ACUHO-I News Blog

The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart is The Awesome. You all know that. Now he can be The Basis of Your Money Management Instruction for Students!

This Daily Show clip, brought to us via Gawker TV (their motto is “Your work can wait,” so be forewarned) can also be a way you can educate your students on how credit cards work, and how credit card issuers likely do not have their best interests at heart. And it will make them (and you) laugh as well. That’s always a good way to learn things.

What are your techniques for teaching students about unpleasant, “boring,” or otherwise un-enticing topics? Let us, and your colleagues, know!

Thanks to the excellent time-waster site Gizmodo, we now know about i-Ramen, the website documenting one man’s eating and evaluation of thousands of varieties and brands of instant noodles.  The site is in Japanese (the link above heads to the Google-translated site, which is comprehensible if a bit uneven), so while the author’s name is likely listed in the Japanese text that also serves as an image, I couldn’t find it in the translated text. If anyone out there can read Japanese, let me know who he (or she) is. The reviews evaluate Ramen the way wine is often considered: “moderate sweetness, strong stimulation of pepper,” reads one entry.

Editor’s Note: In an effort to see and hear firsthand what some campuses are doing to implement sustainable strategies on campus and specifically in their residence halls, members of the ACUHO-I Sustainability Committee are issuing reports from the field. The first comes from ACUHO-I Sustainability Director Lynne Deninger, principal with Cannon Design.

Amherst College is a small, private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, and is the third oldest college in the state. It is member of the historic Little Three colleges, which includes Wesleyan University and Williams College. With nearly 99 percent of the current student population living on campus, Amherst is committed to the development of living learning communities and as such has committed to developing more energy efficient and financially responsible renovations and new construction on campus without a lot of pomp and circumstance.

Now, Amherst has not signed the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, nor do they have a full time sustainability director, a taskforce, or even a sustainable living/learning community. They do however know they want to provide appropriate role modeling while improving their energy efficiency and their bottom-line. I think they are moving in the right direction, one small project at a time.

Tom Davies, AIA, the director of design and construction and assistant director of facilities showed off some of the campus’ recent sustainability accomplishments that reflect the “pragmatic New England Puritan tradition” that built the Amherst campus. Following eight years of residential hall renovation projects, many of these successes were combined during the renovation of Hitchcock Hall. The following eight approaches are not necessarily glamorous or full of hype, but have met with great success.

Efficient Planning: Distinctly low tech with a high sustainability factor is the expansion of a building, even if it’s from 35 to 73 beds. Keeping existing structures and maximizing the number of students that use the existing amenities, social spaces and bathrooms, improves efficiencies.

Building Envelope: Amherst used the latest and best technology for insulating their historic masonry structures, open cell foam just to the right thickness to allow it to breathe in both directions. This took some research as if it’s too thick, the brick will disintegrate from the inside out over time. But with help from a strong design team, Amherst was able to significantly reduce heating consumption. Looking at every detail including all the insulation joints in the system at windows, doors, etc. created a new type of quality control system maximize outcomes. The prototype arrangement will be the norm on future projects.

Solar Hot Water: Hot water accounts for about a quarter of all energy consumed in a residence hall, and the solar system will cut that by more than half. The solar system is complex and expensive, but the key to making it effective is something extremely simple and cheap:  high-quality low-flow shower heads that cut the demand for hot water. Amherst tested a number of the best and settled on a model that was developed for high-end hotels in Las Vegas. They are now in every shower on campus. They’re terrific and even at $60 per they pay for themselves in about a year.

Boilers: Another high-tech hidden item is the use of high-efficiency boilers for building heating and hot water. As Davies said, “it’s not bleeding edge stuff, but is now a practical proven technology”.

Sensors: The use of occupancy sensors for lights to shut off when no one is around. This is a no-brainer. However, the use of humidity sensors to throttle back the bathroom exhaust when no one is taking a shower is a novel approach dreamt up by the design and construction office. They are monitoring the installation now to determine success.

Window Points: As many have experienced, students often leave windows open even when it’s five degrees outside. At Amherst, it is the norm for facilities staff to actually go around to every dorm room the day after winter break starts to close the windows. To address this problem, they began testing a system that senses when a window is opened and automatically lowers the thermostat setting to 60. The idea is that when the student gets cold, they’ll close the window again. Tom notes that with clever students, comes many opportunities to circumvent the system, but he believes it’s “worth a try” and perhaps the best outcome will be a general student awareness of the waste resulting from leaving a window open through the winter months.

LED Lighting: Davies notes, “an interesting story on this one is that our engineers wouldn’t believe the manufacturer’s claims about how much light LED lights generate per watt. When we started to light them up it was clear that they were more efficient than the design assumed, so we actually had to remove some to lower lighting levels.”

Vestibules: Designed appropriately, Davies notes, they actually work as air-locks. So often, vestibules are minuscule spaces between two doors, and even with one person entering or exiting both doors end up open at the same time, throwing away energy. At Amherst, all main entries have been redesigned to actually function as an air lock. It’s not going to get a LEED point. It’s not flashy “green” technology. But it’s high-value. Pragmatic New England design indeed.

Happy Monday, kiddos! Here’s your Inside HigherEd news for today:

CEILING FOR TUITION HIKES: Middlebury, in unusual move, plans to limit increases for the long run to no more than 1 percentage point above inflation rate.

STEP RIGHT UP: Sensing opportunity, more private institutions court community college transfer students.

CREDIT CARDS AND CAMPUSES: As federal law takes effect Monday, consumer advocates students will earn significant new protections, and colleges face several new requirements.

IS HECKLING A RIGHT? Incident at Irvine prompts debate over whether repeatedly interrupting a campus speaker is an exercise of free expression or the suppression of free expression.

ALLERGIC NATION: Colleges take steps to accommodate growing numbers of students with food allergies.

As of today, credit card issuers have to play by new federal rules when trying to entice college students (or anyone younger than 21) to sign on. Consumer advocates say the new rules are a good start.

The Credit CARD Act of 2009 restricts banks from offering credit to people under 21 unless an adult co-signs or the signer can show they are able to make the payment. Credit issuers cannot offer free gifts at campus events (team t-shirts at football games) as inducements to sign up.

For their part, institutions cannot collaborate with credit card issuers to offer institutional merch for credit card signees and the law puts restrictions on cards offered through alumni associations and similar.

The law encourages, but does not mandate, that the institution educate its students on responsible credit and money management. Does your institution do this? Does housing or residence life aid in this program? Let us know.

On a related note, the Talking Stick had a story on aiding students with money management; see that article here: Money Management TS

International Hall Staff Appreciation Day does not, for reasons unbeknown to me, come pre-printed on the blotter calendars that are delivered to my office each year by the local furniture vendor representatives. Each year it sneaks up on me in the midst of staff selection and room lottery seasons, a seemingly innocuous Wednesday in mid-February.

There are traditions for this day in my world. They involve rallying the Community Council, oversize signs on staff member’s doors, a Dairy Queen ice cream cake at staff meeting just when the staff has reached their threshold with my full agenda. They are small things, to be certain, but they are things that highlight my appreciation of these undergraduate students who step up and demonstrate leadership in their community. We know from our own experiences that it can be a thankless job, and while we do our best to demonstrate continued appreciation to student staff, it falls off the to do list amidst all of the other responsibilities we have.

I am reminded of celebrating the same day a decade ago when I was a resident assistant. Having the dining hall’s premiere and rarely served dessert at a staff meeting seemed indulgent for a Wednesday night; the decorations on my door reminded all of my residents that even if they were mad at me that week for enforcing policies, I was appreciated by someone on campus for doing my job.

Read the rest of this entry »

Young adults do a lot of dangerous things, things that are widely acknowledged to be risky: drinking heavily; drinking and driving; drugs; standing on slanted, 30-degree rooftops in 5-inch heels (I’m personally guilty of that last one).  But some also do things that seem innocuous. Eating a peanut butter sandwich, some ice cream, or a slice of cake.

Increasing numbers of students have been arriving on college campuses with food allergies they are unable–or perhaps, unwilling–to manage by themselves. Perhaps their parents had done most of the work of coordinating doctors’ appointments, medications and keeping the illicit ingredient out of the way.  Despite the parent’s best intentions, their child arrives at college with limited ability to cope with their own condition. Some students may be reluctant to admit that their allergy limits them in any way. Some have never had a very severe reaction, and regard their allergy as a mere annoyance, rather than something that could be life-threatening.

The situation is difficult for dining halls as well; ensuring that adequate meals are created without allergens and making students aware of the ingredients of each dish, all the while creating delicious meals that appeal to everyone, providing a welcoming environment, and hopefully making a profit, or at least breaking even. Some institutions have opened special allergy-free kitchens and refrigerators to deal with the issue. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network introduced its College Network in 2009, a resource for students on institutions that can accommodate their diets.

Despite an institution’s best efforts, however, there’s no way of preventing an allergic student from eating an off-limits food, unknowingly or otherwise. And these are the sorts of things that keep administrators awake in the wee hours.

How has your institution dealt with this issue? Have food allergies affected the residence halls? Does a student who keeps a jar of peanut butter handy find it hard to live with a roommate who must avoid the stuff? Have allergies affected how the vending machines are stocked? Have you had to confront a student who is eating dangerously? Let us know.

At Inside HigherEd this week, balancing the rights of the accused and the accuser when claims of sexual harassment are made; motivating students to motivate themselves; and Dartmouth quits their ‘no loans’ policy too.

BAD NEWS BINGHAMTON: Independent audit of scandal surrounding SUNY institution’s basketball team reveals severe lack of oversight from outgoing president and former athletics director.

RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED: As faculty and administration at Southern Illinois at Carbondale hammer out a policy for sexual harassment claims, professors fear for due process rights.

MEN OF MERIT: Michigan’s Jackson Community College thinks its black male students may be their own best motivators.

E-LIBRARY ECONOMICS: New research indicates that e-book oriented libraries could save colleges a bundle, but academics may have a hard time letting go of the stacks.

DARTMOUTH DROPS ‘NO LOANS’: Shift, a week after similar move by Williams, suggests more institutions will restore borrowing to students’ aid packages.

Campuses are starting to dig themselves out from the massive snowfall. Well, at least they dug themselves out far enough that they can start to post their exploits to Facebook and YouTube. See below for the snowball battle royal that happened at the University of Maryland, College Park campus.

In every phone interview that I conducted for ACUHO-I interns this year, I openly discussed what makes the experience at our institution different than other internships candidates may have been considering. Aside from the administrative nature of the position and the opportunity to work in a department that is only two years old, I also pointed out the not-so-obvious: When I hire two summer interns, I double the size of our office staff.

Because of this, the intern process means something different for our department than it may for larger departments. Departments that hire six or eight interns as conferences staff potentially also double the size of their staff, but without the two additional bodies [and brains!] brought in each summer, our operation would fail to thrive. We rely on those two additional people to move our operation forward. I am continuously amazed by what these young soon-to-be professionals are able to accomplish in the eight weeks they are with us. In fact, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t use something created or enhanced by a previous intern. Read the rest of this entry »

Depending on which school she attends, our laptop-student there might be among a significant majority: female students.

The New York Times ran a story about the gender imbalance on many campuses. At a lot of institutions — but not all — women outnumber men, sometimes by a considerable percentage. This creates an interesting social scene, at least for the men.  Has a skewed male-female ratio on your campus changed how students act, or your operations? How have you adjusted?

URoomSurf is a web-based application that allows incoming college students to search for roommates. Instead of marketing their services to institutions, however, URoomSurf went straight to the students. They advertise their service on Facebook by creating groups for specific graduation years at an institution. Students join them, and URoomSurf will use this connection to draw the student to their roommate-matching website. The service is free; URoomSurf says they’ll make money with ads and, perhaps future premium services.

Some college and university administrators are annoyed by what they see as an end-run around the institutions that actually offer the rooms that roommates will share. URoomSurf’s pedigree isn’t helping the situation much. URoomSurf’s promoter, Justin Gaither, was involved in College Prowler, a similar service that also used Facebook as a marketing tool. In that case, College Prowler didn’t advise visitors to its Facebook page that they were not affiliated with any college or university, created “official” institution groups, and used official university logos, leading many students to believe that they were representing or working with their school. Brad Ward, now CEO of the higher education marketing company BlueFuego, pointed out this deception in late 2008. At the time, Ward was with Butler University’s admissions office.

Ward pointed out what he calls FacebookGate2010 on his blog, and the debate commenced. URoomSurf  isn’t trampling copyright laws the way they did last time; their pages now note their non-affiliation with any institution, though obliquely. However, some administrators are also annoyed that URoomSurf posted notices on their college’s official Facebook page, even after the institution asked them to cease. Of course, institutions fear that students, having found a “match” through URoomSurf will be dismayed when that match doesn’t happen in real life, either because of logistical issues, or because their institution has its own matching system. They think the service will establish false expectations, and that URoomSurf’s founders were unprofessional not to approach institutions with their idea and seek their partnerships. Several administrators quoted in the Inside HigherEd article make a point of saying URoomSurf’s product is a good idea, but the marketing of it and their adversarial stance toward institutions is off-putting. URoomSurf and its critics defend their points of view in this lengthy (and, um, circular) comment thread on Ward’s blog.

Have you dealt with URoomSurf or College Prowler? Do you have war stories or advice for your colleagues?

I’m reading a book, The Three Pound Enigma, about the function of the human brain, written by a medical student.

While she was in medical school.

And I was pretty impressed with myself because I’m reading a book about the function of the brain. (It’s quite interesting so far, if you have time to read something non-student-affairs-related.)

My Internet research tells me author Shannon Moffett is now  married to a man with a demanding job of his own, has young twins and a residency as an emergency-room M.D. in an inner-city hospital. In an essay written when her twins were toddlers, she says “It seems to take me twice as long to ‘get’ new concepts as it used to, and I never feel like I’m functioning at top speed.” So that’s what it takes to slow such a highly productive person down. In that case, twins might leave me unable to eat food unaided.

I was ruminating on this, and my own lesser productivity, when I ran across this article, about  Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, P.A., and mother of triplets. Her husband–no slouch himself–says his wife wakes at 5 a.m. to exercise and doesn’t even drink coffee. She has assistants and the couple hired a daytime nanny, but still…coffee. There are times I’d tell family secrets for another cup of coffee. (Sorry Mom and Dad!)

Of course, I thought of ACUHO-I members too. Student affairs and housing are 24-7 occupations, even without considering duties for professional associations, such as ACUHO-I, work within one’s institution, and, of course, a personal life.

What are the advice and lessons we can pull from stories of high-achievers? Moffett slowed her progression through medical school to allow time for her book. Ambar relies on schedulers and other assistants, and a little flexibility in her schedule. If she can’t do something at 4 p.m. because of childcare duties, she’ll move it to 2 p.m., or 7 p.m. It will get done at some time in the 24-hour cycle.

What helps you manage it all? Did a mentor show you the way? Was there a book that helped? Have you always been a go-go-go sort? Let us know.

The snowpocalypse! Snowmaggedon! Whatever you wanted to call it, the storm that moved through the United States late last week certainly gathered it’s share of headlines. Now it’s time to reflect back and share how we weathered the storm.

Use the comment section to share stories about the antics that your sledding (or stir-crazy) students came up with to pass the time other than watching the Weather Channel radar. Tell us how you and your campus managed Mother Nature’s wrath. How did this storm stack up to ones from the past? (Reminiscing about past blizzards will be allowed.)

And for those who work at campuses where words like “snow emergency” are foreign concepts, we graciously ask you to please keep your comments about “mid-60s and sunny” to yourself. If we have to have the snow, we’re at least allowed to vent about it a bit.

You can even e-mail us photos of your campus scenes if you like. Let the flurry of comments begin!

What would it take to spur change? President Barack Obama spoke last week brilliantly about where he is hoping to take the nation. In his address he mentioned green jobs and our push toward becoming number one in the green sector. As I watched I thought this was brilliant another opportunity to push a vision. This vision is very aspirational when considering the size and consumption level of this wonderful country. However this is a great idea to pursue with implications towards a bright future.

After watching the speech I wanted to find other discussions or general information regarding green jobs on college campuses. Through a bit of Web surfing I pulled in a blog that highlights the discussion of green jobs. This particular blog did a great job of touching on the transition of brown to green jobs. I think it would be very interesting to see how campuses are creating these jobs and whether they are being fueled by green funding.

During the President’s address I pondered two questions:

Question #1-Have we reached the tipping point in regards to how green jobs are advertised? What I’m trying to say is in this economy are green jobs just jobs? I think we have moved passed the label far enough that we often do not notice the green unless its explicitly spelled out.

Question #2-How well do green positions fold into the housing and residential life organizational chart? In other words are green positions becoming stand alone positions or are they still seen as a collateral assignments for housing and residential life professionals?

Progress is good but with the current economy I could understand why there may be hesitation in reorganizing the organization and adding a position. However there is serious value in recruiting our incoming green students into our greening residential communities.  They will consume less. With this in mind it would be important to consider creatively positioning our organizations now to focus our efforts on attracting these students to live with us now and possibly work for us in the future.

This is my first blog contribution to the sustainability discussion/green movement. I have to admit that just typing this post feels fresh and green.

Hope to post more.