Author: Sarah Spinuzzi
The Residential Education and Housing Services department recently purchased six iPads for its staff, a fact confirmed by Assistant Dean Tim Chang. Although the purchase was confirmed, the reasoning behind the acquisition has not been explained. At a retail cost of 499 dollars per iPad, the department spent approximately 3,000 dollars. Despite the prevailing sense of student discontent, it seems as though the department is being rewarded. The problem with ResEd is not simply the fact that they waste copious amounts of money on iPads and balloon artists but also that there is a lack of oversight with respect to the department’s activities.
Instead of using funds to purchase iPads, resources and time should have been used to design a student evaluation process for ResEd staff that would make the department more accountable for poorly designed and executed policies.
Evaluations would be simple. When students turn in their room condition reports, on which room damages are listed, students could also submit a housing satisfaction evaluation. ResEd Staff could be evaluated based on their respective duties. Students could rate the success of ResEd policies and their satisfaction with staff members. ResEd needs to be held accountable to students for their actions and policy decisions. Implementing an evaluation system would be a meaningful step toward addressing student concerns and putting ResEd back in touch with the students it serves.
Another productive alternative would have been to put the funds toward the development of an electronic room draw process, in light of the past room draws which left many students without rooms.
Chang signs off on all ResEd decisions and only Dean Barbara Avery oversees his actions, which means there is no direct channel for students to weigh in on his decisions. In contrast, all professors receive bi-annual reviews from their students and professors seeking tenure face a much more thorough review. Both help to provide students with the highest quality academic experience. Deans in charge of student services should face reviews by students on a regular basis because they too play a significant role in determining the quality of the student experience at Occidental.
From alcohol policy to room draw procedure, ResEd has continued to implement unsuccessful policies and procedures that students downright loathe. ResEd’s failure to maintain an open discussion with students on a variety of issues has resulted in unnecessary and onerous burdens being placed on students.
One example of a failed policy is the manner in which ResEd handles room draw and financial aid. Since room draw and the housing decision deadline occur before financial aid letters are sent to students and their families, students are often stuck living on campus even if it is not the most economically sound decision.
Following the announcement that financial aid packages would be reduced if students moved off campus, many students were left with no choice except to continue living in the dorms, despite the fact that off campus housing often costs less. Unless the iPad has an application for fixing bad residential policies, this waste of resources is downright disrespectful.
The ResEd staff seems to be pretty close. They all eat lunch together and can be spotted walking around campus together, which would normally reflect a positive and collaborative work environment.
However, in light of their highly unpopular and failed policies, this behavior indicates that the department has become insular and aloof. Expanding oversight of the department with a thorough evaluation system would help to restore student faith in ResEd and provide a better on-campus residential experience.
This process will clearly take time to implement, but the sooner ResEd makes a commitment to openness, the better the residential experience will be. However, purchasing iPads will make no substantive changes to the quality of student life and is simply a waste of precious resources.
Sarah Spinuzzi is a senior philosophy major. She can be reached at spinuzzi@oxy.edu.
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