By Kajal Gheewala

Vice President of Student Affairs Sandra Johnson’s new campaign for an improved student experience entitled “Focus on Students” will not only alter the goals and structures of offices under Student Affairs, but it will also shift the type of employees hired by the University.

Hofstra currently employs graduate students to work as resident directors of on-campus housing, but soon, student workers will be replaced with paid, full time professionals, whose main job will be to help resident students better their on campus experience at all hours of the day.

“We will still be keeping graduate students on staff in Student Affairs but there will be less of them in this particular department,” said Johnson.

Given the minimal number of these training positions available, Johnson also included that there are many departments within Student Affairs where graduate students could find a job. The interview and placing process would remain the same, as would the current compensation for these jobs.

“Within Residential Life, graduate students will become assistant resident directors, a similar job to what they hold now but will also be trained for jobs within a Student Affairs office,” Johnson said.

Residential students living in honors-based housing like Liberty/Republic Hall, where professional resident directors are currently employed, exhibited higher on-campus satisfaction ratings than in any other dormitory, according to Johnson.

“When there is a professional whose job it is to help students, it yields a more robust program,” Johnson said. She added that graduate students often have their own classes and school work which take precedent over being available to residents at all hours every day.

The new professional directors would also live on campus for optimum performance, replacing graduate students in the apartments of each building. According to Johnson, this new program would lead to a “great oversight of the entire residential program” and would alloy the University to better assist students with their needs. However, resident directors were specifically instructed by Residential Life not to be interviewed on the “Focus on Students” campaign by reporters.