Talking Stick - November/December 2018 - 51

beyond what often are considered
key issues, including service and
support animals or gender-inclusive housing. Luskin notes, for example, that housing leaders ought
to be acutely aware of the needs of
students who have full or part-time
custody of a minor. "To say that
because you have a child, you can't
live in the residence halls, or you
must live in this specific accommodation, is very similar to the stance
that students can't live in the halls
with an assistance animal because
of a no pet policy," he explains. "In
2016, the Supreme Court ruled
against disparate impact; while
you're not trying to discriminate,
your policies are essentially doing
so." Responding to competing and
ever evolving priorities requires a
certain nimbleness and flexibility.
"Keeping abreast of the political
climate, particularly at a public institution, helps me decide what initiatives to bring forward and which
ones aren't wise to bring forward at
a certain time," Kennedy says. "Other
issues are mandates - for example,
emotional support animals or changes
in the Fair Labor Standards Act - and
rather than spend time bemoaning
the changes, I think as a profession,
we always do better to spend our time
finding solutions to the issues that
arise."

Institutional Values and
Identity
Even by itself, maximizing occupancy
can be a challenge. It's not merely a
matter of placing x number of students into y number of rooms. There
is a full menu of additional questions
that need to be considered: What is
the male-to-female ratio? Does the
campus offer gender-inclusive housing? Is a building offline for renovations? Is specific space needed to
accommodate a living-learning com-

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munity, accessible housing units, or
therapy animals? When something as
intangible as an educational mission
gets added to the incredibly tangible
space constraints that already exist,
the new dimension can feel daunting.
But it doesn't have to.
MarQuita Barker, director of residence life at Elon University in North
Carolina, explains that she has seen
how her program's embracing of the
university identity has allowed it to
more fully realize its occupancy goals.
Utilizing its institutional sense-of-self
as a foundation upon which to build
its strategy has helped direct what
could otherwise have been difficult decisions. "Elon's competitive advantage
is that we know who we are," she says.
"We are a mid-sized private institution focused on student engagement,
engaged learning, and the liberal arts.
There are a substantial number of colleges and universities in our immediate area, but what you will get at Elon,
you won't find up the road." Accord-

ingly, Elon's focus is on building and
retrofitting residence halls that provide
students with classrooms, places to
meet with faculty, and engagement
space beyond lounges, even if that
means scaling back revenue-generating space. "We used to build what
everyone else built. We're in a very
good place, and it's because now we're
creating residential spaces that align
with who we are."
Similarly, at Tulane University in
New Orleans, Louisiana, the university mission and housing's occupancy
goals complement each other, though
this connection manifests more
through programs than the physical
space. Tim Lempfert, director of housing and residence life, explains how
"institutionally, we've taken the strong
stance that the residential environment on campus is the perfect way to
achieve" a vision focused on cultivating socially responsible communities
that support students in their learning,
growth, and development while achiev-

NOVEMBER + DECEMBER 2018

Talking Stick - November/December 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - November/December 2018