Source: Javell Sheppard
A town hall meeting was hosted on Oct. 26 to discuss the restructuring changes made to Campus Life and Student Life that led to staff layoffs.
The town hall meeting also served as a way for students to voice their concerns regarding the changes that would come as a result of the restructuring and loss of staff members.
Interim President Rebecca Sherrick, Ph.D., began the town hall meeting by acknowledging the importance of sitting, talking, and answering questions and concerns that students have. She noted that the firing of staff members was purely related to restructuring, emphasizing that it had nothing to do with their performance in the positions.
Survey responses over the years have indicated that students do not feel that Saint Xavier is invested enough in their success. Sherrick voiced that those concerns were largely in the areas of academic advising and career advising.
As a result, the university is trying to shift its resources to “get students the services they said they needed”, as Sherrick stated at the town hall meeting.
Attendees raised concern about where the responsibilities of the laid off staff members would fall, to which Sherrick responded that the university was going to hire more personnel and Vice President of Student Life Katy Thompson would speak more about it.
There are five new positions being created, four of which will be coordinators and one of which being a student development specialist.
An internship coordinator was recently hired to find internship opportunities for students in accordance with the desires highlighted by student survey responses.
Thompson voiced that there is no deadline for these positions to be filled by and that it will take time to fill the new positions.
The mention of hiring staff members raised the question of whether or not students would be involved in the hiring process, to which it was reassured that they would be.
Student attendees, such as Arlene Silva, Vice President of the Student Government Association(SGA), voiced that they would like to see more Spanish-speaking staff and African American staff fill these positions.
Thompson said that the restructuring does not eliminate student leaders, but it reorganizes them to create synergy. Student leaders would report to one person and would focus on skills that develop the needs of the student rather than the needs of the university.
Silva raised the concern of how this would affect the dynamic of the Student Organization Center between SGA and Student Activities Board(SAB) advising. Thompson responded that Keith O’Neill, the Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator, is officially advising SGA and Kennedy Adams, Graduate Assistant of Campus Life, would remain as the advisor for SAB.
Thompson clarified that Karen Salgado, the Student Life Administrative Coordinator, will be handling the immediate needs of RSOs such as the rebooking of a room for a Student Nurses Association(SNA) meeting, in the meantime.
Sherrick stressed that the laying off of two staff members was not ideal, but four months had been spent trying to find an alternative way to fund this realignment of resources.
Vice President of Success and Inclusion Natalie Page, EdD, spoke regarding the enhancement of the university.
Page reiterated during the town hall that student concerns led to the restructuring of the university. The town hall followed an Emerging Scholars meeting held on Oct. 24, where attendees raised concerns over the layoff of staff members.
“Students wanted an understanding of the restructure and expressed their concerns over this restructure. They wanted a forum to ask questions” stated Page in the follow-up.
Academic advising was highlighted as an issue multiple times throughout the meeting. Sherrick noted during the town hall that what students deemed as most important was safety, good advising, strong academic programs, and career advising.
She stated that there are consultants with recommendations on how to enhance the university working with Josh Bogaski-Baugh, M.S., and Alison Chandler, M.S., to implement these fixes.
On Oct. 25 and Oct. 26 National Academic Advising Association(NACDA) consultants “came to campus to review our current advising model. Their goal was to conduct a detailed needs analysis by reviewing our present advising model with a follow-up recommendation. They met with pertinent staff, faculty, and students to obtain a comprehensive understanding of our current model. We will receive their recommendations some time in November” Page stated in a follow-up.
At the beginning of the town hall meeting, Sherrick had expressed that she had seen both good things at the university and things that were out of date. She clarified that the out of date aspect was that the university was not doing enough for its commuter students.
Sherrick highlighted that the university had been allocating more resources to housing than it was to commuter students, so the university is trying to align its resources with the students it serves.
As of the fall 2022 semester, only 15% of undergraduate students lived on campus out of the 2,987 enrolled at the university.
The restructuring of the university aligns Saint Xavier with other colleges and helps the university to be more student focused.
Sherrick rounded out the town hall meeting by stressing that she does not have all the answers. She emphasized that her door is always open, and that the attendees’ decision to come, talk, and be candid meant a lot, and she would not forget that.