SEAHO Report - Summer 2023 - 21

* Move in
* Spring break closing
* Spring closing/graduation
The above, loose calendar of Housing is consistent across institutions. The MO, at least in my
experience, is waiting until we get closer to these events to truly start talking and planning for them.
This can be very stressful for those who are physically opening and closing the halls. Let's take time
to be intentional about planning things in advance. We need to add in time to make our grads
better understand what we do and why. Without the educational context or further education, this
might be their first calendar year outside of their own undergraduate experience.
Something else important to recognize about the above list is the who, where and when to ask
questions. There are a lot of unknowns when we are planning out a semester or academic year.
After establishing who one's direct supervisor is, we should also take time to introduce housing
grads to everyone in the office, linking a name to a role and a role to their responsibilities. It is not
enough to just provide an org chart and hope for the best. We need to explain that this person's title
is this and they are responsible for this. This way, we minimize confusion and rabbit holes without
overtaxing our graduate students. For example, I have a colleague in the office I would refer to as
" big money " as she helped our Director track and maintain the overall departmental budgets- those
budgets that make decisions about contractors, construction and building maintenance. I had a
different colleague, I would note as " little money " as they were responsible for the RA and building
programming budgets and office supplies. Taking the time and explaining who is physically on
the org chart and what they do, goes a long way in avoiding miscommunications or unintentional
anxiety.
Roommate Conflicts
It is important to add in the caveat that most roommate conflicts will not make sense to the outside
observer, even less so to the grad student trying to help mediate. As most of us know, roommate
conflicts often come as a result of someone or everyone feeling unheard and unseen. As hard as we
try to match roommates to the best of our ability- or encourage positive communication skills - there
will always be conflict in the residence halls. Our HE/SA grad students get to learn about why for
conflict, or growth/development theories; but our Public Policy, or Computer Science grads just do
not get the same classroom instruction on these topics. In our ongoing training efforts, we need to
be intentional when it comes to mediating or resolving conflict.
Duty
Similarly to roommate conflicts that do not tend to make sense, duty is a whole different theme park.
Grad students understand the logistical process of duty. It's what you do after you get the strange
calls that set HE/SA grads on a different path than our other grad students in Housing. Even if we
bring our grad students up to the same level of growth, development and understanding; we also
need to address the elephant in the room as to their program professors and leaders. Our Student
Development and Theory professor understands why we may have a duty phone, or that we could
get called out to support a student in crisis. Our non-Housing grads may not get the same level
of understanding, acceptance or support from their faculty. We cannot solely put the onus on the
student to explain it to all their professors, we as housing leadership must help advocate for all our
grad students, regardless as to what program they are in.
--
It would be bold to make a blanket statement that no institution of higher education is growing or
utilizing their non-HE/SA grads appropriately. Instead, I state that we can always do more work. We
can always look at where we have gone wrong and where we can do better. This is a call to reflect on
your own institution and experiences and change the path for those coming behind you.
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SEAHO Report - Summer 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Summer 2023