Linda Reimer's Visit

The search for a permanent Dean of Student Services
Three candidates were brought to campus in February and March to meet with people from different areas of campus in an attempt for both the candidate and the members of campus to learn more about each other. Each candidate had an open meeting with students and another with staff and faculty.

The following notes were taken by Marissa Baker-Wagner (a student member of the search committee) on March 4, 2008 at the open meeting for students with Dean of Students Candidate Linda Reimer. These notes were an attempt to follow to the conversation, but are not a verbatim transcript. There are probably errors, there are definitely summaries, and there is also some switching around between first, second and third person on behalf of the writer. As such they are intended as supplementary source of information for individuals who would like to know more about what happened at the meeting. If you have questions about the material please feel free to contact mb06.

If you would like to fill out an online feedback form for this candidate or any other go here. If you are writing comments for a candidate that you did not meet in person please include that somewhere on your feedback form ("additional comments" is a good place). This link will be active until March 14th (extended deadline).

Open Meeting With Students
Linda Reimer- Student Session Tuesday March 4th 3:30 pm *at the same time as Community Council meeting

Present: 7 students, one student services staff person.

Jaime- introduces her

Linda: been at the New Sschool for 17 years, tell you a little but about. It's an institution in the NYC, the Village. 8 schools: Lang, Parson, etc. Eugene Lang is the most similar to Hampshire. I came in as a director of housing, and have progressed to director of student services

student: What are your experiences with experimenting colleges, radical pedagogies. Your experience with instituting radical pedagogies, dealing with liberal students?

Linda: Lang is an undergrad institution, no majors, some concentrations. Students design their own course of study with advisor. Originally there were no requirements, very few now. All seminar style courses, students choose their own. There are about 15 students in a class so students are expected to contribute. No tests, there are papers. We use the city as educational tool. There are very close relationships between students and faculty. There are similarities, but being in an urban area means that there are pieces that don't match up to Hampshire. Such as being part of a larger university, there are services for the whole university. Lang students are the most active in student governance most freshman choose to live in NYC. A lot of students who apply to Lang also apply to Hampshire. In terms of radical policies, please define.

student: can you give examples of policies that you have worked on or helped institute that are surprising, unconventional, gave students authority over their own lives.

Linda: One issue- our dorms are traditional in the sense that we assign males with males and females with females. Students came forward and said that it was not fair. We had a conversation and talked about how parents would feel. We came to terms with that and agreed to support it for the students, took it to my colleagues. There was discomfort, though other colleges had already done this. We went forward with the change. In the first year one hall of each was dorm non gendered. We made it open to younger students yet nobody chose to live in them (probably because those students had found apartments). It may not seem radical to you but it was at the New School then.

Another radical thing- we had a group of students who after tsunami wanted to go to Sri Lanka. They had made connections particularly with teachers and wanted to work with students/orphans. there was a lot of concern about the danger of sending students there, liability. sat with staff and students and helped to draw up a proposal answering those questions. they needed to understand why there were these concerns. decided they would check in every few days by email, etc. balanced their desire and school's needs. they went. since we got over that hump and after Hurricane Katrina we now have students who go on a fairly regular basis to work with Habitat for Humanity

student: any specific reasons why you're looking to work at Hampshire, especially since its out in the middle of nowhere compared to NYC?

L: one reason is the nature of the student body- they can challenge me and maker me question her own decisions. I have been at Lang for 17 years, at the point in my career and because my son is graduating it is a good time to turn attention to myself and decide do i want to continue where I am or look for a new challenge. so i decided yes. I am attracted to the relationship that students have with faculty, and student services. be fun to bring the experience at an urban institution to another place. also, spent 8 years at Manhattanville College (small Liberal Arts school). lived on campus was immersed in the life of the college on a day to day basis. I have lost that contact and would very much look forward to returning to that- especially since i don't have the same needs at home. as far as country versus city- confess- I will always love New York, but also like to escape. have a great love for the woods

student: how comfortable you are giving voice to student concerns- great to hear that you are open to students concerns challenging your ideas. in terms of the biggest issues on campus right now, issues of sustainability, racism, academic control. student concerns about holding administration accountable. no effective way to give students voice on campus. a bunch of non-functioning bodies, no really effective way to hear what students think. in terms of being DoSS, one big thing is dealing with students voice. what experience do you have being accountable for students voice?

L: first say, my position at the NS is one where i have significant impact on what happens to students. if student services isn't central to the students mission. in the 2 days, the meetings that I've been in, I think that it is of central importance and what they're looking for is a Dean of Student Services who will really represent that area. i do think that change will come about at Hampshire. I do consider myself as the senior most advocate for students. doesn't mean that I will do anything students want me to do. will listen to anything they have to say. one of the things I think admin makes mistakes about is, when there is an issue, students bring an issue forward- I want students to understand complexity of issue. we don't tell you all of the details, hoping that you won't ask. we owe it o you and ourselves to explain it to you. example: students want new furniture, we say we can't afford it. students say you put it over there but why not here. sit down and say this is why this has priority over that. can't support every single thing, presumably know the broader issues of the university. you want 100 things, we can only push forward 3. At NS have various ways of submitting reports, reallocating funds. have student services committee, bring students to that committee. our schools have different kinds of student governance, no university wide student government. working on it with students. brought proposal forward. some people might say its so much easier to not have student government, don't help them! board member said it was fabulous, going to fund it for a year. had elections, senate, etc.

those are some of the ways i would advocate for students. i don't expect students to trust me when i get here. have to earn that trust. hope that you are open to trusting. the key is communication, be honest about issues.

student: this is awkward, but what can you tell us about Jill Star (student who sued the NS for discrimination) L: not familiar with that. can't answer that question

student: over my four years, my primary interactions with DoS have been as an activist when instances of oppression occur on campus. want to get a sense of your ideas and approach to that sort of thing. have a lot of hope that the next person is someone that we can trust to be supportive, empowering instead of being victimized. obviously some things are private, but some instances are vary public. use them as opportunities for education. try to treat these instances as something bigger, not isolated. interested in your approach to students who feel victimized. your relationship to students and admin.

L: to me, two part question. how you react, how you are proactive first- react- there is not in institution on this globe that does not have to react. i can share with you how we handle these things at the NS. we have some issues with how students treat each other. we have a process through how we deal with this. our goal is to draw in as many students who are involved or immediately affected by the incident and understand the perspectives. one, we deal with the immediate incident- those are the things we don't share. sometimes seems unfair but we have to protect those students- make a statement that we have dealt with the incident. parents also want to know, can be controversial.

once that's we done we have to help the community heal from the incident. can take many forms depending on the incident.

on the proactive side. I'm very much a proactive person. like to develop policies, procedures, anticipating events and issues. hold events to ward them off. when these things come up on campus students go to office they are familiar with- housing, health services, etc. with the active help of students campaign- posters, speakers, do whatever we need to do to bring the issue out in the open, do whatever we need to do to.

student: what issues did the student senate bring up?

L:they want access to president and board of trustees. they want funding, though not specific. wanted an office, dealt with that and equipment. want to be able to communicate easily with students, want presence on the website. we're in conversation about all of those things. some are easier than others. we have a complicated way of dealing with funding. University won't just create a new fee for students. students have to want that. reach out to students find out what there issues are see if they would support a new fee for the student senate that they can disperse. have conversation with my colleagues about how that will work, wether that should be. don't automatically say yes. have to do it together. frustration factor that it can;t just happen right now. will help them. the tricky part that i'm having right now that i haven't come to terms with. we need to see president on regular basis and board of trustees. but they don't really have anything to say yet. need to survey the students so that they can present the issues. they didn't agree that access for access sake is important.

student: you do support the reaching out to students?

L: absolutely! any group of students (not group or anything) example- graduate students think their housing is too expensive. They’re demanding info on budget for that building to see if the NS makes a profit on that building. in a battle. there is confidential info such as salaries that cannot be shared, have to say no. that group doesn't represent anything. hoping that those issues which get funneled through the senate. if issues go around it will take away from the senates authority. at some point would like to not see every group of students.

student: if you leave the NS, you feel comfortable passing on those commitments to students [specifically the senate] to somebody else?

L: yes. I feel that I have a very good team.

student: students here will be asking for things like furniture, and also access to admin. asking for more advisor support, academic support, identity based housing.

L: things don't change in a minute, certainly being open to anything.

student: at least twice you've mentioned strength of relationship between students and faculty. what can student services do to support that?

L: one of the pieces that may not be that evident to students, especially those with any kind of issue, temporary crisis, doesn't matter. I believe very strongly it is the role of Student Services to reach out to those students so that they can succeed in the classroom. can't be done without faculty. they know you best, see you the most often. At the NS we work with faculty and train them- how to identify students who may be struggling. that has been phenomenal. i would hope to bring that here I think its important. where you already have a bond with faculty and they are very student centered. it was easy at Lang, a bit of a struggle with other schools we don't bring faculty into dorms. students want the dorms to be their place to go. a lot of schools do this. it may be that in NYC students feel like home is separate from school. don't know if that would work year but its another idea

student: a lot of students are apathetic about the bureaucracy. how do you make students feel that they have power and can make changes? students want something and feel that there is an overly difficult process for getting that done. how do you make students feel that they have power.

L: have a long way to go at NS, but give an example of one way we have space is always an issue in Manhattan. we have no space on campus, we don 't have a student center. students who want to have a meeting, do whatever. have to use classrooms. We have to i don't even know what the adjective is. you can't book rooms until after the first week of classes= students can have meetings then. what if we have to move people etc, there are a zillion forms to fill out, lots of people have to agree. very very cumbersome. i was able on the one hand to get the University to understand that students are no different than faculty who want to use space. given the lack of space it seems reasonable that you have to be a group to get access to that space. students are now like other members of the community and have access to the space

we have a long way to go on the bigger issues. we have plans to build a new academic building- the plans are years out but the planning is now. we opened it to the students but only after key decisions had been made (faculty weren't involved either) president wanted to push this forward. issue of what was going to happen to library in the interim. students rallied, and the plans changed. we wouldn't of had to have that if there had been that other discussion

students: trusting the students with knowledge is a huge problem. decisions that affect our lives directly more than admin. APL closing, trees cut down, speed bumps, key cards. on the discrimination side, lack of spreading knowledge. noose hung in Prescott. we don't know who to go too, who to trust the "admin" interesting issue: two students assaulted on campus at the end of jan terms, gave report to pub safety. in an effort to publicize pub published statement. gave description of 4 black males and one white male in a black SUV. not what students were trying to convey. went to pubs to ask why it was publicized that way. students don't recognize DOSS as a student voice. bringing student info to admin. biggest disconnect right now. so much of campus is disinterested, its hard to pull them together to get those messages. students leave feeling terrible

Transparency is big. Bureaucracy is very complex, students don't know where to go. Re-Rad published Guerrilla Guide to tell students how to navigate the B, because the school publishes no such doc. we don't know who makes many of the decisions.

L: I think there's hope, don’t despair. all institutions have community issues. the important thing is to not give up, keep pushing things forward. i think that there are going to be some good things happening.

Other Candidates

 * Dawn Ellinwood's Visit
 * Michelle Green's Visit

back to 2007-2008 Dean of Students Search