Restructuring Residence
Katherine Harding

Head Resident positions are being eliminated from the residence system at Laurier.

The eight para-professional positions will be replaced with four full-time Residence Life Coordinators (RLC).

Assistant Vice President: Student Services David McMurray said the change has been in the works informally for a year and a half.

"It has been a two stage process," said McMurray. "Last year we introduced the role of Residence Life Coordinator (which will now be called Residence Life Manager in the new structure) and now we are ready to introduce the next stage."

McMurray said that the replacement of Head Residents is necessary.

"Right now we expect a tremendous amount from our Head Residents. Short of walking on water they quite often have full-time jobs during the day or extensive part-time work opportunities and that is on top of their student responsibilities," he said. "Their availability then is significantly less than someone who would have no other commitments and responsibilities. Their number one priority would be residence, and that's the big difference.

"The full-time Residence Life Coordinators will be able to bring more commitment, experience and expertise to the job," he added.

McMurray, along with Associate Dean of Students Katherine Elliott, Director of Housing Mike Belanger and Residence Life Co-ordinator Carrie Ducharme, created the new structure that was modelled after similar residence management positions that exist at other universities including Guelph, McMaster, and Western.

Current head residents were not formally involved with the development of the new system.

"We were convinced from a management perspective that this is the best decision, but of course this won't be palatable to everybody in the system," said Belanger. "While we always want to take student consultation into account we are convinced that this is more of a management issue… it was done in the best interest of everybody involved.

"In terms of offering a superior residence life experience we used to be head and shoulders above everybody else… however the gap is narrowing," he added. Belanger does not know of any Ontario universities that still operate with the head resident system.

While senior management feels it is unfortunate student management positions will be eliminated, Belanger said "we had to bite the bullet at some point and time to implement this.

"While there may be some disadvantages to this system they are far outweighed by the new, fresh ideas and opinions individuals can bring to this position," Belanger said.

"Because dons will now be working with these full-time coordinators we will be able to raise the level of their training," said Elliott. "Not to say that they aren't well-trained now but we will be raising the ante a bit. This training will be especially helpful for students interested in pursuing a career in student affairs."

The RLC positions, which are one-year terms, are geared toward applicants with Masters degrees and a background in student affairs. Belanger estimates that the RLC salary will be approximately $30,000 (including benefits) which can be fulfilled within the current "financial envelope" of the Housing Office.

"The qualifications for a Residence Life Coordinator will be higher because there is an increasing level of expertise out there… there are more resident managers out there doing really good things so the level of expertise and the competitiveness for jobs is increasing so are the qualifications and standards," said McMurray.