Perspectives
SPRING 2021 Volume 57, No. 1
www.umr-acuho.org @UMRACUHO
We are now accepting submissions for our Summer Perspectives publication. We want to hear from YOU! It does not matter if you are an established writer, or someone thinking about writing for the first time. We want to include perspectives from all around the region, including learning about your thoughts and experiences. Not sure where to start? Send us an email and we will be happy to have someone from the UMR Communications Committee connect with you further on the writing process! Summer Submissions Due July 12th! Email Submissions to umracuho.communcations@gmail.com
SPRING 2021, Vol. 57, No. 1
UMR-ACUHO
Communications Chair Note - - - - - 3 President's Corner - - - - - - - 4 Executive Committee - - - - - - 5 Revisiting the Redesign - - - - - - 6 Brining Empathy to the Student Staff Selection Process 8 Write for Perspectives - - - - - - 11 Social Media Spotlight - - - - - - 12 Connections Matter - - - - - - - 14 I Dare You to Break Up With Your Phone - - - 17 Inclusivity Advocates - - - - - - 21 Follow Us on Social Media - - - - - - 25 Vantage Points of a Pandemic - - - - - 26 Case Study Corner - - - - - - - 30 Let's Do Lunch - - - - - - - 33 You Know What Happens When You Assume... - - 39 Living On-Campus with an Invisible Illness - - 42 Vonversations - - - - - - - - 46
We Want to Hear Your Perspective!
UMR-ACUHO :: INCLUSION & EQUITY STATEMENT
President Keniese Evans University of Iowa keniese-evans@uiowa.edu
The purpose of UMR-ACUHO shall be to promote and provide an environment of full opportunity and service for all identities. The Association will strive to acknowledge discrimination and eliminate it.
Hello UMR-ACUHO! Wow, what a year we have had?! It is my hope that after the following academic year, you all will get a much needed break. I think it goes without saying that the last year brought many unforeseen challenges, both professionally and personally. If no one has told you recently: good job. Your efforts to keep our campuses and this association running have not gone unnoticed. Navigating the unprecedented circumstances has been difficult, to say the least. This is definitely not the experience I expected to have as president, however, I am committed to the association and look forward to all the things we will accomplish. At the beginning of my term, I set two main areas of focus for the year: engagement and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Through leadership and intention I believe that most, if not all, of the work we do in the association will fall into these areas. Prior to the challenges and changes brought on by the pandemic, I believe we were seeing a shift in UMR engagement. As we venture into a “post”-pandemic life, I want you to reflect on how you engage with UMR and how you would like to participate in the future. Also consider how the association can best support you. Prior to starting my career and joining UMR, I never considered that I would one day serve as president. I credit my journey to the involvement and the many professionals I encountered along the way. UMR quickly became my professional home and I hope that it can be yours too (if it’s not already). I have had the opportunity to serve on committees, attend and present at conferences, attend webinars, participate in case studies, write for Perspectives, write nominations for awards, receive awards, and so much more. I say this to demonstrate that there are so many ways to engage. Engagement looks different for everyone, so how will you choose to engage? Do you feel there is something missing from what we provide? We want to hear from you. This is your association and we need your voice. No matter what stage you are in within your career, consider how you can find a place in UMR to engage and contribute. And it is my hope that together we can make a positive and sustainable impact on UMR. The other area that needs attention is diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). UMR has long talked about our values around DEI, however, we are long overdue to take action. We continue to see violence and hate against those with marginalized identities. Many of these high-profile incidents have happened here in the UMR region. To say that we stand against racism, bias, hate, intolerance, and white supremacy is one thing, but without action we are only contributing to these issues that are deeply rooted within all systems. The first step will focus on the implementation of DEI work groups to address: anti-racist work, police presence & relationships on campus, white fragility, cultural competence, and racial healing. These groups consist of members from across the region and have been tasked with providing tangible resources for the association. Additionally, strategic planning among the leadership team and committee members will continue to identify and remove barriers to involvement and opportunities within the association, while specifically highlighting and providing opportunities for members from historically underrepresented and/or marginalized populations. As a Black woman, awareness for DEI work began long before DEI language was introduced. It is the lens I utilize within my professional work and is something I think about in every single space that I navigate, professionally and personally. I want our association to be a place where everyone, no matter their identity, can call home. Not only do I want greater representation of folx from varying identities on the leadership team and on committees, I want to see better retention of those from marginalized identities on our campuses. I want us to be a place for support and resources in this area and a region where we’re looked at as leaders and change agents. So, will you join me on this journey of engagement and DEI? I can’t do it without you. As the quote by John Heywood goes “Many hands make light work.” We all have something to contribute and can make a difference. Thank you for reading this issue and for all that you contribute to UMR.
- Phil Neuman (Chair) - Emily Butts - Jesse Heath - - Alexis Paladini - Nicky Patton - Rachel Ross-Farmer - Lisa Thao -
The Communications Committee provides the UMR-ACUHO membership with an opportunity for information-sharing, professional dialogue, and a forum for ideas to increase knowledge, wisdom, and excellence in our field.
UMR-ACUHO is committed to inclusive practices, the principle of equity, and engagement with difference. Our organization seeks to provide members with experiences that foster a culture where civil discourse is embraced.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE MEMBERS
UMR-ACUHO :: NON-DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT
President's Corner
MISSION OF THE UMR-ACUHO PUBLICATION
Inclusion and Equity Coordinator Kirsten Andrews University of Kansas kjandrews@ku.edu
Immediate Past President Jacque McKenna University of Kansas jmckenna@ku.edu
Technology & Sustainability Coordinator Matt Allbright University of Nebrska at Kearney allbrightmd@unk.edu
Treasurer Mandi Craven Wichita State University amanda.craven@wichita.edu
Accent #3
UMR Green
Corporate Partnerships Coordinator Mike Mueller University of Iowa michael-p-mueller@uiowa.edu
State Membership Coordinator Matt Diischer North Dakota State College of Science matt.diischer@ndscs.edu
Accent #4
Secretary Michelle Madsen Missouri State University michelle.madsen@missouristate.edu
Accent #2
Revisiting the Redesign Why Things Look Different
We are on our 57th volume of the Perspectives publication, as kick off the 2021 year. A lot has changed in UMR since we first published the Perspectives magazine back in 1972, but the reason we publish Perspectives has remained the same. Our Perspectives publication serves many purposes. It's a place for housing professionals to lend their voice to the greater upper mid-west region; graciously allowing others to read their words and learn a bit about their own story in higher education. It's a place for professionals to turn to when they're looking to learn, grow, and engage in their own professional development. And among many other things, it's also a place for us to challenge and support one another as we all work toward a common goal of bettering ourselves as housing professionals and continually working to better the lives of the students we get to house. In Spring 2019, we published our first Perspectives online; from start to finish, the past several issues of Perspectives have been entirely designed by the UMR Communications Committee. After a lot of learning and growing ourselves as a committee, we are excited to bring forward the next chapter of Perspectives. The Perspectives publication (no longer called a magazine) is an online publication that exists to share the voices of those who call UMR-ACUHO home. The publication has undergone a visual redesign to reflect a modern approach to the work we do, while continuing to keep things professional without being "business formal". The ultimate goal is to help anyone within the UMR-ACUHO community to feel like they have space within the Perspectives publication to share their voices. Moving forward, you'll begin to see some new elements added in, including social media spotlights of the work being done on different campuses across our region, information from other UMR-ACUHO Committees. In total, we are thankful for what Perspectives has been for the region in the past and the work put in to it for so many years, and look forward, with excitement, to how this publication will be utilized by housing professionals for years to come.
State Membership Coordinator Erica Thompson University of St. Thomas ekgeers@gmail.com
Accent #1
Vice President/President Elect Leandra Jenkins University of Iowa leandra-jenkins@uiowa.edu
The 2021 UMR-ACUHO Executive Committee
Perspectives Color Palette
By: Cate Morrison, Director of Client Engagement at eRezLife Software
Interviewing in Residence Life has changed significantly over the last year due to the pandemic. In this environment, the types of questions you're asking are paramount to getting an authentic picture of your candidate. The interview process should empower your candidates to showcase their skills and be proud of what they're bringing to the table, rather than trying to fit their answers into a preconceived notion of what the interviewing team is looking for. The current circumstances are forcing institutions to change their approach to hiring while continuing to gain valuable insight about their candidates. Empathy is a key trait of a successful RA. It is promoted through active listening and intentional interactions. We preach and teach the importance of listening, making the resident feel heard, and providing options rather than advice. So why aren’t more schools modeling this in their interview questions? Probably because it’s not easy and it’s not a well-known interviewing technique. In a blog post, eRezLife discussed the benefits of conducting Empathy Interviews. If you’re interested in trying out this approach, or if you’re looking for inspiration to revamp your current set of questions, here are some ideas: Q: Tell me about yourself (a self-introduction). This will give you details about the applicant’s emotional outlook and about their educational and professional experiences. It’s also a great way to build confidence. Q: What things or people inspire you? This question will give insight into the motivations and inspirations of the applicant. Additionally, you’ll often see the applicant light up and show genuine excitement when explaining why they are inspired. Q: How is your relationship with your colleagues from your last job? If the applicant hasn’t had a previous job, you could ask something about former team members on a group project. This question will allow you to see the level of investment someone puts into their colleagues. Please note: the effectiveness of this question is limited by the type of employment your applicant had. It may be a more beneficial question to ask of returning staff members. Q: What factors do you have control of that will lead you to a successful career/be successful in this role? This question forces your applicant to think about how their actions impact success. It forces the applicant to think about their skills and limitations but also about how their reactions to others and/or the decisions of others can impact their success. Q: How are you ambitious? The ambiguity of this question leads to a diverse set of answers. There is no assumption of ambition, and candidates can feel comfortable answering no. This is a great question to follow up with a question like, “How did you realize this about yourself?” Q: How do you react when someone comes to you for some kind of help? In Residence Life, when asked about their motivation for applying, applicants often say “I want to help people.” This question dives deeper and allows you to assess how prepared the applicant is to field those requests for help. It will also provide insight into how much thought the applicant has given to the kind of situations they may receive in the role. Q: How do you take criticism? This one is important when you consider fit in building teams. It will tell you about self-awareness and the ability of the candidate to receive feedback. It also allows the candidate to be able to own their difficulties with receiving feedback and shed light on how they are working on that. Q: How does curiosity impact your outlook? The goal of this question is to gain information about the inquisitive nature of your applicant. It also may provide insight into their respect for confidentiality and how they react when the “why” to a decision is not articulated (for example, a top-down decision the staff has to implement but doesn’t always agree with or understand). Q: Where or when do you feel most present? This question is a win for everyone. It gives you information about the applicant, their personality, and their self-awareness. More importantly, there is no ‘right’ answer, so all applicants can be confident in their reply. Q: What should people think about you? As with many empathy questions, this question shows a lot about self-awareness and ambition. It also will tell you what qualities the applicant values in themselves and how they fit into the community. Asking a variety of questions can help you achieve this goal. At eRezLife, we are fortunate to interact with a diverse group of institutions conducting interviews. In many cases, processes are changing as you're forced into a virtual interview environment. With the crunched timeline, it's critical that your questions provide the insight you need to make hiring decisions while empowering your candidates to showcase their best self. We've curated over 50 different questions to help you customize an in-person or virtual interview that meets your needs. This document provides example questions using empathy-based questions, competency-based questions, less common questions, behavioral-based questions, and residence life questions. If you'd like to check it out, please click here. Sources: https://content.wisestep.com/top-empathy-interview-questions-answers/ https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/techniques-of-empathy -interviews-in-design-thinking–cms-31219
Bringing Empathy to the Student Staff Selection Process: Using a Different Approach to Your Interview Questions
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
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Social Media Spotlight
https://youtu.be/8dCz-3sAuLs
Stay and Save Returner Process
Submit your social media/video marketing to us for your chance to be featured in an upcoming Perspectives publication! Send us an e-mail to: umracuho.communcations@gmail.com
Have a video you want to share with the rest of the UMR-ACUHO region? Did you run a neat Instagram campaign, utilize videos for marketing or programming?
How to do Laundry
https://youtu.be/T8hW9N3Z0Sc
Whether you want to submit an article with up to 1,500 words, or you want to submit a "Top 10 list" of your own creation, we would love to be working with you to let your voice be heard through the UMR Perspectives Publication! Ready to submit? Send us an e-mail to: umracuho.communcations@gmail.com Not sure how to get started? Send us an email and someone from our committee will connect with you more on how easy it is to share your perspective!
North Dakota State College of Science uses Powtoon software to easily create and share videos out, some of which seek to engage students in passive programming, while others advertise for the department. Check out two examples of videos NDSCS has created using Powtoon!
Have something you want to say?
In the times of COVID-19, there has been plenty of talk surrounding scarce resources. From toilet paper to the current rush for universal vaccine distribution, supply and demand has been on my mind quite often as the pandemic continues to march on into year two. I am reminded of an event that occurred in MNSU’s Residence Halls in late September 2020. Over the summer, our facilities had recently undergone a switch in internet service providers that led to new installations and systems put in place to provide faster internet to our residents. As with anything new, there are always some bumps in the road. In this case, it was a rather large issue with the Wi-Fi connections in the halls at the beginning of the semester. As a live-in professional, I had been experiencing trouble maintaining Wi-Fi connection and reached out to student staff members asking if they or their residents were having issues getting online. When I heard a resounding yes from representatives of all sixteen floors in our area, I placed a call the next day to our provider’s customer service line. It was here I reported my own concerns and shared anecdotes that included residents being booted from online classes or having to go to other campus locations to get online to take exams because of spotty connections and professors who would not take lack of a stable internet connection as an excuse for the work not getting completed. In a time where online classes were essentially the only option, many students had already expressed difficulty adjusting to a majority of their online coursework. Now without internet access, a valuable resource in the 21st century, students’ struggle increased yet again. Connectivity was quickly remedied with some updates to the new systems. Despite my annoyance in the fact that this disruption of service prevented my Netflix from being able to load the next episode of my “West Wing” binge, the frustration the students were experiencing sat with me. With this incidence and throughout navigating this pandemic, I have been grappling with my role in Residential Life as a service provider of sorts. Why do we do what we do? What is my purpose in Residential Life? I find that the answer to my own questions have something to do with connections. In our work, we see the Maslownian basics of providing residents access to food and shelter. Resources exist on the second level of the famed pyramid. Based upon the above anecdote, resources also prove to be an important service for the on-campus housing we provide students. However, beyond these base levels, I wonder about what our responsibility to our students looks like as we move up the hierarchy. In creating a community for students, we create a sense of belonging and relationships. Within these, we create a sense of connection to self, others, and to campus through information and events connecting residents to our and other departments’ resources. It is our hope that we provide safe spaces, including secure facilities and increased sanitization measures, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Providing safe spaces also includes training of staff in conflict resolution to provide places that are welcoming to all students. In the beginning of my housing career, I got tied up in helping students achieve esteem and self-actualization. What I am now realizing is that the connections I am helping students make and the services I provide in my role of Hall Director are the catalyst for students to achieve success. Now what does this mean going forward? Do we just build and maintain the facilities and call it a day? Yes and no. We need to focus on educating ourselves as professionals and examining the barriers that exist in our facilities and spaces. Our facilities and spaces need to be inclusive of all identities: BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ (especially Trans* students), and beyond. It’s recognizing that different students need different things. This includes examining facilities to ensure that Trans* individuals have access to facilities that align with their gender identity. In line with the work done in residential life it’s examining duty responses with campus security and police in the wake of increased visible police brutality in the BIPOC community on media platforms our students are tuned into. It’s staying up to date on preferred communication methods of incoming students so information can be shared, and these connections can be maintained. My perspective is this: like any good service provider we must adapt and innovate. Whether in-person, virtual, wireless, or wired, we are in the business of connections and I’m logging on. *Disclaimer: A recent research has indicated that Maslow’s model may have been influenced by the Siksika Blackfoot Tribe of Alberta, Canada. This author wants to acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced occupation of Native American territories, and recognizes and respects the work the Blackfoot people.
Connections Matter
By: Grace Riggert, Hall Director, Minnesota State University Mankato
I Dare You to Break Up With Your Phone
Remember when you were young and you used to play pretend? For me, it would inevitably happen like this: I’d be sitting inside and I’d tell my mom that I was bored. She would then spat off that I can either go outside and play or she’d put me to work if I told her I was bored one more time. It didn’t take much else to get me off the couch and out the door at that point. More often than not, I’d find myself grabbing my brother, running out the back door, through the back gate and trotting through my neighbor’s backyard to get to my friend’s house. With a knock on the door, our friends would come running down the stairs and we’d head across the street to Cartwright Park. For hours, we would play “man on the wood chips” or pretend we were spies and run all around the park, finding treasures and hiding from the bad people. As the sun would begin to set, we’d hear mom yelling for us to come home for dinner and through the backyards my brother and I would run, making our way home again. After reading the book, How to Break Up with your Phone by Catherine Price, I started thinking about playing pretend a lot. Specifically, I wondered how many children play pretend today? How many of them who are in late elementary school are out playing on playgrounds with their friends? Are they out exploring hidden places and climbing trees or are they all still inside, satisfying their boredom with their phones? “Creativity is often sparked by boredom, which is another mental state that our phones are great at helping us avoid.” - Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up with Your Phone Phones take away our boredom and therefore our creativity. They rob us of our joy and supplement true happiness with manufactured bliss. The worst part is, we don’t even recognize that it’s happening when it first starts. Little by little, we spend more and more time on our phones. We pull out our phones when we’re bored, when we have a couple of minutes to spare between classes or at the start of meetings. We even pull out our phones while we are hanging out with our friends, making sure that there isn’t something better happening out there that we might be missing out on. Half of the time, we don’t even realize that we do this. Grabbing for our phones is so second nature to us now that we don’t bat an eye when we do it; it’s so instinctive that when we don’t have our phones on us, we realize that it is missing more than we realize when it’s present. “Once a habit has crossed the line to an addiction, it can be triggered by cues that are so subtle that we don’t even notice them.” - Catherine Price, author of How to Break Up with Your Phone It was in July 2019, that I read “How to Break Up with Your Phone”. I was taking an entire month off from social media because I wanted to spend less time on it for social connections as well as less time just “browsing” apps to pass the time. I was spending 4-5 hours a day on average on my phone at that point; most of which was spent on social media platforms. The book had a lot of recommendations on cutting down screen time on a smartphone and was super helpful for me at that point in my life. I committed to dropping social media from my iPhone and was intentional about not using my phone all the time. Additionally, one of the ideas the book offered up as well was to switch from using a smartphone back to using a “dumb phone”, albeit a newer version called “The Light Phone.” In March 2020, COVID-19 hit our campuses and I found myself readjusting to life with less. Fewer opportunities to hang out with friends. Fewer chances to grab coffee with people. Less time spent out and about, casually doing nothing while claiming to do so much. Life with less also meant life with a little bit more though. More time spent at home in front of the TV watching episode after episode of Survivor. More time spent hanging out with Riley at the dog park. More time downloading silly games on my phone and aimlessly scrolling through posts on Facebook, then Instagram, then Snapchat stories, all to come around and go through the apps again since I had spent enough time away on the other platforms for fresh content to make its way to the top. Screen time overtook my life. I spent 6-7 hours a day with the screen “on” on my iPhone. Think about how senseless that sounds. I was consumed by my phone. Whether it was a quick glance at work when I shouldn’t be, or using it as a second screen while I watched TV, I spent countless hours using my phone for so many purposes other than what, at the root of it all, it was originally intended for; to be a phone first. In July 2020, amidst the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota, I hit a point where I was recognizing these patterns in my day-to-day routine. Then, I saw an ad for the Light Phone. Say what you will about seeing an ad at exactly the right time, but dang, that was timely and exactly what I needed. I hesitated for a couple weeks to purchase it and in the meantime, made some changes to my iPhone instead of just deleting social media apps like I had done the summer before. I removed all of the apps I didn’t care about from my home screen. I deleted 20-30 apps that I never or rarely used. All in all, I worked to try to make my iPhone more of a phone rather than a device to consume my life. However, after 2 weeks of changes and minimal results on dropping my screen time down, I made the decision to buy the light phone. For me, “going light” was about recognizing how much I used my smart phone and taking a step away from the smart aspects so I could get back to the root purpose of phones - to be used for communication. In July 2019, when I took a break from social media all together, I saw just how much I decreased my phone usage. Going light helped me do much of the same. I found myself using my phone less and being focused and present when I had my Light Phone with me. I used my iPhone at home as if it were an iPod Touch and left it at home when I was at work, going out to eat, or simply out and about. While my Light Phone was something I enjoyed having for the time being, it’s okay that it wasn’t my forever. It taught me a lot about how I use my phone and I’m thankful for the time I had it to learn those lessons. I’m more aware of how I use my smartphone and how I can best utilize it as the tool that it is rather than the distraction that it has been. I, like many of you, use my iPhone for both leisure and work purposes, and at times those boundaries can become blurry. While it can be easy to name expectations to student staff members on the access in which they have to me through digital platforms, that doesn’t always stop them from sending that message at 9 p.m. needing an immediate answer to a “next day” problem. Going light by switching phones for a little bit, as well as deleting apps and limiting my screen time in my personal life, has taught me that it’s okay to say no and set boundaries with work too. Work-life balance and self-care don’t just look like utilizing the vacation hours you have or doing something fun afterwork that you don’t often get to do. It also looks like setting boundaries with your cell phone and clear expectations with those around you on what your communication looks like. While COVID-19 has challenged the way we do most every part of our jobs right now, setting boundaries and expectations around my phone has allowed me to regain a sense of normalcy in my life. I can’t say I’ve gone to any parks to run around and play pretend lately, but limiting my phone usage has allowed me to live life simpler and enjoy the little things more than I have in the past decade. Altogether, your own recognition of your personal phone usage is going to be the catalyst that you need to get any real change started. So go ahead – I dare you to break up with your phone.
By: Daniel Vorwerk, Hall Director, Minnesota State University Mankato
Inclusivity Advocates: St. Olaf College at Five Year Mark Aided by "To Include is To Excel Initiative" Mellon Grant
By: Damian White, Area Coordinator, St. Olaf College
In the first three years of the To Include is To Excel initiative, St. Olaf College faculty, staff members, and students have developed more than 50 grant-funded projects to support inclusive teaching and learning. One such grant funded project was the Residence Life-sponsored Inclusivity Advocate program. Program format and development: Five years ago, a group of St. Olaf College students who wanted to see more diversity programming on campus, and in the residence halls in particular ,formed a group that they named the Inclusivity Advocates. Over the years, the Inclusivity Advocates (IA) program has grown and become an official student organization sponsored by Residence Life. Each September, the Hall Councils in each of the 10 campus residence halls choose an IA during elections facilitated by the Student Government Association. In addition to serving as individual members of their residence hall council, the campus-wide group of IAs meet weekly to enjoy fellowship, plan initiatives for the St. Olaf community, and learn together. The two signature programs the IAs hold each year are the annual All Campus Diversity Seminars and the Week of Intersectionality. Within Residence Life, the IA program continues to focus on anti-racism actions in its training events, Residence Life policies and procedures, staff training and hiring, and hall council events and initiatives. Pilot: The IA as a Paid Para-Professionals: Pre-COVID at St. Olaf College, the IA year was progressing nicely. We had just wrapped up our very successful campus diversity seminars, our IA student chairs were in charge of the weekly IA meetings, the IAs held their weekend retreat, and plans for the IA week of intersectionality were in high gear . Then COVID arrived and the program for the remainder of the year had to be halted along with most programing offered on campus. Furthermore, the national discourse around race and the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis once again brought the hard work needed to create an inclusive culture for everyone at the college back to the forefront. Our department observed in our St. Olaf community the emotional labour and time expended by students, particularly students of color, who were called upon to engage in inclusion and anti-racism actions. Our own Residence Life department was going through its own reframing of the inclusion work to make it more action-oriented and less reactionary. The opportunity to engage in greater diversity programming in the residence halls had presented itself and so the bold response was taken for the academic year 2021-2022 to hire ten IAs to be paraprofessionals in diversity education. The IAs will be part of the Residence Life student staff, with their primary role being training, programming, and serving as a resource for RAs, Hall Councils, and residents in the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives of the residence hall communities. We are excited to hire the next cohort of IAs in this new model as a pilot with the goal of assessing the program after one year. In this new format, the best opportunity at success requires our IAs to have a baseline of knowledge and self-understanding about inclusion in order to be most effective. Our IAs will be trained as gender pronoun facilitators and we intend to invest in their diversity education and knowledge around anti-racism action. The Catalyst: St. Olaf College To Include is To Excel: The support of a To Include is To Excel grant, a project to strengthen diversity in the classroom at the college, served as the opportunity for the IA program to grow and refine. The main way we promoted growth was through investing in the knowledge and understanding around inclusion for the 2019 Cohort. We did this through a weekend retreat led by Dr. Saby Labor, PHD of the Resilient Campus who is also the Director of Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life at the University of Minnesota. Out of this retreat came new ideas and greater knowledge of the intersections of social identity by using positive learning pedagogy to nourish their own self understanding, which enables them to better serve their halls. The retreat aso enabled great planning of the program which resulted in more focused program offerings and a more organized overall program. It would be safe to say that without this grant and the investment in our training that we would not be further developing the IA program. If your institution has an opportunity to invest in a Residence Life diversity initiative, take advantage of it! What we learned from the grant experience about ourselves , our students, our colleagues, and the St. Olaf community in order to benefit the IA program At the end of the year when the grant was received, the IAs were part of a focus group where we received feedback about the program and an analysis of its strengths and opportunities. The main takeaway from the participants was that the program has the potential to be more impactful on the campus community if the time and resources are spent to develop the program offerings. Student participants wanted to increase their outreach to the college, and we were able to open the diversity seminars to the entire campus community, which was embraced by the entire college. We also learned that this program can be a dynamic dimension to the ongoing diversity and anti-racism action that the entire campus community is called to engage with. We realized that the cost for this full ongoing engagement is a limitation to our current capacity, but we will continue to strive to do the hard work necessary for our residence halls to be places where all students can thrive. IA Today and Beyond The challenge of race in America and the ever changing world will dictate the iteration of our diversity efforts now and in the future. The verdict in the Derik Chauvin case has also presented an opportunity for our department to engage our students living in the halls in greater discourse around white supremacy and anti-racism action. One such way is by us paying ten IAs for the labor that they will put in to create a community where each person can thrive. We commit to training and developing competent student leaders in anti-racist action and knowledge so that they can better serve our communities. We want to continue to support our BIPOC community on campus and in the residence halls while also highlighting local, national, and international issues that affect people everywhere. We hope that students and other members of the community benefit from the program offerings by taking the lessons learned or the call to action given and investing in their own self-education and self-understanding around inclusion and anti-racism. The potential energy of the campus community to become a more welcoming place where we all can thrive must become kinetic for this to be realized. We hope that the IA program is contributing to this action. If any school is interested in learning more about our program and its development, please feel free to reach out to me at waite1@stolaf.edu
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It is hard to think back to what a pre-COVID world was like as we continue to endure a global pandemic. This past year has brought some of the most difficult times for many people, while moments of joy were present but sometimes harder to find. COVID has brought many highs and lows that will inform how we remember this chapter in our lives. It is our hope this article is able present new perspectives to folx and to validate feelings that you might have felt as we have experienced COVID. The responses you will find within each question come from three different perspectives, all within the same leadership team of a housing complex at the University of Kansas. Gretchen Birong (she/they) is completing their first year as a graduate student in the Higher Education Administration program and works as an Assistant Complex Director (ACD). Sam Azzaro (they/them) is finishing their second and final year within the Higher Education Administration program as well as working as an ACD. Megan Nemec (she/hers) is finishing her fourth year as a Complex Director at KU.
Vantage Points of a Pandemic
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By: Sam Azzaro, Assistant Complex Director, University of Kansas Gretchen Birong, Assistant Complex Director, University of Kansas Megan Nemec, Complex Director, University of Kansas
“...it was crucial that we continued to work through things as a complex team...”
Q: What surprised you about the year of COVID? Gretchen: In all honesty, what surprised me is that we were able to stay open and function within our role. After seeing how quickly everything ended in early 2020, I thought it was not going to be possible to start again within the same year. In August, I felt like I spent every day checking my emails to see the dreaded email saying we had to close the residence halls. Now it is April of 2021, and I still am in awe that we were able to do it. Sam: As I was a first year ACD at the time when the lockdowns started, the ambiguity of it all was very frightening. Being able to return to the fall semester, I was highly surprised that our university did not have to shut down again, even for two weeks. While we saw COVID cases on our campus, the plan that our university and department had for quarantine and isolation housing and meals was essential to getting through the first semester. Being near the end of the academic year, I’m surprised and happy to say that we navigated it the best we could, and we are preparing for the next year’s possibilities. Megan: I would have to say how impressed I was that we were able to stay open but, in addition, I think I was surprised by the ever-changing needs that seemed to keep presenting themselves. When one problem seemed to be fixed, another thing would need your attention. In this it was crucial that we continued to work through things as a complex team, residence life team, and department as a whole to find solutions to our ever changing needs. Q: How did you take care of yourself? Gretchen: I really struggled to take care of myself. I was still struggling with how my undergraduate career ended and trying to learn everything within my new role. One thing that helped me was trying to do one new thing each weekend in the community. Sometimes it was something as simple as going to a new park or getting a coffee from a different shop. It helped me get off campus and get some sense of being a part of the community. Sam: I was thankful that I have such a tight-knit cohort that continued to check in on one another as we ended our first year and started this year. As we closed the residence halls last year, it was incredibly difficult to navigate what we were doing while finding space to take care of ourselves. The other housing grads were incredibly helpful in staying connected with people while everything was happening. We were able to create a small bubble so that we were at least able to eat lunch together every day during the summer outside safely. As this academic year progressed and residence halls opened up, taking more time for myself and being clear about my boundaries and what I need with my supervisor, peers, friends, partner, and professors was very helpful to my mental health. Lastly, I was able to take time and finally start therapy because of its online nature which helped me tremendously throughout the year. Megan: It initially feels difficult to answer this question but I would ultimately say it was keeping connected with people that are important to me. It started as a time of so much uncertainty, and we have definitely learned more along the way. I found that talking with others and understanding that I was not alone in my experiences was incredibly validating. Q: What's one thing that kept you going? Gretchen: One thing that kept me going throughout this year was seeing the undergraduate staff keep trying. They had so many barriers against them: an online academic environment, social isolation, changing policies, and so on. However, they kept persevering. Staff would come to me in meetings with new ideas on how to connect to residents and great empathy for all that was going on. Their positivity reminded me of why we do this work and why I needed to keep working hard for them. Sam: Honestly, it’s been the students. Both my undergraduate staff and the residents within our buildings have been so inspiring in their navigation of this year. Working with my staff in either adapting to changes in the way they connect with residents or with brand-new resident assistants who have stepped into the role this year has presented its own challenges and wonderful moments. Seeing them develop as leaders and as people despite it all has helped me this year when looking towards my academics, my work, and my job search. No matter what the year threw at us, I knew my staff and I could handle it together. The residents in our buildings equally have been so gracious with the changes this year. While it took some time getting used to, we were able to come out on this other end doing the best we could. Both my staff and residents have continued to be curious and explore the possibilities in connecting with another and in advocating for what they believe in. Megan: It certainly was the students and staff that surrounded us. Without making a reference to High School Musical, we certainly were all in it together. While that did not always feel the best, we knew we were ultimately not alone and worked through things as a team. The “all hands on deck” approach that our department and staff teams took was humbling in knowing I had others to fall back on if I was needing support.
CONTENT WARNING: The case study prompt for this issue centers on a situation involving a Title IX concern. We encourage membership to participate in the case study as you are most comfortable. Tips for engaging with this case study: When the UMR Professional Development & Training (PD&T) Committee met for Winter Meetings 2021, the PD&T Committee talked quite a bit about how it could create professional development and training opportunities for the region’s professionals without further exhausting resources, which are already being stretched very thin. Therefore, to provide some no-cost, easy-to-implement, and efficient professional development opportunities to the region, the PD&T Committee has pulled together a case study for individuals and/or teams of housing professionals to navigate. Please use this case study to engage with your team(s) on current issues and topics facing Housing organizations in 2021. Our hope is that this case study provides you and your team(s) with a moment to connect, think critically, and work through the overt and underlying issues presented in the following situations. You are a Hall Director at a large, public institution. You supervise an area of two buildings. The first with 300 first-year students, and the second with 250 second-year students. The buildings share a front desk that is in the first-year residence hall. During the first week of classes a student, Riley, reports to their RA Sammy concerns that they (Riley) may have been sexually assaulted by another resident in the building but is unsure due to alcohol consumption. Due to campus protocols RA Sammy calls you (also the current Hall Director on-call) regarding the situation. During your talk with Riley, they indicate a desire to report the concern to campus police. Riley is transported to the closest ER to complete the process of filing the report, and University Police asks you to accompany them to address the alleged student’s, Jessie’s, questions regarding what will happen with their housing arrangements. About a week after the initial report Riley’s friends approach you with concerns about Riley’s situation and express concerns that Jessie will be allowed to remain as a campus resident. They are concerned that no one has contacted them regarding an investigation and demand to know when Jessie is going to be kicked off campus.
Case Study Corner
“[Students'] positivity reminded me of why we do this work and why I needed to keep working hard for them”
Submitted by the UMR Professional Development & Training Committee
Q: How has this year impacted your journey in this field and/or Student Affairs? Gretchen: I think it has impacted my journey greatly. I feel like I do not know what it is like to job search or do my job without the context of COVID. Even thinking on to next year is odd as we enter a space where things are more open and classes will be in person. I feel like I cannot even think ahead to my next step in Student Affairs as I know the field will change so greatly within the next few years as a result of COVID. Sam: This past year certainly has had its effects on how I both view the work that we do and my job search. For me personally, I am more motivated in the advocacy I must do for my students in their success and growth, as institutions have lived in a space of complacency for too long in supporting students with marginalized identities. Even in the realm of COVID, students with marginalized identities were greatly impacted and seeing that firsthand is heartbreaking. In my job search, I was intentional with the questions I asked in the ways institutions were both handling COVID and social justice advocacy. With the privileges I hold, I must do all that I can to support my students no matter where my next institution is. Additionally, with my job search I have been critical on the ways institutions are supporting staff and the work that we do to be able to quickly adapt as needed. For myself, that support needs to be grace in what I can do considering my own health and support in my advocacy, as it is a large part of what I want to do within this field. Megan: This time has really allowed me to pause and understand what I want and need out of a job when there were times that I was uncertain I would have a job or be furloughed. I was incredibly fortunate to continue in my role but learned quickly that our field and student affairs is not as secure in the jobs as I had once thought. Above all it reminded me to figure out what is important to me as I figure out where my future leads. As you can see, our vantage points were very similar at times, but could also be very different. We hope that sharing this snipprt of our expernece is helpful to others. It has been helpful for us to reflect on lessons learned and what we can take away as we gopefully leave COVID behind us.
After meeting with several higher-level administrators, Jessie is moved from the first-year hall in your area, to the second-year hall in your area, and will be roommates with RA Andi in a suite-style room. Jessie is not able to access the first-year hall or the front desk for the complex. As the semester goes on, Jessie spends hardly any time in their room or the second-year student building in your area. They are hard to reach when trying to deliver packages, and frequently return to their room around 3am, and even later during the weekends. You are asked to follow up with both Riley and Jessie as a result of them both being placed on a campus Behavioral Intervention Team’s “to watch list,” you are tasked with providing notes of interactions with both individuals and your work on assisting them with campus resources related to the situation. Riley continues to struggle with the idea that Jessie can live in the same complex and does not feel safe coming to your office to talk with you, as your office is in the second-year hall. You and Riley continue to connect via email. Riley asks to connect at the coffee shop on campus or other spaces outside of the complex. They are struggling in all their classes while an investigation is occurring but does not want to talk to their professors about the situation. Riley does have a counselor they met with in high school but is not comfortable utilizing the counseling services on campus. Because of this, Riley is only able to visit their counselor once a month. Case Study Questions: 1. What does your follow up with Riley look like? 2. What does your follow up with Jessie look like? 3. How would you follow up with the RAs? 4. What do you/are you able to tell Riley and the RAs who are asking about the situation? 5. What legal ramifications could exist? 6. What campus resources could you utilize at your institution to help this matter? (Please explain) If you have any ideas for future case study prompts, please feel free to reach out to the PD&T Case Study Sub Committee at umracuho.pdt@gmail.com
CONTENT WARNING: This article mentions sexual assault.
By: Brooke Merry, Residence Hall Director, South Dakota State University Matt Diischer, Assistant Director for Leadership and Community Development, North Dakota State College of Science
Hello! This article is about our efforts to stay connected and engaged through regular virtual lunches. Our hope is that by sharing our takeaways from the experience, you might explore ways that you can be creative in maintaining relationships and growing as well! My name is Matt Diischer, and I serve as the Assistant Director for Leadership and Community Development at the North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS), a two-year college in Wahpeton, ND. Brooke and I worked together at South Dakota State University from 2015-2018, and she was one of my good friends on the team. At the time I transitioned to my new role at NDSCS, I was the last staff member of my cohort of residence hall directors who began at the same time, and I had often had the best intentions (along with my colleagues who departed for other opportunities) to stay in touch and continue our personal and professional relationships. I knew that the connections I had developed with others were vital to my personal and professional well-being, and I was resolved to do better than connecting once or twice a year at the annual conference or winter/summer meetings. My name is Brooke Merry, and I currently serve as a Residence Hall Director (RHD) at South Dakota State University (SDSU) in Brookings, South Dakota. I identify most as a mom and survivor of sexual assault- which will come up later in the conversation through examples. As Matt said, we had the pleasure of working together at SDSU for 3 years and have continued that work and friendship past our time as direct colleagues. Matt and I often shared resources or bounced ideas off each other via email or phone and ended those emails or calls with “we should catch up with non-work stuff soon.”Talking between the two of us, we decided that we were going to make networking and staying in touch a priority and settled on setting a weekly meeting over lunch on Tuesdays. We knew rather than aspiring to do this on a regular basis, that we needed to actually schedule it in our calendar and intentionally hold that time and have been connecting since 2019. Q: How has meeting virtually over lunch helped us personally versus professionally? Matt: As a professional, maintaining relationships regularly has been invaluable for a number of reasons. Brooke and I have very different skills sets, management and supervision styles, and personalities. Having someone who I can talk to about different things happening in my work gives me a fresh perspective and new ideas about how to approach that work. Like many others, having a connection at another institution allows for resource sharing, especially when there are documents or processes that could be adapted to meet the needs of the new institution you are at . It also feels less like I only reach out to Brooke when I need something, and more like a collaborative relationship where we share resources and ideas back and forth. It is also great to have someone you trust at another institution who can help you grow and develop by giving you unbiased and helpful feedback when you are struggling through a situation (and those that know Brooke know that you’re going to get honest, direct feedback!). Personally, I have made it a goal to not just connect about work, but to better maintain relationships beyond residential life. Having more regular contact means that we are better able to support each other personally and keep modeling a good work-life balance. I think we were both more equipped than others to connect and engage virtually when the pandemic forced all of us to adapt our work, as we had been meeting virtually for almost two years before this. Brooke: Personally, our weekly meetings have created depth in my ability to set up healthier boundaries within my workplace setting. In the past, I have either worked through lunches and eaten late, OR I have only eaten lunch with my colleagues in the department. There was quite a period where I had fallen into liking my job less based on the number of hours I was “on” and my self-guided inability to separate from work. I noticed when I chose to spend time with people, it was colleagues. Coffee runs, day trips away from campus, dinner, or grabbing drinks were all exclusively with my work “family,” and it was becoming difficult to feel like I was getting a break from work. I was more likely to respond to text messages from staff late at night and to push myself to stay awake later just in case students needed something (often they did not), all of which had a significant impact on my emotional wellness, my relationship with my husband, and time with my daughter. When Matt and I started doing lunch, I began to take a closer look at my priorities and relationships and make tough decisions related to boundaries. Professionally Matt and I have been able to share a lot of ideas, resources and knowledge related to the identities we hold. This has also provided the ability to explore new opportunities to engage with those identities I had not ever thought of, while having a sounding board of “is this a good opportunity” or “is this too much to take on.” An example of this includes a past article I wrote for UMR Perspectives where the theme related to “when personal and professional collide.” Matt encouraged me to consider authoring an article based on my identity as a survivor, and even helped me in proofreading or suggesting others to potentially proofread as well. Matt and I have also been able to have deeper discussions about how our identities have affected our work. As a female in the profession, my feedback has sometimes been seen as “bossy” or “overly critical” to others. When we worked together there were a few moments where Matt truly stood up to challenge those moments, and now he has been an amazing mentor for how to do that on my own. Our lunches have been a unique place to not only navigate our identities in the context of where we work, but also in navigating the privileges our identities hold, especially in our world today. There have been quite a few times where “but there’s an immense privilege in being able to say that,”“express yourself that way,”or “getting a ‘break’ from thinking about it” have come up in conversation. My identity as a mom and survivor have come up quite a few times throughout us working together. Building understanding of experiences has been a benefit of our conversations. I've felt unintentionally excluded from when things are said to the effect of “we figured you’d just want some additional time with your family,” have been great moments to process with Matt. On the other side, as a parent, I think I've also been able to bring a different level of empathy to conversations we have had about how parents react to college students’ actions as well. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the confidence I bring to my leadership role, or the opportunities I look to engage in outside of my RHD role. I attribute a lot of this to our weekly lunches. They have helped me find ways to grow as a strong female leader, while understanding how to challenge stereotypes or soften my responses in a manner that does not soften my voice or viewpoint. So, when it comes down to it, I think our lunches have turned into a way to grow our friendship, while mutually helping our professional development as well. Q: How does this connect back to working with staff/students? Brooke: In a year like 2020, where there have been so many changes in health, processes, politics, accountability, and education as it relates directly to diversity, equity, and inclusion, it would have been easy (and was at times) to be frustrated or overwhelmed with finding creative ways to connect with students in a safe manner. For me, I found a continued ability to engage, but also escape, work at least once a week. I also found myself feeling more confident in navigating supporting authentic interactions in a Zoom world. I’ve become good at eating lunch in my office this year, and at first, I was great at eating in my office without working. This got progressively worse as the weeks went on and students truly became more comfortable, and safe, on campus. However, our lunches have continued to serve as a mental reminder that I need to take breaks, not only for myself, but so that I can role model this for my students and staff as well. Our lunches have also been a way for us to explore some recent technology or passive programming opportunities throughout the past year. If you know Matt, you know he is great with finding different games or online connection opportunities. I’ve used quite a few of these resources to help staff with program planning, staff bonding, or even just with connecting with friends in a virtual setting outside of work (shout out to the RELI 2019 crew game nights). Matt: Having a consistent and reliable routine where I could connect with a colleague and friend in one of the most chaotic time periods in my experience as a student affairs professional was grounding in a lot of ways, and helped me continue to show up in spaces with my students and staff in a positive way. Brooke hits a lot of other great ways it connects with our work with staff and students above, and I think without the opportunity to check in and share some of the alternative ways we were both meeting the needs of our students and department, that I would not have been as effective with the switch to many things moving into the virtual space. I also think that we began to role model to others in our region and circle of colleagues/friends that you could stay connected and carve time out for each other and yourself even when multiple new processes and demands on your time could make it feel as if you did not have the luxury of doing so. It’s fun to hear about some of the others we know who have started to make virtual lunches more of a routine rather than a one-off! Q: What have we learned? What has the impact been? Matt: As we have adjusted to changes in how we engage with each other, I think the biggest takeaway has been the prioritization and ability to connect with each other outside of large in-person events like the UMR Annual Conference. Both Brooke and I have made standing arrangements to connect virtually with other colleagues and UMR members on a regular basis, which has led to me feeling connected to UMR even though we have not had an in-person event since Winter Committee Meetings in January 2020. Brooke: I echo what Matt has said here. Honestly, Matt has been a big reason I've been willing to jump into other connections and grow my network of friends/colleagues within the region. The impact of our lunches has also built my confidence as a professional and encouraged me to finally be comfortable looking beyond my role as an RHD. I’ve had more opportunities to use my strengths as a programming mentor for a Greek organization on my campus, which has a philanthropy centered on sexual assault awareness and challenges campus males to own their participation in bystander intervention. Our lunch meetings have also helped me to think creatively about building connections and investing in committee members as a recently appointed UMR co-chair. To me, it has always come back to support, challenge, and growth.
Let's Do Lunch
"We knew rather than aspiring to do this on a regular basis, that we needed to actually schedule it in our calendar and intentionally hold that time."
The 2020-21 academic year has challenged people in ways that were previously unimagined. This is pertinent to professional staff: consistently needing to rethink our approaches toward staff training, attempting to continue community development in significantly smaller groups or in the virtual realm, and adjusting to a new normal for our work. Similarly, there is another large population grappling with these abrupt changes: our students. Throughout this year, I often found myself so focused on what was in my lane that I did not realize how the pandemic and policy changes were affecting the students we interact with daily. In February, our Program Advisor resigned from their position and I stepped into the role of NRHH Advisor for the remainder of the semester. This was exciting to me; I had been involved in NRHH throughout my undergraduate experience and it was an opportunity to return to my roots in a different function. It was also something I saw as a challenge. I had been warned that our NRHH Chapter was in an unusual place, as there had been some conflict with RHA throughout the year. It also seemed that the executive board was uninspired. One of the leaders had a negative reputation, as they were identified as one of the conspirators in the disputes with RHA. This leader was also someone who resisted a move to a virtual format, sharing their perspective that meeting face-to-face was important to the success of the organization. Several members had left throughout the year, and it was unknown how the leader’s actions were impacting their morale. When I accepted this role, the only goal I had was to help the organization make it to the end of the semester; it seemed like a challenging feat based on what I had heard. In preparation for my first meeting, I spent some time generating a list of discussion items I wanted to address. Reviewing expectations was important. These students needed to know what they could count on me for and what I required from them. For the executive board, I came prepared with an activity based on Patrick Lencioni’s 5 Dysfunctions of a Team. I was hopeful that it would help everyone get on the same page and create a shared vision for the remainder of the semester. I needed to bring my A-Game that first meeting and if I came with anything less, I was afraid they would question my role. I was so nervous that, as I left for that meeting, I accidentally left my keys in my apartment. That first meeting was not what I expected. Members greeted me as I sat at their table and prepared for the meeting to begin. They asked questions in an attempt to get to know me and the goals I had for NRHH over the coming months. Someone even asked if I would be the advisor permanently. Suddenly the thought I would be pushed away with pitchforks and torches was laughable. The general membership meeting went remarkably well and everyone was surprisingly civil. I braced for a change as the executive board met after the general membership meeting, but the energy and focus remained consistent. Each board member reviewed what they had done that year to help bring me up to speed and shared what they were currently working on for the remainder of the semester. I quietly set my activity aside, recognizing this was not pertinent to what I had observed; this was a remarkable group of student leaders. As I had weekly one-on-ones with the aforementioned student leader, I started to understand their passion and dedication to this organization. What had initially appeared as resistance and anger towards changing policies was reframed as a leader trying to advocate for what they felt was the greater good of their organization. They had recognized that the NRHH members were going through Zoom fatigue and it was important to have an in-person option, even if that meant less students were able to attend due to changing occupancy limits on spaces. In addition, they provided some additional context to the rift between NRHH and RHA, describing some of their experiences and perceptions from the actions of other leaders. This leader felt it best to distance the relationship with RHA, solely focusing on NRHH’s health and growth throughout the year. In this moment I recognized the importance of an advisor and their purpose of serving as a buffer between administrators and student leaders, so that students are not left to advocate for themselves alone. Reflecting on what was shared and what I had learned, I feel that all perspectives have some level of merit. They are pieces that are relevant to seeing the whole picture. These perspectives influence our approach and our thoughts, for better or for worse. I am grateful for what was shared as it helped create an understanding of the potential storm I was sailing into, even though the reality is that the sea was calm. What is most important is that we recognize that our students are trying harder than ever before. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.
You Know What Happens When You Assume...
"What had initially appeared as resistance and anger towards changing policies was reframed as a leader trying to advocate for what they felt was the greater good of their organization."
By: Jesse Heath, Hall Director, Minnesota State University Mankato
They had recognized that the NRHH members were going through Zoom fatigue and it was important to have an in-person option, even if that meant less students were able to attend due to changing occupancy limits on spaces. In addition, they provided some additional context to the rift between NRHH and RHA, describing some of their experiences and perceptions from the actions of other leaders. This leader felt it best to distance the relationship with RHA, solely focusing on NRHH’s health and growth throughout the year. In this moment I recognized the importance of an advisor and their purpose of serving as a buffer between administrators and student leaders, so that students are not left to advocate for themselves alone. Reflecting on what was shared and what I had learned, I feel that all perspectives have some level of merit. They are pieces that are relevant to seeing the whole picture. These perspectives influence our approach and our thoughts, for better or for worse. I am grateful for what was shared as it helped create an understanding of the potential storm I was sailing into, even though the reality is that the sea was calm. What is most important is that we recognize that our students are trying harder than ever before. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.
"In this moment I recognized the importance of an advisor and their purpose of serving as a buffer between administrators and student leaders, so that students are not left to advocate for themselves alone."
"What is most important is that we recognize that our students are trying harder than ever before."
By: Kassie Dumont, Resident Director, North Dakota State College of Science
My name is Kassie Dumont and I serve as a Resident Director at NDSCS. Throughout my time working in my position, I have worked with students who struggle with different needs and abilities. I am passionate about this, as I also share the experience of having an invisible illness. Discovering, navigating, and dealing with that at the same time as being an undergraduate student, and now as a professional live-on staff member working on her graduate degree, has not always been easy. In 2016, during my first year of college, everyone was home for winter break, and I was one of the only students who had stayed in my residence hall over the break. I had not been able to hold down food for a couple weeks and my stomach hurt so bad I couldn’t walk. I decided to drive myself to the emergency room. I was admitted for the next week with the end diagnosis being pancreatitis and ulcerative colitis (which was wrongly diagnosed). I had lost so much blood that I was on the verge of needing a transfusion. I was later diagnosed with Crohn's disease and my doctors signed off on paperwork allowing me to utilize an ADA placard. I would often have to drive myself to the hospital due to my illness and having to walk to my car 15 minutes away was not an option in case of an emergency. When I have a flare, walking becomes difficult due to stomach pain and other varying side effects such as brain fog, nausea, and fatigue. If you think back to 2016, it was a time when Yik Yak was one of the most popular apps being used by students. I went on the app for my daily scroll and saw a picture of my car in the ADA spot with a thread of people commenting on it. “I’ve seen her walking”, “She doesn’t need to park here”, “She’s just faking it.” I tried to not let these comments bother me, but it has been five years and I am still affected by this. I wish that I could have educated those individuals about invisible illnesses so they could have understood that you do not have to physically appear ill to actually be ill. My hope is that by sharing my experience, you can find some ways to better serve some of the students you work with. This is not a unique experience for individuals living with an invisible illness and it is important to remember that this also affects the students we work with on a daily basis. Throughout COVID-19 there has been an ongoing rhetoric that young people are healthy and can handle COVID-19 because our immune systems are strong. This is not the case for everyone, and that rhetoric can be extremely hurtful for some. Social media was telling me everyday that I would be just fine and I shouldn’t worry about contracting the virus. Live-in staff members also live with students, making the risk even higher; I live with 250 residents who continuously struggle to wear a mask. We ask a lot from our student staff and it is important to make sure that one of our priorities as housing professionals is keeping them safe and advocating for their health and well-being. Consider asking yourself, “if I am not comfortable doing it, then why am I asking our student staff to do it?” It is important to make sure your campus is accessible to everyone. This includes adequate amounts of ADA spaces, functioning ADA buttons, elevators that function consistently, sharps bins for proper needle disposal, or private restrooms. One important area to discuss for staff is the topic of sick leave. As someone who lives with an invisible illness, I cannot stress enough how important it is to make health a priority for your staff (professional and student). For me and others, there is nothing more stressful than starting a new job with zero sick and annual leave. All that runs through my mind during this time is “what if I get sick?”. Working overtime to make up those hours is an added stressor, as is having your income reduced. What are some ways we can allow health to be a priority, while also meeting performance expectations? To wrap up, ensuring your policies and practices take into account the varied visible and invisible obstacles to success your students and staff struggle with on a daily basis will help you be even more effective in helping others. This could include allowing individuals to miss work for appointments, creating and maintaining a culture that proactively encourages employees to use their sick and annual leave, or continuing to work towards and evaluate whether your campus is accessible to all. For staff training this could be making meals optional instead of mandatory, as well as having the food options available prior to the meal time to ensure a variety of options. Most importantly, don’t assume that I am okay because I look okay. Make invisible illnesses a part of your diversity, equity, and inclusion training. Talk to and find ways to support your students and colleagues who might be affected. Know that if you are struggling, resources and help are available to you. If you want to connect more, feel free to reach out to me!
Living On-Campus with an Invisible Illness
Vonversations
Volunteer involvement in organizations is the lifeblood of organizations around the world, as well as higher education. The term “time, talent, and treasure” are used regularly in higher education fund raising. Some people want to give financially, but others want to give their time and/or talent (perhaps due to lack of treasure). That’s how I got involved. As a new hall director making $16,000 a year (and that was a high salary at the time) and paying off student loans and attending grad school, I didn’t have the financial resources to give back to organizations. But I did have time and energy to give. I started as a committee member with ACUHO-I, since I lived in three regions in my first 6 years as a professional. Moving back to UMR-ACUHO, I was a known person to my colleague Lori Berquam, who insisted to UMR leadership that they place me on a committee. Stints on UMR’s Membership Committee, Program Committee, and Host Committee provided me leadership and connections that ultimately allowed me to successfully run for UMR President. Within ACUHO-I, my time on the Placement Committee and Journal Board, serving as faculty for NHTI and SHOI, all prepared me for a 6.56 ½ great years on the ACUHO-I Executive Board, culminating in my presidency in 2020. I made many close friendships during that time and gave back to organizations who gave me opportunities to make a difference. I hope I left those organizations a little better than when I started. Volunteer involvement takes time and effort. It’s above and beyond one’s normal job responsibilities, which can extend to more than 40 hours a week. That work/volunteer balance became even more skewed during the pandemic. Over the past year plus, the pandemic has impacted how housing and residence life programs do business. With all the work we were doing on our home campuses, it was difficult to do much of anything else. Professional development funds were no longer available due to the amount of refunds provided by housing departments. Conferences went virtual. It was hard to gain a connection through these virtual conferences. Volunteer organizations have suffered as a result. We’ve seen this in UMR-ACUHO this year. This edition of Vonversations shares the experiences of former and current UMR execs and committee chairs who chose to continue volunteering even when it was difficult to keep all the balls in the air. In spite of COVID they have continued to give back to the region through serving in volunteer roles and even extending their commitment to the region. There are still volunteer leadership opportunities in UMR-ACUHO; perhaps after reading this you might be inspired to fill one of those vacancies. The following people are part of this Vonversation: Matt Allbright (he/him/his): University of Nebraska at Kearney; Matt serves on UMR Executive Board; on his campus serves on the Employee Recognition Committee. Emily Butts (she/her/hers),:St. Olaf College, Area Coordinator. Emily serves as UMR Communications Committee member. Rick Cazzato Jr. (he/him/his): Washington University in St. Louis Residential College Director; he serves on the UMR-ACUHO Membership Involvement Committee. Griselda Feliciano (she/her/hers): Carthage College, Interim Director of Residential Life/ Assistant Director of Residential Life. Her only current involvement is UMR as one of the Co-Chairs for the Social Justice Committee. Leandra Jenkins (she/her/hers): University of Iowa, Coordinator for Leadership, Residence Education. Leandra is the current UMR VP-President Elect. Michelle Madsen (she/her/hers): Missouri State University, Hall Director; she currently serves UMR-ACUHO as UMR Secretary. Chloé Smith (she/her/hers): University of Nebraska at Omaha, Assistant Director for Residence Life and Conduct. Chloé currently serves as the AIM Committee Chair. Terry Tumbarello (he/him/his): University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Director of Residence Life. Terry’s volunteer opportunities include currently serving as the Vice-Chair to Academic Staff Assembly on his campus. He also served as past-President of UMR-ACUHO and led the Sponsors & Exhibits Committee. He recently completed a year as chair of the Public Policy & Advisory Committee for ACUHO-I. Q: What’s your story on how and why you first got involved professionally? Terry: Like most of us in the field, I went to undergrad not having any idea that this was a career option. However, I became involved early my first-year in hall council. Soon I started to become interested in being an RA and when I became an RA I started to become interested in being an Assistant Hall Director, etc. I have continued in the profession because I can honestly say that every single job I have had in Housing and Residence Life has been the best job I have ever had (except for that one summer they made me the Linen Coordinator for Camps and Conferences..) Emily: I've been part of the UMR region for four years now, but last year was my first year on a UMR Committee. I was eager to invest more into the field after I attended RELI in 2019. I also had several colleagues on UMR committees who all had a great experience. I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn more about housing, meet new people, and give back to an organization I value so much. Turns out, I was right! Rick: I first got involved with UMR-ACUHO because one of my mentors, Megan Swingle, told me how impactful it had been for her. Megan brought me along with her to my first UMR-ACUHO Conference in 2016. At the conference I was able to attend the conference connection lunch where my assigned connection really solidified for me that UMR-ACUHO is a place where we take care of each other and want to help everyone grow. Since then it has kept me coming back and staying involved. Michelle: During graduate school, I was part of the MOCPA planning committee. When I became a hall director, my supervisor was involved with UMR through committee involvement and encouraged me to join as well. I attended my first UMR in the fall of 2016, and really enjoyed my experience there, so I applied for a committee. That year I served on the AIM Committee, where I continued to serve for three years. Last year, I served on MIC, and was encouraged to run for Secretary for this year! Matt: I started getting involved in professional organizations as an undergraduate student. I had an academic advisor/professor who advocated for students to get involved in our state association. She would always make sure we had transportation to the state meetings and conferences so we could attend. As a graduate student and even into my full time position, I have always had supervisors who have stressed the importance of attending conferences and making sure there was some sort of funding available for us to attend conferences and events. Chloé: Honestly, it was a bit accidental. We had someone transition out of our housing department right as I was coming in during the year that UNO and UNL co-hosted the annual conference. Our team member who transitioned out was on the conference planning team, and my supervisor asked if I’d like to try out that role. I figured it might be fun to get to know some new folks since I’d never been involved with UMR, and I’ve been involved since then! Leandra: I first got involved with UMR in graduate school at my supervisor’s insistence/gentle force (insert laughter). Since a friend of mine was already involved, I followed her around the conference to learn more about the experience and quickly fell in love with the organization and the people. Griselda: I first got involved professionally in graduate school. I had the opportunity to attend monthly CASCHA, Chicago Area Student and Campus Housing Association, meetings, and the GLACUHO conference. While I loved attending and learning new things I didn't really get involved in an association until coming back to the UMR region. In my first role as a full time professional at the University of Wisconsin Parkside I was encouraged to get involved by the director at the time. I went to my first conference and didn't really feel connected. After leaving the region and coming back to work at Carthage College, I wanted to meet people in the region, and get connected. I attended the conference my first year back in the region, and applied to be on a committee. Working in an entirely white office after having been at a large institution with a lot of diversity felt very isolating, and UMR allowed me to connect with other professionals of color. It was great to finally feel seen and find a community where I belonged. Q: How has your involvement benefited you as a professional? Leandra: The greatest benefit I’ve received is building relationships with others. I’m a person who’s pretty self-sufficient but my involvement has taught me that to thrive professionally I need to connect well with others. I’ve grown in networking, asking and answering questions and overall being able to make room for myself and others at tables that matter most to student experience. Terry: I think especially for someone like me, who has made the decision to remain at one campus for the vast majority of my career, being involved in associations such as UMR-ACUHO has benefitted me to stay current and knowledgeable in what other campuses are doing. It has also allowed me to build a very strong and diverse collegial network to call on whenever I need to bounce something off of someone outside of my campus. These connections have also benefited my staff when they have been job searching. Ultimately I think all of those reasons have a positive, residual impact on our students. Chloé: I think this is two-fold for me: relationships and learning. I enjoy getting to know others in the region. UNO is pretty small, so it is nice to have a ready-made opportunity to meet professionals from all over and see how they do various residence life/housing functions. Secondly, I learn so much from all of the members of UMR that I interact with. Every person has such a unique knowledge base that I’m always learning a different way to consider a policy, a new assessment strategy, and more. Emily: My committee involvement has given me more of a sense of ownership about what was happening throughout UMR. I feel a greater sense of belonging within the region and it has made my relationship with UMR feel much more two-sided. Especially because of the work we achieve together, I'm better-connected with the many talented professionals around me to be able to look to them for support or advice. Michelle: Through my involvement with UMR, I have been able to build connections with several folx around the region. This networking opportunity has allowed me to gather thoughts and ideas from other institutions, and has allowed me to grow as a professional. I have enjoyed the opportunities I have been fortunate to seek out through UMR, such as RELI, participating in webinars which have helped me learn more about different topics impacting the field, and learning knowledgeable information at the annual conference to bring back to my institution. Rick: As a new professional I am continuing to figure out what in student affairs I want to do long term. Being able to connect with professionals from across the region has allowed me to understand different types of roles and experiences so that I can begin thinking about where I want my professional journey to go. In addition it has allowed me to further capitalize on my strengths and further build skills that I have identified as areas of growth. The members of UMR allow me to bring my whole self to the table. Q: How, if any, was your professional involvement impacted by COVID-19? Emily: So much of my professional involvement felt more accessible in a virtual environment. The new norm of virtual meetings, especially in place of traveling for meetings, was really helpful in making my involvement more regular and attainable. Rick: With everything going virtual, there has been more access than ever to professional development opportunities. This greater access has meant that I have been able to take advantage of more professional development experiences. However, I learn best in person where you can have organic conversations with colleagues between sessions and connect with people in ways that a virtual format could never do. So while I have gotten more involved, I have also felt more disconnected and sometimes unmotivated as I am not able to see how my work is positively impacting others in the same way I would have been able to before. Griselda: The connection piece is missing. Part of the joy in attending conferences or meetings is that it feels like coming home. You get to see your friends, and meet new people, and that part is missing. It is also difficult to be fully present in meetings or conferences when you're still in the office. My team is much more likely to knock on my door while I'm in a virtual meeting than they are to call me while I'm away at a conference. Leandra: Engagement went down everywhere due to COVID-19. My involvement changed slightly due to budget impacts. I had hopes and plans to get involved with some national leadership development opportunities but with COVID, I wasn’t able to do that as some of those opportunities aren’t run by higher education professionals and didn’t take into account budgets for non-large corporation individuals. Matt: Even with COVID-19, my institution has seen the importance of staying involved professionally. With organizations such as ACUHO-I offering Team Passes or the reduced registration opportunities, we have been able to capitalize and offer more opportunities for more staff to attend more of a variety of conferences. Chloé: COVID-19 certainly made it more challenging to stay involved, simply because of the new/changed workload that I’ve experienced. It’s something I’ve continued to want to be involved with; however, it’s been challenging to keep on top of my current workload, being a human, and trying to be involved in a professional organization. Q: How have you navigated involvement in a virtual environment? Rick: I often think we have a defeatist attitude when it comes to pivoting to involvement in a virtual environment. Yes it is more challenging when we are sitting on zoom nearly all day for almost all of our meetings, but we do have an opportunity to re-imagine and better meet the needs of more people. I think in a virtual format it is easy to over-commit and so I have tried to be intentional about choosing to invest my time in professional development opportunities that I want to see myself be involved in longer term. Michelle: I have been fortunate enough to be able to continue being involved within UMR throughout COVID-19. As in-person conferences have gone virtual, it allowed me to be able to participate in more conferences, or at least be able to participate in sessions offered through different conferences such as ACUHO-I Housing Facilities Conference and the ACUHO-I Academic Initiatives Conference. These opportunities have allowed me to gain more knowledge in other focus areas to help me decide where I would like my next steps in housing to be! Terry: Like a lot of things, you just have to find your niche, whatever works for you. For me, working virtually has several conveniences and flexibilities that I wouldn’t have if I was attending a physical location-based experience. This year, I wouldn’t be able to be involved with UMR if it wasn’t virtually. Ultimately though, I yearn for the time that we can all connect and work together again in-person. Matt: It has been harder to navigate the virtual environment. I am someone that enjoys asking questions and getting a variety of responses from others in the session. I have also enjoyed the personal interactions that happen before and after sessions or through evening activities. So not being able to have that interaction, I have really had to rely on the personal touches that the presenters put into their presentations. Having the virtual events has also been beneficial because presenters are posting their presentations and I can save the chat fields so I can refer to the comments or responses for later. I have also found presenters have been more responsive to follow up questions/emails you may have. Chloé: A lot of navigating professional involvement in the virtual environment has been figuring out what the expectations are during virtual involvement opportunities for our regular workload. I would encourage every department to have a conversation about what that should look like because it makes it a lot more challenging to be involved and to truly be participatory when you aren’t sure if you are expected to be as on top of emails, phone calls, and random stop-ins as you normally are. Leandra: A total pivot was most important. My specific area is run by students, both doing the work and enjoying the fruits of said work. We as professionals have been at capacity with work and life, and our students are overflowing in capacity to do all of the “normal” engagement opportunities and their workload, and their living, and etc. What was most important to me during this pivot was the reminder that we will need to function when things go back to in-person, AND students deserve the leadership education experience (whether or not they saw it immediately, this pandemic has been the ideal teacher of leadership in a crisis). With that mindset, we didn’t stop offering opportunities, we adapted to become more flexible and accommodating. Griselda: I've tried to stay involved and connected. It has been difficult this year as demands on my time have increased at my home institution, and the zoom fatigue starts to set in, but I've tried to set time aside for my involvement and professional development. Q: Tell me about a student involvement success story you were part of (before or during COVID)? Griselda: My first year at Carthage I had a senior, Megan, who had been a part of our Residence Life Council since her freshman year. She was serving as the secretary of the organization and you could simply tell she had a love for the organization. She was timid but she was hardworking and dedicated. During the first month of the fall semester, the vice president of the organization resigned. I pulled Megan into my office and asked her if she would be interested in running for the VP position. She gave several excuses, all which amounted to her not feeling like she could do it. I told her that I couldn't think of a better fit for the role. I explained that when I looked at her I saw a leader who was dedicated to the organization. The smile on her face was huge as she asked if I really thought she would be good at it. She ran for VP of the organization and won. She helped to transition our new secretary who ended up serving in the role the next year too. Megan really just needed someone to tell her she was a leader so that she could see herself that way too. She did a lot to build the organization and increase our involvement within GLACURH. Emily: When our campus emptied very suddenly in spring of 2020, students who still needed to stay on campus felt isolated and forgotten. One student in particular, already feeling quite removed from their regular circles of support, felt very alone in observing Ramadan. I was able to connect them with other Muslim students on campus who they hadn't already met. For weeks after, I saw them often with their newfound group of friends, who spent lots of time in campus kitchens breaking their fast together. I was glad I could be a liaison for this student, whose demeanor changed drastically once they had connected with a new pocket of community on our campus. During COVID, it's been so important for me to celebrate small victories as they come. This connection was definitely one of those small victories to celebrate. Michelle: I think my favorite one revolves around a student who was very much set on dropping out of school and moving back home as he was homesick and did not want to be away from his family. Through our daily conversations and attending several student organizational meetings together over the first several weeks of the semester, the student finally found his place and was excited to be at the university. We would talk daily about the types of things he was interested in, what he was hoping to get out of being at the university, and talking about the successes and milestones he had already made while he was there. These milestones were as small as being there for “x” number of days, or meeting a new resident and going to dinner with them in the dining center. By looking at the accomplishments he had made, he was able to start seeing himself staying just a little bit longer. When we made it to finals week, he was grateful for all of our conversations and for me helping and encouraging him to stay as he was loving his college experience now. Today, he is preparing to enter into his senior year here and is very involved in several organizations and serving on a couple different executive boards. It makes me happy to see that he is still here and being successful in his academic career, when knowing that in the beginning, he almost didn’t make it past the first day of school. Chloé: I think one of my favorite student involvement successes has been the MACURH Regional Business Conference that UNO hosted in 2020. I had been an advisor for about three years prior to that, and each year, I had a group of students that would get very excited about potentially hosting the Regional Business Conference. Every year, I would let them know what they would be required to do and help push them to start the process, but eventually it would lose steam. At the Regional Business Conference in 2019, they successfully bid for the conference, and we were set to host in 2020. I’ve never seen a group work so hard to make every single promise that they made to the group come true. They all worked so hard to make the conference a positive experience for everyone involved, and they got incredibly close doing so. This all happened right before COVID hit, so it’s always a bit interesting to think back on how a few weeks could have changed everything. Leandra: I’ve been working with a student for two years now and he’s applied to be an RA since his freshman year of college (he will now be entering his senior year). Working with him has been a delight but being able to mentor him in how to navigate the politics of life without dimming his light and values has been a joy to watch. He finally got an RA job and we’ve discussed on several occasions how he can bring what he’s learned and done in his various roles to that role and the importance of keeping his values at the forefront while helping others through their journeys. His involvement has impacted so many areas on our campus and I look forward to seeing him continue! Terry: Recently I was able to assist a student who wasn’t navigating our campus virtually successfully and was at the point that they were looking to just give up, go back home and resume their education at a community college at some point. Within three minutes of talking to this student it was clear to me that they really wanted to remain on campus, but just wasn’t connecting with their peers, and wasn’t as technologically savvy as most of today’s college students. Because of this, they weren’t having a good experience in our current delivery of classroom modalities, etc. I was able to connect the student with someone in academics who was able to switch a couple of their classes to a face-to-face section and worked with the hall staff to get them connected to their peers. The student is doing better and planning on returning to the residence halls in the fall. Q: What do you think involvement (student and professional) might be different in a post-COVID world? Matt: As institutions start to welcome students back to campus or see their budgets get back to where they were before COVID-19, institutions may not be able to send professionals or students to conferences right away. And so having virtual opportunities may still need to be available so professionals can take part in professional development opportunities. I hear from others that they are ready to see other professionals in person and I share the same sentiment. Rick: In general I see more conferences and opportunities being offered exclusively online to allow for greater access to both students and professionals. I also imagine more opportunities being offered in-person in smaller groups to have a more individualized approach and a greater opportunity for relationship-building to occur within a close-knit community. Leandra: I’m hoping for continued intentionality behind our actions. COVID has been rough, yes, but we’ve learned that some pieces can and should (in my opinion) be very different than how we’ve been functioning. We are doing better at actually listening to student needs and that shouldn’t stop. Units are doing better at communicating with one another to better assist students in their success at the institution and I hope we don’t forget that togetherness once things get back to a different type of hectic. Michelle: I believe post-COVID, there will be some expectations from folx to have opportunities to participate in conferences, meetings, etc. virtually, in addition to in person. Virtually does have some pros such as at times being more accommodating for those who are unable to travel. However, I still believe there are benefits to having in person meetings, as it brings about a different type of positive vibes when you are able to connect with others in person vs. over a screen. Terry: I think we have all learned that we can accomplish many tasks and roles virtually, and when it isn’t practical to do something in person it is a great solution. I think there will be some who have preferences on both ends of the continuum and we may have to learn to navigate that. Griselda: I think in-person conferences will look different for a long time. People and institutions are wary of travel. Institutions are cutting professional development budgets to make up for losses due to COVID. I also think many of us dealt with or witnessed furloughs and staff reductions. I think this could discourage some people from using their own personal funds. Chloé: I’m hopeful that the post-COVID world will take away some of the lessons that we’ve learned throughout this experience. I think the COVID world that we’re living in has shown us that we do need to provide more opportunities for individuals to engage virtually, and I think this has helped us learn how to better do that in the future. Terry ended his Vonversation with a great comment. He noted, “UMR-ACUHO involvement is like many things, you get out of it what you put into it. Give it 110% and it will pay dividends.” I couldn’t agree more. This group of professionals knew that it wouldn’t be easy to navigate COVID, their job, their volunteer responsibilities, and their family/social network. But that didn’t stop them. If reading this inspires you to consider volunteering for a role in UMR-ACUHO or on your home campus, do it. I’ve never regretted my involvement in whatever I’ve chosen to give my time, talent, and treasure; I’m confident you will feel the same way. UMR-ACUHO welcomes all levels of professionals, from graduate students to senior housing officers, to apply and to serve on committees. Please sign-in to your UMR profile from the UMR-ACUHO home page to access the application. Make a difference in your region!
"It is important to make sure your campus is accessible to everyone."
Facilitated By: Von Stange Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Senior Director of University Housing & Dining at the University of Iowa
Griselda Feliciano Carthage College
Rick Cazzato Jr. Washington University in St. Louis
Michelle Madsen Missouri State University
Leandra Jenkins University of Iowa
Terry Tumbarello University of Wisconsin - Whitewater
Matt Allbright University of Nebraska - Kearney
Chloé Smith University of Nebraska at Omaha
Emily Butts St. Olaf College
