By Staff
Like a crew chartering a ship across the Atlantic, the administration at the University has decided that an “all hands on deck” approach is what is needed to navigate students through their four years of college.
At a campus where students have described the administration as being “detached” from its students, according to survey responses featured in college guides, and frequently joke about being on the five or six-year plan, the new vice president of Student Affairs, Sandra Johnson may be just what the University needs to bridge the gap between the students and the suits who make all the decisions.
At this week’s Student Government Association meeting, Johnson introduced the changes – some which are in their infancy and others that will be complete by June – to shift the focus of departments within the division of Student Affairs to be more student-centered. Collaboration and personalization seem to be the themes of Johnson’s new plan to reshape the Hofstra experience. The Advisement Office is set to incur the most significant changes. Whereas in the past, students would only be assigned a faculty adviser within the major they have declared, each student will also have their own dean in the Advisement Office. Generally-speaking, Johnson said the average advisement dean will have about 460 students to cater to (slightly more than what the national average ratio for college advisement which is 1 to 300). These new advisers will be housed within the office of Advisement, which will be opening two more locations in addition to its current office in Memorial Hall. These changes are intended to make advisers more accessible and also to compensate for the fact that many faculty advisers are limited in their knowledge of courses and University programs outside their specialty. Under the new plan, all underclassmen (excluding rising seniors) and incoming freshmen will be assigned a dean in Advisement that will be responsible for catering to their assigned students’ needs from now until the day they walk away with a diploma. Johnson says students are not required to meet with their supplementary adviser, just as they do not have to meet with their faculty adviser now if they do not wish to. However, if they do have a question, they no longer have to chase their faculty adviser down or wait around in the Advisement Office like they were trying to renew their license at the DMV. They will no longer have to be passed around from whatever adviser is available that day or worse, never see anyone at all. “Students will leave Hofstra with no less than two people who know them – your faculty adviser and your dean,” Johnson says.What students may find even more promising, (judging from the excited gasps that this news generated among students in attendance at Tuesday night’s presentation), is that every student who is receiving financial aid will be assigned a financial aid counselor and all students will be given a personal contact in the office of Student Accounts. Yes, when there is an error on your tuition bill or if your scholarship mysteriously disappears despite your astounding G.P.A., you will have a name of a person who is responsible for dealing with any problems you may encounter. No longer will you have to take a number and wait to speak to whoever will listen. You’ll be more than just a 700 number, this small group of people will know your name. They’ll be your entourage, your team of experts all working toward you having a positive experience.This project has and will continue to require a tremendous amount of work – from the initial research to gather student and faculty opinions to now restructuring and redefining the mission of each department – and students should definitely take advantage of these new services.The changes implemented through the “Focus on Students” plan go beyond advancement, encompassing Residential Life, Judicial Affairs, Student Activities, Commuter Affairs, New Student Support Services and more.
Johnson says that the division of Student Affairs will have to “rewrite every job description of almost every staff member,” however, what has not been discussed is whether some current employees will be written out of the picture. So far, Johnson said that many employees have been relocated to different offices and assigned new titles and responsibilities, but no terminations have been announced. However, student employees within the Office of Residential Life, where Johnson says more professionals will be hired, are already expressing concern that these new, more qualified staff members will replace them. It is not the intention of this paper to cause alarm to students within Res Life or to make accusations, but to merely ask those who are overseeing this project to not dismiss those who have dedicated their time and efforts to this University, and whose incomes rely on the compensation that their job here provides, especially student employees.
It is difficult to assess this plan without seeing it in action, but it seems to have great potential. Johnson not only seems committed to this project, but judging from her interactions with students – including inviting them to dinners at her house to hear their opinions and offering to “grab coffee one day and talk” – she seems to embody the message of this “Focus on Students” plan. As she says, her “door is always open,” and with her at the helm, students have an ally in the administration and the future of this campus seems a bit brighter.
