Student Development During the Occupy SLU Movement Through the Lens of Perry
Jesuit Higher Education
Student Development During the Occupy SLU Movement Through the Lens of Perr y
Whitney R. Linsenmeyer 0 1
Saint Louis University 0 1
0 1
Tommy J. Lucas Jr. 0 1
0 Saint Louis University - Main Campus
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Student Development During the Occupy SLU Movement
Through the Lens of Perry
Whitney Linsenmeyer Doisy College of Health Sciences Saint Louis University
Tommy Lucas School of Education Saint Louis University
Whitney Linsenmeyer is an Instructor in Nutrition and Dietetics at Saint Louis University (SLU). During the events of
Occupy SLU she was a doctoral student in the School of Education. Tommy Lucas is a SLU doctoral candidate in the
School of Education. Lucas worked closely with students during the events of Occupy SLU, but was not an active
participant. His primary research focuses on impact and outcome assessments of higher education institutions and
longitudinal assessments after crisis incidents. Linsenmeyer and Lucas have published work related to Occupy SLU in
the Western Journal of Black Studies, the Journal of College Admission, and the International Journal of
Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.
Linsenmeyer and Lucas’ work explores the experiences of 19 students during Occupy SLU in order to better understand
how higher education professionals may leverage social justice movements and periods of civil unrest to advance student
development.
Perry’s theory of intellectual and ethical development serves as a seminal theory on student
development. The civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri during the 2014-2015 school year resulted in
demonstrations on college campuses throughout the country, including the Occupy SLU movement at
Saint Louis University. In this mixed-methods phenomenological study, 19 students were interviewed
about their experiences during the movement. The research questions underlying this study include:
How were SLU students impacted by the events in Ferguson, Missouri during the 2014-2015 school
year? How can Perry’s theory be applied to student development during this historic time? How can
these findings be utilized to better understand and support student development during periods of civil
unrest? The participants’ stories are analyzed through the lens of Perry’s theory using the constant
comparative method. Evidence of Perry’s four stages of development emerged from the data, including
dualism, multiplicity, relativism, and commitment to relativism, as well as evidence of his three
deflections from growth, including temporizing, escape, and retreat. The findings of this research serve
to capture the student experiences on campus during Occupy SLU, inform higher education
professionals on the impact of this social movement, and provide further validation for Perry’s theory.
Introduction: Perry’s Theory
William Perry’s theory of intellectual and ethical
development serves as a seminal theory on student
development.1 Since its inception in 1968, Perry’s
theory has been applied to students in a wide
range of disciplines and settings, such as
counseling, academic advising, student affairs,
teacher education, medical education, music
education, education of international
students, and athletics.2
Perry’s original theory was based upon nine
positions that were considered to be on a
continuum of development: Basic duality,
full dualism, early multiplicity, late
multiplicity, contextual relativism,
precommitment, commitment, challenges to
Beabout & Wilson,!
Introduction and
Overview
White, In the Light
of Michael Brown:
Living the Mission of
a Jesuit University
Hagerty, S.J.,
Veterans, the Flag,
and Protest:
Facilitating Dialogue
at Jesuit Institutions
Pestello, The Letter
and Spirit of the
Clock Tower Accords
Beabout & Wilson,
Occupy SLU:
Exchange,
Entrepreneurship,
Virtue, Jesuit Charism
Lucas et al., The
Impact of Flag
Desecration on Social
Justice Movements:
The Case of Occupy
SLU
Linsenmeyer &
Lucas, Student
Development During
the Occupy SLU
Movement Through
the Lens of Perry
Bradley, For the
Greater Glory of
Whom?: A
Perspective on
Occupy SLU
commitment, and post-commitment. The nine
positions have since been condensed into four
concepts: duality, represented by dichotomous
thinking and an absolute right or wrong;
multiplicity, characterized by an ability to accept
diverse viewpoints; relativism, wherein all
opinions are not equally valid and must be
substantiated; and commitment to relativism,
represented by a shift away from cognitive
development and the beginning of ethical
development as decisions are made contextually.
Perry considered each position to be a sta (...truncated)