Unproductive personnel, bad policies and disastrous outcomes

Where one lives is a foremost component of their experiences in life; this is particularly important in colleges and universities like our imperfect but beloved CSB+SJU. In recent weeks, an outcry from students from both campuses has made two things clear: They are very unhappy, and one of the most important university offices has massively failed. I write today squarely on the side of all students who demand and deserve better service from both housing offices.

*The Lack of Professionalism and Communication:*

Sometimes I think it is easy to forget as students and even administration that we are paying adults receiving a service. Each student pays tens of thousands of dollars per year for tuition, room and board and other services. Being adults that incur such a high cost for a degree, it is only reasonable for us to have high expectations that often go unmet. It is a silly and unprofessional excuse from the housing office to claim that “receiving too many emails” is the reason they fail to respond. Could I ever walk into Student Accounts and say that paying too much for my education is the reason I have failed to pay this semester’s balance? Never. If CSB+SJU housing knows their processes have been complicated for several years, why not employ more competent and experienced individuals to create a more seamless system? Or at the very least, hire an assistant to answer a few emails from concerned students. The silly excuses coming out of these offices only add insult to injury.

*The Four-Year Residency Requirement: Building Community or Building the Treasury?*

During my campaign for reelection to the Senate, I have had the privilege to engage with students across all levels in all years. A rising point of contention is the four-year residency requirement. I will go on the record and say this: If students are contractually bound to live on campus, there should be a housing system that appropriately caters to demand. In my view, the attempt to reduce the number of students living off campus has proven to be massively unsuccessful; and those who implemented and promoted the idea of cutting down the off-campus living list should hang their head in embarrassment when considering the scale and proportion of this unnecessary housing disaster. As I spoke to my fellow constituents this week, I learned that there were senior Johnnies placed in sophomore housing residences—what will this mean for the rising sophomores like myself who register on Friday? The answer is simple: more confusion, more displeasure and more dissatisfaction. As a student leader, I write this publication with anger because I know that top university staff will certainly hear you. They may even agree, but when I ask, “So, what changes will be made in strategy, in outlook or sustainable action?” the conversation slows, and the standard line of “We’ll be in touch” is used. Nothing gets done, no problems ever get solved and the cycle of anger and frustration starts over.

Several things are clear to me. Unanswered emails and correspondence have no place in such an important university office. Consistently falling short of best professional practice and expectations of students has no place in such an important university office.

The work of beginning the dialogue to correct this issue needs to begin. Simply, the housing offices are a major letdown for too many in our community and such a failure of grand proportion, which I hope embarrasses leaders of the office who know the importance of their roles but share culpability in this matter. The paying Bennie and Johnnie scholars of this university deserve better—in fact, we demand better from the personnel in these offices in subsequent years.