If you’re a returning Smith student, you may have noticed some changes in the college’s Residence Life system. As students were informed in an email on August 26, the ResLife department has extensively restructured its staff and hierarchies in order to “better meet the needs of students and the communities they live in.” This notably involves a restructuring of student staff. Previously, traditional houses each had one Head Resident (HR) and one House Community Advisor (HCA). Now each house has two HCAs while HRs are in charge of several houses within each neighborhood. Additionally, the “areas of campus” have been shuffled and transformed into four “neighborhoods,” named for notable Smith features.
But what do these changes really mean for students, and how are they expected to impact campus climate? I spoke to Director of Residence Life Hannah Durrant to clear up some of the confusion.
“There was a need to look at the structure of our student staff and were we really meeting the needs of our students,” says Durrant. By ‘students,’ Durrant is referring to both residents and student ResLife staff. One of the major issues that the changes address is the former pay discrepancy between the HR and HCA positions. While previously there was a sizeable difference in compensation between the two roles despite similar workloads, the department has ensured that HCAs are now compensated more equitably. Additionally, student ResLife employees are eligible for returner bonuses.
In addition, due to a redistribution of Area Director responsibilities, the areas of campus have been restructured and renamed, much to the alarm of many Smith students; instead of “Upper Elm” or “Green Street,” we now have “Ivy,” “Garden,” “Paradise” and “Mountain.” The houses in these zones are no longer geographically grouped. The number of designated areas of campus has been reduced in order to accommodate for a shifting of responsibilities. Area Directors now have more houses to supervise but no additional projects, and now special-interest housing and Ada Comstock Scholar housing get their own directors within ResLife staff.
“The first year is always a little rocky,” Durrant acknowledged, but she has faith that the changes will benefit students — particularly those who may have previously felt unsupported by the ResLife system.
With the introduction of the new system, changes have also been made to the full-time staff positions within the department. The position of Associate Dean of Students, which previously was also the Director of Residence Life, is now its own position. Rolled into that position is another job that Durrant has dubbed the “Case Manager” – a role designed to support students who may have a difficult time navigating Smith and residential living. Despite the loss of a staff member, Durrant hopes that this new role will redistribute work in a way that will benefit the department while simultaneously providing greater support to students.
The introduction of affinity housing has also influenced the recent ResLife changes. With the introduction of Park Annex and Parsons Annex, Smith’s special-interest housing (which already included the two co-ops as well as substance-free housing) has grown enough to merit having its own overseer within the ResLife department. By having a separate director, the department hopes to provide special-interest housing with the increased support that they need as non-traditional residential communities. Ada Comstock housing now has its own dedicated director as well.
Granted, there have been mixed opinions from students. “I don’t entirely know what my job is,” one HR told me recently. The transition from being responsible for just one house to adopting a more distanced and managerial role in several has come with some confusion. Durrant says that the position’s description will likely evolve and become more concrete in the years to come. Additionally, student ResLife expressed the concern that Area Directors, given the increase in the number of houses they supervise, will be overextended – even with the decrease in responsibility for other projects that has come with the change. The changes, which began June 2018, will continue to roll out over the course of the year.
If students have questions about the changes, they can email Hannah Durrant at hdurrant@smith.edu.
