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Unit established within the office of the Vice-President for Student Affairs of the University of Michigan as counseling information clearinghouse which later accepted responsibility for counseling in areas of student mental health problems, problem pregnancy, marital relations, human sexuality, and racial and minority affairs. Records include minutes from various committees within Counseling Services; topical files; reports put out by Counseling Services; and printed materials.

The records of Counseling Services provide a unique look at the response of the university to the non-academic needs of the student body. The records span the years 1956-1992; the bulk of the materials covers 1968-1976. The records are divided into four series: Minutes; Topical Files; Reports; and Printed Works.

Frank Cianciola was the Director of the Michigan Union system and played a major role in student programming and activities at the University of Michigan from 1980 to his retirement in 2007. Papers consist of correspondence, planning material, financial and budgetary records, and material produced by students at the University of Michigan, the majority of which span 1972-1998. The bulk of the collection represents Cianciola's role as Union administrator, which includes financial records and planning materials from major building renovations, and his work with the student population. The collection contains records created by Cianciola and Union administrators preceding him.

The Frank Cianciola Papers measure 17.5 linear feet and range from 1946 to 2007. The bulk of the material, however, dates from 1974 to 1998. The papers are divided into four series: Correspondence; Student Services Files; Topical Files; and Union System Administration Files.

University of Michigan unit responsible for administering the Code of Student Conduct, regulating non-academic rights and responsibilities of students; unit also adjudicates violations and trains individuals for service on arbitration panels. Records relating to the creation of standards for student behavior, including background on earlier codes for student conduct and statement of student rights and responsibilities. Includes policy documents, reports, surveys, and review material as well as evaluations and reactions to the code.

The Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) records include materials related to the creation of standards for student behavior at the University of Michigan. These records include minutes from groups assigned to create standards of conduct; drafts and final policies implemented by the university; correspondence between campus administrators, legal counsel, and students and staff; formal evaluative reports on policies and their effectiveness; and original forms from students and staff telling administrators of their opinions on various issues related to standards of conduct.

A second accession was received from the Office of Student Conflict Resolution (OSCR) in August of 2008 and added 5.0 linear feet to the record group. The scope of the new records consists mostly of printed and produced materials including guidelines, worksheets, newspaper clippings, training materials, and reviews. The material also touches on the Code of Student Conduct including reviews, completed student and faculty surveys, and newspaper clippings of articles about the Code.

The OSCR records (7.0 linear feet) date from 1962 to 2006 and are organized into eleven series: Background Material; University Code for Non-Academic Conduct and University Judicial System; Policy on Discrimination and Discriminatory Harassment; Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities (SSRR); Code of Student Conduct; Guidelines, Worksheets, and Forms; Training Manuals; Pubic Relations; Reviews and Reports; Surveys; and Publications.

University of Michigan administrative office, established as the Dean of Student Affairs in 1921, responsible for overseeing many aspects of non-academic student services and activities including at various times: counseling, financial aid, student housing, student activities and organizations, health services, student discipline, and fraternities and sororities. Records provide extensive documentation of student life.

The records of the Vice President for Student Life provide a unique perspective to the extracurricular life and customs of students at the University of Michigan and an insight to the development of the office of the Vice President. The records span the years 1908-2005 with the bulk of the material covering 1941-1995. The material from the early years is especially rich in documenting student life from the 1920s to the 1950s. The strongest feature of this collection is in documenting the administration's response to the needs and to the demands of student, ranging from disciplining drinkers during Prohibition, dealings with fraternities up to 1960, reacting to student protests in the 1960s to the 1988 debate over the Student Code for Non-Academic Conduct, and the 2000 protest against Michigamua. The records also contain materials related to students' health, housing, organizations, and activism. The coverage of these areas varies across administrations as office reorganizations altered the focus and functions of Student Services.

This uneven documentation reflects the fact that, over time, different offices were created to handle more narrowly-defined areas of responsibility. Areas which had originally been handled by Dean Bursley under his broad conception of control over non-academic student life came to be administered by separate offices. Frequently the records of these administrative units were not included with the Vice President for Student Life records. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of student life, as refracted through the lens of University Administration, one should also refer to the records of the Housing Office and Student-Community Relations Office, and the papers of Peter Ostafin, director of housing.

The Vice President for Student Life collection consists of correspondence, reports, memos, minutes, and financial reports generated by both the University Administration and students. These materials are arranged in chronological series by the administrative head in charge of students' extracurricular affairs. Nine series represent records of Vice Presidents of the office: Joseph A. Bursley, 1913-1950; Erich A. Walter, 1925-1959; James A. Lewis, 1908-1964; Richard L. Cutler, 1950-1969; Barbara W. Newell, 1965-1970; Robert L. Knauss, 1962-1973; Henry Johnson, 1950-1985; Mary Ann Swain and Maureen Hartford, 1990-2005; and E. Royster Harper, 2000. In addition, the collections includes a Topical Files series, 1953-1995 (records of several Vice Presidents that have been received by the Bentley in various accessions); as well as a Printed Materials series. This organizing scheme required some manipulation of the files, but it best enables the researcher to trace the changing nature of the student body concerns and the development of the office itself.

The researcher should note that the strict chronological sequencing of the series was not possible. This was due in large part to a series of office reorganizations which resulted in some files created during Bursley or Walter's tenure ending up in later series. The most significant move here resulted in Lewis' series containing a good deal of Bursley and Walter materials on fraternities and student organizations. Lewis created the fraternities subseries in 1959 and compiled the student organization subseries during a May 1963, office reorganization. The researcher should also be conscious that early series contain a variety of materials which may not reflect the full scope of Bursley, Walter, or Lewis' responsibilities. Gaps are also discernible in the later series, but these are more readily fleshed out by referring to other University collections.