Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 3 - 91

Supervision as a Liberatory Practice
who worked at a midsize private Predominantly White Institution in the South. Both
participants had similar roles supervising student staff and developing community
within their residence halls, and both had White supervisors.
After this narrative, we outline what we believe are core concepts and principles
related to liberatory supervisory practices and then provide discussion questions to
elicit reflection.
A STORY OF TWO SUPERVISION EXPERIENCES
During a conference for residence life professionals, Kimberly, a fourth-year RHD, was
meeting up with her friend, Lena, a third-year RHD. They had met the year before at
the same conference during a meet-up of early-career Black women working in residence
life. Since then, they had exchanged text messages and several phone calls, but
they were excited to discuss their experiences in person. After finding a quiet place to
sit, Kimberly asked Lena how things were going with her supervisor. Lena enthusiastically
said her supervisor, Jill, a White woman, " is fire " and " she gave me a lot of that
energy. " When asked how that supportive relationship developed, Lena responded,
It was something that was so organic because of the type of person she is. Like she really
went into our relationship. And I give her a whole lot of credit, child, because she [said],
" Oh, you are a person-person. I care about that aspect of you. And that aspect of you
is going to bleed directly into how you do this role. So, I want to support you in that
first and then see how you show up in this. " So, it was super easy for us to set up those
expectations [of support].
Kimberly explained that her experience was much different and shared a story
about a time during the pandemic when her supervisor, Tim, a White man, humiliated
her in front of her colleagues. She had been dealing with a difficult situation in which a
group of students were objecting to getting a new roommate though they had an open
space in their room. Kimberly called Tim for support, but he sent her call to voicemail,
ignoring her request for help. As she recalled,
So, I went to staff meeting [later that day] and I was fine. I made a comment and [Tim]
flipped out. He was like " Kimberly, you're just not in a good mood and you're just taking
out all of your anger on this [issue], and you can leave the meeting " . . . I left the Zoom and
I cried even more because nobody knew that I had the interaction . . . beforehand, besides
him and our office manager. So now at this point you're publicly humiliating me in front of
all of my peers and my coworkers that have no idea what's going on.
New professionals report having more positive experiences
with supervisors who focus on relationship building
by encouraging personal and professional development,
providing appropriate levels of autonomy, and valuing
their prior experiences.
88 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of College & University Student Housing Volume 50, No. 3