. My ‘Axioms of Advocacy’ frames how I take action on my initiatives and help build relationships with students. Note that I have heavily shortened information, the core CCS document sheds more light on how my experiences shape these axioms (Zurita, 2024a).
Harm should not happen again, and I must take steps to address the root cause.
Use privilege as a tool to empower marginalized communities.
Speak directly to those responsible to address root causes. Hold them accountable.
These core tenets have enabled me to enact community and system-wide change as an advocate and community leader for over 10 years. A straightforward advocacy approach leads to critical gains of positive, progressive change, especially in an industry as malleable as Higher Education (Bozalek et al., 2020). My face-to-face interactions with students or groups can often evolve into taking deliberate steps to improve the campus community and, thus, the involved students’ experiences (Zurita, 2024b). Each change is deliberately designed around the people most impacted by harm and, therefore, most need help (Na et al., 2022).
References
Bozalek, V., Zembylas, M., & Tronto, J. (Eds.). (2020). Posthuman and political care ethics for reconfiguring higher education pedagogies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003028468
Burke, M., Duba Sauerheber, J., Hughey, A. W., & Laves, K. (2016). Helping skills for working with college students: Applying counseling theory to student affairs practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315650531
Na, V. S., White, H. H., Hui, E. P., & Cho, K. S. (2022). Embodying a praxis of care: The urgency of carework in supporting student activists. New Directions for Student Services, (180), 83–96. https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.20450
NASPA. (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs educators. https://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/acpa_naspa_professional_competencies_final.pdf
Singh, A. A., Appling, B., & Trepal, H. (2020). Using the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies to decolonize counseling practice: The important roles of theory, power, and action. Journal of Counseling & Development, 98(3), 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.12321
Zurita, M. (2024a). Community-centered stewardship: Philosophy-as-praxis [Unpublished manuscript]. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hIyLOzKOylRjcWDFuf40dBiJIdXeBXic4P0lyUcCDi8
Zurita, M. (2024b). Mae Lexi Zurita. https://www.maezurita.com/