After a summer of staff turnover in the Office of Student Life and the Student Activities Office, administrators are planning and implementing changes that they say will make the SAO more available and responsive to student leaders.
Among the changes already implemented is transferring the bulk of responsibility for student leadership programming to the SAO.
The restructuring occurred after the July departure of Coordinator of Leadership Programs Fran Lo '97. Lo, who worked in both OSL and the SAO, was responsible for administering the Women's Peer Counseling program, the Brown Outdoor Leadership Training program, the Brown Ropes Course in Bristol, student group advising and leadership programming.
Lo's departure coincided with the departure of other key administrators in the SAO and OSL, including former Director of Student Activities David Inman and former Dean for Campus Life Margaret Jablonski. The turnover left new administrators scrambling to implement student leadership programming.
The WPC program was assigned to Associate Dean of Student Life Carla Hansen to ensure that it was properly coordinated, said Director of Student Activities Ricky Gresh.
"The thought was that it was a pretty integral program for freshmen in particular, and we wanted to make sure we had it covered for the year," he said.
Most leadership programming, previously shared between OSL and the SAO, will now be coordinated through the SAO under Gresh, who came to Brown in July from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Interim Dean for Campus Life Margaret Klawunn said, "When (Lo) left and we were looking at what to do with student leadership and BOLT, and with Ricky Gresh (having) an interest and background in student leadership, it made sense that BOLT would be something that he would be interested in moving into his office."
Though the SAO will handle most leadership programs, OSL will still share some of the responsibility, Klawunn said. For example, the peer counseling program is a student leadership program that will remain under OSL's jurisdiction.
OSL and the SAO "tend to work fairly collaboratively, so there (are) different projects that our offices will work on together," Gresh said.
Gresh said that the transfer of responsibility is an ongoing experiment that sprung from the departure of key OSL administrators.
"There (are) a lot of interim appointments right now in the OSL. So they had a lot of interim plans," he said. The University planned to hire an interim coordinator for student activities; that hire would work in the SAO to cover Lo's responsibilities.
Interim Coordinator for Student Activities Thomas Hayes '98 joined the SAO last week to assist with the office's increased responsibilities.
Hayes said he will spend the majority of his time advising student organizations, though managing BOLT and coordinating the ropes course are also part of his role.
"(Lo's) position was the primary coordinator of leadership programming. What is happening now is that it is something more that my position will be doing, but Tommy (Hayes) and (Assistant Director of Student Activities Phil O'Hara) and others will still be involved," Gresh said. Administration of the ropes course will shift entirely to the SAO, Klawunn said.
The ropes course has been closed this semester; with Hayes hired, it will reopen for student groups for about a month and will open again in the spring.
Klawunn expects that the centralization of student leadership programming in the SAO will benefit students.
"Students are going to see much broader support for their leadership and much more assistance in their work out of the (SAO)," she said.
And Gresh pointed out that SAO staff support will increase, because Hayes will work exclusively out of the SAO, whereas Lo split her time between the SAO and OSL.
The new administrative structure will be reconsidered as the year continues. "We finally have gotten to the point that we have all the positions filled, so we can start to look at the evaluation process," Gresh said.
Gresh said staff support for BOLT will continue, no matter how the offices are restructured. "The interim appointment (of Hayes) has nothing to do with whether or not Brown will continue to support the BOLT program. Staff support for the BOLT program is certain," he said.
Klawunn said the changes are designed to improve the programs offered by various student life offices.
"It has been a very purposeful determination of what is the best location (for each program) and how we can provide the best services," she said.
