New Housing Staff on Campus
Jasper Everingham | September 8, 2022
Over the past few years, Residence Life at Warren Wilson College (WWC) has seen many changes including staff turnover. This is the second year in a row in which all area coordinators have resigned. In many cases, staff juggles many different jobs, according to Ralph “RJ” Chittams, Director of Residence Life.
Chittams identified two primary causes for staff turnover: higher education workplace norms and staff burnout. Chittams said that staff leaving positions after only a handful of years isn’t actually uncommon, only having worked his first professional job for two years.
“In higher education, specifically in housing, it is expected that most people are going to be in their first job,” Chittams said. “And these positions, area coordinator, assistant director (are) first jobs. Five years is kind of the max. Three years is about average.”
Chittams acknowledged that students at WWC frequently notice changes that may go unseen at larger schools.
“One year is atypical,” he acknowledged. “But it's not that (WWC is) so strange that our people are only here for two years. I just think the impact, because our community is so much smaller, I think it's felt more strongly.”
Burnout among Residence Life staff is another factor and can come from a lot of places, one of them being the difficult nature of the job. Gramm Pollack, a senior resident assistant (senior RA) and creative writing major, agreed.
“You have to be responsible to take the job,” Pollack said, “You will see things that your other students — your other friends — may not ever have to interact with or hear about. There's a lot of things that you have to do that are really tough and a lot of stuff that we do that keeps everybody safe, but can sometimes be a little tough on us.”
Chittams also noted that this isn’t a difficulty that is unique to WWC or even to the past few years: it’s a baked-in part of the job.
“I think residence life nationally is dealing with this because it is a high burnout position,” Chittams said. “Because you live where you work. When the fire alarm goes off, that's you. When you eat in the cafeteria, you're not on (duty), (but) you're still at work.”
Chittams also described how the tight-knit community on campus, while a wonderful thing and the very reason that draws many people to WWC, can nonetheless create an environment that contributes to Residence Life staff burnout.
“Our culture is a very anti-authoritarian one, and ResLife is uniquely situated as the active authority,” Chittams said. “By position, it is our job to say no, a lot. I think sometimes we have a difficulty separating the person from the job.”
Chittams also highlighted the differences between working at WWC and working at a larger college.
“At a bigger school, the emotional connection to the community isn't as… I will say in this circumstance, overwhelming,” Chittams said. “So when you say no, it doesn't have such a stinging impact.”
He added that Residence Life doesn’t like saying no to people and works to find compromise wherever it can. They also have to be the ones to communicate that something is simply not possible.
“I think what's unfortunate is, I think there's a duality in it,” Chittams said. “Yes, it is a difficult position. And we're not nice to the people that are in the position but at the same time, I also see the other side of it, where ‘I don't have a relationship with you, so I don't necessarily trust you.’”
Pollack shared that while housing jobs are difficult, they can also be rewarding.
“Despite the fact that we have to deal with some tough things, I like being able to see the fact that I can bring smiles and laughter to people, especially through programs and through being present,” Pollack said. “I think just being somebody to lean on is very important to me.”
Chittams also stressed how important it is that WWC has RAs and how vital they are to keeping the college running smoothly by diffusing problems before Public Safety is involved.
Pollack expressed that a reason contributing to high student observation is due to Chittams’ transparency.
“I think, at least (WWC is) a little bit aware,” Pollack said. “And I say, they're probably more aware with the recent staff overturns and Dodge changes because (Chittams) and the rest of their team have worked on making themselves known and worked on making themselves present.”
The degree to which students notice faculty changes do differ on campus. While some are unhappy with things, Otto Crouch, a junior and Outdoor Programs crew member, said he doesn’t feel very affected at all.
“I think people understand the changes,” Crouch said. “I think it’s generally the people that directly work close to administration that feel the changes because it’s a new whole staff. It doesn’t affect the students as much I think, at least (from) my perspective.”
At the end of the day, Chittams said that while he understands having a high turnover rate is difficult and can be alienating to students, he said he also wished that incoming staff could receive more empathy from the community.
“I completely validate and empathize with the thought of ‘why should I emotionally invest in you when you might just leave like everybody else did?’” he said. “But if that is our primary drive, we're almost ensuring that it's going to happen.”
Students can contact Residence Life by emailing housing@warren-wilson.edu. For emergencies, students can call Public Safety at (828) 230-4592 or the RA on duty in their area. RA on-duty phone numbers can be found on the backs of student IDs.