Talking Stick - November/December 2016 - 57

Talking Stick: Not to make too much
of a generalization, but do you think
there is a certain type of student that
chooses to attend a smaller college
or university? How does that affect
housing programming, services,
expectations, etc.?

Usama Shaikh: At SUNY Old
Westbury, the majority of our students
want the experience of living on
campus without going too far away
from home. The majority of our
students in housing are traditionally
underrepresented students, which
contributes to the diversity of the
experience for all. More broadly,
I believe, students who attend
smaller institutions do so as they are
looking for a more intimate setting
where they can get to know other
community members, faculty, and
staff. Based on our student needs, a lot
of our attention is given to academic
support, faculty in the residence halls,
career readiness initiatives, and other
forms of community engagement.
Heidi Anderson-Isaacson: Gosh, I
can't even begin to generalize here. We
have a variety of students, from those
who identify as homeless, students
who are parents, graduate students,
traditional age, etc., so I can't really
come up with any certain type of
students. I would say our students
have high expectations for quality
services and programs at an affordable
price. They are frugal and do not like
to see us waste our resources.
Mandy Whitten: We ask students
why they chose USC Upstate. Many
of our respondents cite a desire to be
at a smaller school (usually at the top
of their list). Our nursing program is,
perhaps, the best in the state of South

Carolina, so that's another reason.
Students like feeling and being treated
like individuals. Staff and faculty
are quickly able to learn names. Our
size is not intimidating to students,
and I think it's a selling point for the
university.
Given our size, and I'm biased
as the director, I think we do a really
great job of trying to provide services.
However, we can't ignore that we are
smaller, and in no way do we have the
resources of a larger school. I think
our programming and the amount of
programming our staff hosts each year
is astounding. Last year our resident
advisor staff hosted more than 200
programs (we have a total of 24 RAs).
Having come to Upstate from a large
R1 (doctoral university with highest
research activity), I am incredibly
impressed with the scale of our
programming and the quality.
We have our own maintenance/
custodial team. This is one area where
we really pale when compared to a
large institution. In my ideal world,
we would have a first and second shift.
We would also have more than one
full-time custodian. My maintenance/
custodial team consists of a custodial/
maintenance supervisor, two full-time
maintenance techs, one full-time
custodian, a part-time custodian, and
two to three student employees. In
the summer, we spend a great deal
of resources on hiring temporary
contract labor. I would love to be able
to assign a full-time technician to each
community, with a student helper,
and a custodian to each community,
leaving the supervisor to handle more
administrative duties, including
building us a facility refreshment
schedule.

John Lauer: We have three traditional
residence halls that house first- and

second-year students in 800 plus
beds. When the new project comes on
line in July, we will have just over 450
small house beds that are in buildings
housing 8-76 students, and more
than 400 apartments. We have 24
senior cottage beds in small cottage
homes that have been renovated. Our
students are attracted to us in large
part due to our block plan. Students
take one class at a time for three and
a half weeks and then get a four-day
block break. Students are in class five
days a week for three-plus hours. We
also draw students due to our location
in the Rocky Mountain West. Most
of our peer schools are either on the
coast or in the Midwest. We are a top25 liberal arts college with more than
half of our students being full-pay, so
expectations are very high for all.

Heather Schneller: We are a
destination campus for those wanting
to go into the health field, because we
are home to the state's flagship public
medical school and only dental school.
We have a spectrum of students we
serve within our housing program,
and we try our best to meet their
particular need or expectation. We
are intentional in our programming
efforts to address the needs of those
undergraduate students majoring
outside of the health field. However,
we also have a need to provide
opportunities for our graduate and
professional students.
TS: Changes to the Fair Labor
Standards Act is obviously a topic that
is on everyone's mind these days. As
a smaller housing operation, what
specific challenges are you facing
related to FLSA?

Anderson-Isaacson: Moving our

NOVEMBER + DECEMBER 2016

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Talking Stick - November/December 2016

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