ACUHO-I News Blog

Editor’s Note: The January+February 2010 issue of the Talking Stick [coming soon] took at a look at residence hall programs geared toward junior and senior year students. The following is a continuation of that story.

One of the most beneficial outcomes of junior and senior programming is a final opportunity for students to connect with the college or university. The Alumni Association at Bard College is an important part of the Senior Year Experience Web site, which includes information on events, networking, and getting involved. “We’re trying to get them thinking that soon they’ll be alumni,” says Erin Cannon, dean of students. “The Alumni Association reminds them of the opportunities that they can take advantage of so they know that we aren’t just sending them off and don’t really care about them.”

The University of Connecticut’s “Young Alumni” section on the STEP Web site has the same goal. Dan Doerr, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, notes that junior/senior programming is not only beneficial for individual student success, but it also helps to achieve the institutional goal of having an active population of alumni: “It is important for students to have strong alumni relations.  Including the Alumni Association and creating a partnership with students helps keep them strongly connected to the institution.”

The programs specifically for upperclass students give them what they need when they most need it:  when they move out of college and into the larger world of jobs and families. Jennifer Keup, director of the National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, which is affiliated with the U101 program at the University of South Carolina, emphasizes how important it is to focus on students at the end of their college experience. “The first-year experience program has gone from being a grassroots effort on campuses to a national and international movement,” she says. “But it’s not just about the first year in transition; it’s about the multitude of transitions. The success of attention on the first-year experience has brought attention to other transition points in a student’s educational career. Truly everyone at the institution has the capability to make significant change in how we support and address student needs throughout their entire educational trajectory.”

It hardly seems possible that it is time for the November+December 2009 issue of the Talking Stick. Yet here it is. We’re closing the year with a jam-packed issue filled with stories that address veterans returning to campus as students, Millennial students who are now coming to campus as staff members, what to do if and when H1N1 arrives on your campus, and much more. We’re particularly pleased to announce that authors in this issue include Gwendolyn Jordan Dungy (the executive director of NASPA) and Neil Howe (Millennial expert and past keynote speaker for the ACUHO-I Annual Conference & Exposition).

Stories in this most recent issue include:

• Military Matriculation: New study highlights programs and services targeted to veterans. By Gwendowlyn Jordan Dungy
• No Small Measure: College housing departments are recognizing the importance of assessment to let themselves – and the rest of their campus – know where they stand. By David A. McKelfresh and Joseph D. Levy
• They’re Back: You knew them as students. Now Millennials are coming to campus as your colleagues. By Neil Howe and Reena Nadler
  
• Get with the Program: Architectural programming sets the stage for thriving residence hall communities. By Frances Watson Lengowski

This issue of the magazine, along with the story on the importance of assessment, provides information about the launch of the upcoming Certificate In Housing Assessment program coming from ACUHO-I. You will be seeing a lot about this program in the coming weeks, and this article provides a solid jumping-off point for the information to come.

Remember, the digital Talking Stick is available for no additional cost to all staff at member institutions. Please forward this link on and encourage all your colleagues to go to the ACUHO-I online directory and update their profile to ensure they receive the digital Talking Stick. If you have any problems or questions, please leave them in the comment section.

Editor’s Note: In the November+December 2009 issue of the Talking Stick we asked members to discuss how they are addressing H1N1 on their campus. As you would expect, they had plenty to say on the subject; so much that their ideas overflowed the magazine pages and onto this blog. So much that we’re even breaking it into three separate posts (read part 1 here and part 2 here). Participating in the Conversation is Mike Krenz, assistant manager for risk management at Texas A & M University in College Station; Gary McLaughlin, business manager for housing at Flinders University of South Australia in Adelaide; Steve Palmer, director of residence life at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo; Robert Tattershall, director of housing and conference services at Washington State University in Pullman; Dima Utgoff , director of residence services at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada; Joe Gonzalez, associate dean of residential life at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; Sean Duggan, managing director of university student housing at Texas Tech University in Lubbock; and Bes Liebenberg, coordinator for student support  residences at the University of Pretoria in Gauteng, South Africa.

Question: Under what circumstances, if any, would you not isolate students that have H1N1 or are suspected of having H1N1?

Tattershal: We chose self-isolation this time, so in this wave of H1N1 we chose not to isolate.  Some time ago, during SARS and H5N1, helping the university understand that true isolation was virtually impossible in a high occupancy residence hall system (over 80 percent of our residents live with a roommate and have to leave their rooms to go to the bathroom and most have to leave at some time to get food), made quite a bit of difference in the current H1N1 discussion.  We were successful in getting the committee to think not only of the first few cases of H1N1, so as not to tailor our response just for the beginning of the epidemic on our campus, but for the epidemic after a few weeks, when the numbers would be much larger and overwhelm any attempt to isolate people in the handful of empty spaces we had.

In our situation, we had one case during sorority recruitment, the week before school started. That one case, because of her contact with other students, and their contact with many more, became hundreds of suspected cases of influenza-like illness before we could have implemented an isolation program. Our health professionals stopped testing after the first few cases of H1N1 because of the time lag and cost, and the CDC statements that 98 percent of all influenza A illnesses were H1N1 at this time, which meant that we only knew people were sick, and it was probably H1N1. Therefore, isolation for us would have meant isolating hundreds of residents that had influenza-like illness, and doing so within days of the initial awareness that an outbreak was already here.

We knew last spring, that unless H1N1 mutated very quickly, and became much more lethal and the symptoms were much more severe, our response to H1N1 would be very different compared to what we were planning to do if SARS or H5N1 ever made it within 100 miles of our campus; i.e., recommending to our leadership to close the university.  Interestingly, of course, closing the university doesn’t necessarily mean that we could close the halls, as several hundred of our residents simply wouldn’t be able to go home in the face of a infectious disease with high virulence and mortality.

McLaughlin: We did not specifically isolate any residents because by the time a resident was diagnosed they would have infected close contacts (if they were to be infected)anyway. In addition we do not have shared rooms so each resident was in their own room and that made it much easier to keep them away from others. By using the common area specifically set up plus having meals delivered, the infected residents were isolated but were not forbidden going to other areas of the complex.

Duggan: We suggest that students go home if that is an option, or self isolate to their res hall room.

Liebenberg: Only if the diagnoses are not confirmed. Out of a possible 8,000 residents we had only 12 confirmed cases reported and they all went home. I’m convinced that a severe outbreak would necessitate alternative measures. (more…)

Editor’s Note: In the November+December 2009 issue of the Talking Stick we asked members to discuss how they are addressing H1N1 on their campus. As you would expect, they had plenty to say on the subject; so much that their ideas overflowed the magazine pages and onto this blog. So much that we’re even breaking it into three separate posts. Participating in the Conversation is Mike Krenz, assistant manager for risk management at Texas A & M University in College Station; Gary McLaughlin, business manager for housing at Flinders University of South Australia in Adelaide; Steve Palmer, director of residence life at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo; Robert Tattershall, director of housing and conference services at Washington State University in Pullman; Dima Utgoff , director of residence services at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada; Joe Gonzalez, associate dean of residential life at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; Sean Duggan, managing director of university student housing at Texas Tech University in Lubbock; and Bes Liebenberg, coordinator for student support  residences at the University of Pretoria in Gauteng, South Africa.

Question: How has your office responded to differences between the actions your office can take versus the actions expected by your students/parents?

Tattershall: The fact that we had a process in place to help residents pair up with a flu buddy, if needed, and a way for the residents to get food and know when they were well enough to resume their normal daily activities, helped us respond to the varying parent requests. Talking with the parents, getting people to understand the progress of H1N1 and that we had these other processes in place to help, made the conversation much easier.

Krenz: We have been holding to the “party line” and referring parents to how the university is responding and how residence life is responding . We have to keep explaining — like a broken record — that we will treat all of the students the same.  No one is “special.”  We have assured students and parents that we are taking our guidance from local health authorities and the university, and if things should get worse, we will modify our plan and respond appropriately.

McLaughlin: We had few questions from parents and they were advised exactly the same as residents of what procedures and safeguards we had put in place. Residents and parents were assured of continued occupancy if the resident caught H1N1. We would however isolate them but provide whatever they required.

Palmer: Education and more education has been our best bet. Our president is fully supportive of the directions we’re taking which is outstanding. We also discuss our limitations and continue to emphasize that if possible, students return home.

Utgoff: One such situation has just come up. The president of one of our residence associations has expressed his displeasure with the way we are responding to H1N1. Among other suggestions (and there are some good ones) he has asked us to provide small bottles of hand sanitizer to all residents (all 1,750 plus of them) in his residence. Our view is that this is unreasonable for many reasons and flies in the face of advice that the best personal hygiene involves washing ones’ hands with soap and water.

We have yet to hear from any parents, but I would expect to hear from some when they find out that we have made a conscious decision not to provide any isolation areas. In conversations with the Public Health Response Team, the University Health Centre, our Occupational Health Manager, our bio-hazards officer and one of our vice-provosts who, among other things, is a nursing professor, we have been advised that moving sick people to another area is likely to make things worse for the sick student. We also considered creating an isolation area for those who are healthy if they wanted to get away from a sick roommate. We understand that people who are infected with H1N1 may be contagious before they are even aware that they have the virus. Thus, someone who appears healthy could actually infect a large group of people. As well, because of the demand for residence space, we are not in a position to leave residence beds unoccupied. We could have consolidated the few empty spaces we do have (mostly as a result of “no-shows”) but for the reasons mentioned above we have chosen not to. Obviously, if Alberta Public Health directs us to do something different we will do whatever we can to comply.

Duggan: We are a pretty responsive department, within reason.  We will try to accommodate requests or work toward compromised solutions.  We have not really been up against an undo-able task. We will not force an ill student to relocate and have not been asked to, which has been somewhat surprising to me.  We have encouraged responsibility, and taking care of each other which I think has dulled the “panic” somewhat.

Liebenberg: What we have done is 1) Sent the same literature to both student and parents, and 2) We assured students and parents that we are continually assessing the situation and will modify and respond accordingly. Unconfirmed reports in the media created the impression that our TuksRes team is not doing enough. This was however rectified by the students themselves who categorically denied any outbreaks of the virus in their residences. (more…)

Editor’s Note: In the November+December 2009 issue of the Talking Stick we asked members to discuss how they are addressing H1N1 on their campus. As you would expect, they had plenty to say on the subject; so much that their ideas overflowed the magazine pages and onto this blog. So much that we’re even breaking it into three separate posts. Participating in the Conversation is Mike Krenz, assistant manager for risk management at Texas A & M University in College Station; Gary McLaughlin, business manager for housing at Flinders University of South Australia in Adelaide; Steve Palmer, director of residence life at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo; Robert Tattershall, director of housing and conference services at Washington State University in Pullman; Dima Utgoff , director of residence services at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada; Joe Gonzalez, associate dean of residential life at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina; Sean Duggan, managing director of university student housing at Texas Tech University in Lubbock; and Bes Liebenberg, coordinator for student support residences at the University of Pretoria in Gauteng, South Africa.

Joe Gonzalez: What steps have your housing office taken to prepare for and respond to the H1N1 situation?

Mike Krenz: We had conversations with Texas A&M student health services, dining services, the vice president for student affairs office, and the university president’s office and came up with a unified solution. This was crucial. Before anything was issued to the public, we made sure we all agreed on the plan and all agreed on the wording of the messages being sent out. This went very smoothly with this approach: (1) Send messages to all faculty, staff, students, and parents; (2) Set up rooms for sick or well students for the purpose of isolation; (3) Set up a sick-tray process with dining services for sick students; (4) Work with student health services to have a flu vaccination clinic as soon as possible; (5) Check all stock piles of masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers, and (6) Educate, educate, educate, and educate some more.

Gary McLaughlin: In Australia we have just gone through our peak flu season, and at Flinders housing we did have several cases of H1N1, including one staff member. We had a meeting of senior management (as soon as we realized we were at risk), at which we determined the course of action we would take, which included identifying medical resources both at the university and off campus and setting up an isolation area, catering services, and ongoing monitoring procedures for infected residents. We ensured that we had a good and easily accessible supply of appropriate prevention items such as gloves, masks, and sanitary hand wash for use when dealing with infected residents. All residents were advised of arrangements that were in place. (more…)

The September + October 2009 issue of the Talking Stick magazine should be on your desk (or in your hands). For those who don’t receive the print version, however, we offer the digital option.

In this issue ACUHO-I again recognizes September as National Campus Safety Awareness Month, this time focusing on new educational approaches to fire safety as well as stressing the important role actual real-life people play in the security process, even as technology continues to improve. Luke LaCroix from The College of New Jersey and Bruce Griffin from the University of North Carolina are our authors for these feature stories.

Also, Stephanie Carter-Smith from the University of South Carolina takes a look at the sensitive subject and difficult process of employee furloughs. In this story she shows how campuses are managing morale and maintaining customer service even as staff schedules are juggled.

Other topics in this issue include a look at the future of automated maintenance management, the capital planning process, and the growing number of community colleges that have residence halls.

(more…)

The most recent Talking Stick has an article on community college housing, and Community College Times has an article on the same subject, quoting ACUHO-I Communications Director James Baumann.

There are 1200 community colleges in the United States; about a quarter have housing, and that number is growing. In the late 90s, there were only about 60 community colleges with housing. Institutions’ reasons for building housing include a need for a more cohesive student life and campus vibrancy; expensive or limited local housing options or a widespread student body. Some community colleges draw students from many miles away, and commuting isn’t practical for them.  Are there any community colleges reading this blog? Do you have housing? If so, why? If not, do you plan on building?

“Conversations,” a regular department in the Talking Stick magazine, is dedicated to capturing dialogue between high-level professionals on the topics that affect campus housing. The July+August 2009 issue featured a conversation on student substance abuse that was so thorough and valuable, that it all couldn’t fit on the printed page.

The following is the complete conversation featuring Valerie Randall-Lee (Northeastern University in Boston), Dan Pedersen (St. Cloud University in Minnesota), and Paul Hubinsky (Illlinois Institute of Technology in Chicago). After reading, please share your own thoughts about student substance abuse and the efforts your campus is making to address it in the comment section.

(more…)

September is National Campus Safety Month! You’ve been counting the days, and now it’s here!

Okay, maybe you’re not quite that enthused about Campus Safety Month, but we have not encountered an ACUHO-I member who hasn’t given campus safety itself a lot of thought throughout the year, not just in the ninth month.

First, here’s a fine website for information: National Campus Safety Awareness Month.

Secondly, we’ve devoted much of the Talking Stick’s September+October issue to safety, in all its guises: mental health, cleaning products that are safe for students and those doing the cleaning; disaster preparedness and more. Check it out online and let us know what you think.