President Aloia's Housing Disaster: How Jimmy Carter Could Teach Greg Something New

Housing Disaster #1: Fall 2008

I remember well when I first came to Concord and the thoughts that were running through my head. I wondered if I would make any friends. I wondered if the professors were going to be nice. I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake in coming to Concord. I never for a moment thought that I wouldn't have a room to call my own. Indeed, I cannot think of a single student who didn't know if they'd have a room to sleep in their first night on campus. However, all of that changed in Fall 2008 when for the first time in many decades Concord saw an explosion of in the number of new students and on campus housing requests. Concord had not seen so many new Freshmen since our grandfathers returned from fighting World War 2 and put their new GI Bill to good use. While this was a success for the admissions team lead by Michael Curry, it was a disaster for Housing & Residence Life. For the first time they could recall, students would be forced to live in "temporary housing".

"Temporary housing" is a technical term designed both to explain the situation and to make the situation sound not nearly as bad as it is. Temporary housing means just that, a place where an individual can stay until additional space opens up elsewhere on campus. For Concord students however it means kitchens, closets, lounges and computer labs.Some students who submitted an application for on-campus housing, a $50 deposit and filled out their roommate information sheet were expecting four corners, a roommate and a broken air conditioning unit were shocked to find themselves living in Red Cross like conditions. In many cases, students found themselves living with 6 or 7 other people in a setup more akin to boot camp than college.

We cannot place any real blame for this disaster on the shoulders of people like Rick Dillon or his Residence Life staff. Based entirely on the enrollment figures for the past ten years and based on the projections admissions had made there was no way to expect incoming freshmen and returning student numbers to be anywhere near what they were. Even if they had known to expect the increases a few months in advance, what could be expected of them? Rome wasn't built in a day and scores of college freshmen aren't suddenly housed overnight. Indeed, Rick and his staff should be given a pat on the back for the innovative ideas they came up with. They put people where they could, slashed and pro-rated costs for students who lives in temporary or triple rooms and when space opened up they filled it.

Well, thank goodness that problem was solved!

Housing Disaster #2: Fall 2009

Concord staff and administration knew that the problem of too many students on campus wouldn't go away overnight, and they also knew that if similar retention and recruitment numbers were seen for Fall 2009 as Fall 2008 there would be new Freshmen facing the same problems as before. Another major problem facing administrators was that they had put a lot of effort into retention, hiring a director and creating new programs and incentives to keep Concord students coming back each year. Typically this would be a good thing as we'd have plenty of room for on-campus residents. However, If these programs were successful, it would be an even bigger problem to deal with.

With the United States gripped in a "great recession", many on campus suspected that enrollment would actually increase as opposed to decreasing. The Student Government Association warned the President's cabinet that due to increase federal government support for financial aid programs and because in times of hardship more students will seek better education for the future that Concord would be faced with a relatively high fall enrollment. This suggestion was brushed aside and the administration pointed to figures they conceded were only estimates that Concord would see a decrease of at least 100 students. No surprise here, while the Fall 2009 numbers didn't shatter the record breaking previous year enrollment and retention saw significant net gains from the 2005-2007 years. In short, the administration banked on the fact that we'd be down many students and our housing problems would go away. They didn't really prepare for the fact that if they were wrong, we'd be dealing with the same crisis we'd dealt with before.

The advantage of facing a problem year after year is that the first time you're almost entirely unprepared for it. However, in putting together temporary solutions a team is able to discover what works and what doesn't work and prepare a plan for the following year. While I am confident that Residence Life did a pretty fair job of preparing for this fall, Dr. Aloia fell well short of any meaningful attempts to keep students out of closets and kitchens and put them into quality rooms. He had nearly a year to consider short, intermediate and long term solutions to our Housing woes and rather than get cracking on those solutions he shifted the responsibility to those below him. Unfortunately for them, without the resources from the administration and without commitments from the President to actually address the problem effectively, they were left with the same choices as before.

Why "Temporary Housing" Hurts Everyone

The problem with "temporary housing" is that it doesn't just impact the poor students who are forced to live in the miserable conditions. When you take a kitchen and turn it into a Red Cross shelter, you deprive students of the ability to use those facilities. When you unplug the technology in a computer lab and slide up a few beds, you deprive scores of students the ability to write their papers, work on projects or just surf the web. Community areas that are turned into temporary residences fix a problem in the short term, but they create another in its place. So the images you see on the Housing website of laughing students using community resources - that won't be you. The pitch that an admissions counselor gave you about cooking your own food if you're hungry late at night? Not you either. Indeed, even the Hall Council dollars that students pay that should go into fixing up lounges and keeping the DVD collections up to date are wasted because now students are sleeping there.

Beyond just the community resources that students are losing out of as a result of "overflow" there is the issue of Concord's reputation as an institution. I've been at Concord long enough to love it for what it is, but also for what it can be. As much as "The Campus Beautiful" might grow on you after a while, it doesn't impress new students very much to cram them into a closet rather than a room. Those questions I mentioned before running through their minds like "Did I make the right choice?" start flooding back. You cannot expect students to pay higher tuition every single year (and higher tuition than schools like Marshall) and at the same time give them almost third world conditions.

Perhaps the most disturbing reason why "temporary housing" hurts everyone is how it becomes permanent housing. For those of you doing the math, if you have too many students to house in the first place but over time Concord moves them into more permanent residences then only a few things could be happening. Either Concord's rooms are reproducing, students are being put into triple rooms or students are leaving the school. While some students were indeed put in triple rooms, Concord banked on the fact that some students would fail out or leave in order to make room for others. Doesn't it just turn your stomach to know that Concord's solution to "overflow" in part is to hope that some of your friends and classmates go somewhere else? It certainly does mine.

Zero Effort ≠ Good Faith

President Aloia used the university's PR office to release a Press Release defending the administration's efforts to find housing for students. In it, Dr. Aloia said “The University is making a good faith effort to accommodate students with the priority being on access to education and not denying students the opportunity to realize their dreams.” He pointed to the fact that the university had purchased several modular units (FEMA trailers) and had opened up several spaces in College Courts in order to make more room. What the press release doesn't say is that most of the effort made this year was made last year and aside from opening up a few College Courts spaces the university didn't make any real effort to solve the problem.

The President says the trailers ordered will not be ready until the end of the semester, so that is hardly a solution for students living in closets starting the first week of school. College Courts will house around 6 students or so, but this hardly puts dent in the number of "overflow" students. The SGA can again point to the fact that it warned the administration not to make foolish decisions in the past and they made them anyway. The SGA supported keeping all of College Courts rather than destroying a portion of them, insisting that married students should be given plenty of space. Now, the university is kicking itself for destroying space it could have used. When the university was faced with a significant shortfall in funding for University Point, the SGA reminded the administration that the money could be used to create additional residences or remodel existing facilities but they again didn't listen.

The press release quickly moves from providing details about housing solutions to the "other things" Concord provides students. It points out the new fitness center that students are enjoying and the other student life oriented projects like additional flex dollars and a new camera system. Do you know what students can't live in? A camera system. It's a nice attempt to distract people from the real issues, but the smoke and mirror games that the administration is playing won't get too far with many students.

The best way for the administration to tackle the questions surrounding student living conditions is for them to say "would you rather us turn students away?" The answer is clearly of course not. We want as many students as possible to come to Concord and get a quality education. However, we've got to run a university responsibly and fairly. If we cannot accommodate students on-campus, we've got to provide them spaces off campus. If we cannot find them spaces off-campus, then we need to ask ourselves if we're really ready to accept more students. I'd much rather Concord turn students away than be begging for more. We're not running a prison camp, so we don't need to pack students 3 to a room or put them in unreasonable conditions. It's not possible to focus on your work and be a successful student if you're living with 7 other people in a lounge. What Dr. Aloia considers a dream quickly turned into a nightmare for many new students. They don't deserve it.

Dr. Aloia and his cabinet seem to have a difficult time understanding what the term "good faith effort" really means. The Legal Dictionary @ Free Dictionary defines it as "a sincere intention to deal fairly with others." If this is the case, Dr. Aloia's efforts fall well short of good faith into the realm of half assed. You cannot do the same thing as before and call it innovation, and you cannot be months behind in planning and call it success. Those policies might fly at Florida Atlantic but they certainly don't fly at Concord. Students are deeply upset with the failure to address the most basic of needs and they demand answers. To be honest, "we're trying" isn't good enough for everyone. In short, Concord isn't living up to the most basic expectations of a new student. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of President Aloia who needs to step up to the plate and start accepting responsibility for his actions. The honeymoon period is over, and the "new car smell" of Dr. Aloia's administration is fading quickly.

(Link to the Press Release: http://www.concord.edu/news/2009/08/14/concord-university-employing-good-faith-efforts-accommodate-full-house)

What Jimmy Carter Can Teach Greg Aloia

Many of our more recent Presidents have been in the news lately. President Clinton just returned from a trip to North Korea where he negotiated the release of several hostages. President Bush has been defending his decisions while in office and his father continues to leap out of perfectly good airplanes on his birthday show he's still got it. With all of this attention focused on the high profile actions of our former commanders-in-chief, we often overlook a little old man from Georgia.

Jimmy Carter was a controversial leader and is still a controversial man. He keeps his opinions out in the open and he sails pretty close to the wind when it comes to mainstream politics. But one of the most important contributions he's made to American society since he's left office has been his work with the Habitat for Humanity charity. The charity raises money, finds volunteers and builds homes for those who don't have them. When Hurricane Katrina hit, they were some of the first to begin the rebuilding process. When fires ravage sleepy communities, they're soon to show up with a bag of nails and a challenge to help out your neighbour.

What can Jimmy Carter teach President Aloia? Sometimes you've got to roll up your sleeves and grab a hammer. You don't see Jimmy having people sleep in closets at the Carter Library, and you don't see him pointing the finger of blame at other people. Carter will tell you that things might not be the best, but they're getting better so long as people assume responsibility and take action. President Carter doesn't just wave his hand and have his supporters start building homes, he climbs up the ladder and drives in the nails himself. Every person has a role to play and a leader is a leader all the time, not just when it's convenient or when the press is looking. Dr. Aloia should follow the example of Jimmy Carter and take some responsibility for his community. New dorms don't build themselves.

Although my analogy is clearly tongue in cheek, it does bring up one thing for people to consider. Should we have asked Jimmy Carter to be President of Concord? At the very least, every student would have a decent place to live.