In Medias Res #11-Moving on Up

As I type this entry I am still wearing the safety goggles I was given on the construction site this morning. We went on a tour of our new campus union, which G-d and weather willing, will be opening this summer. The frame of the building is up and the spaces for our offices are blocked off, although who will actually be in which office has yet to be decided. During my first week of orientation here there was quite a bit of fuss made over how we don’t have hierarchies. That notion gets dispelled really quickly, though, when people are vying for office space.
Now, I’m realistic and I’m also not particularly greedy. I am the last hired (although by this summer that may not be true anymore) and I have the least experience. More importantly I like having a smaller space. It forces me to get out of my office and move around campus. I meet students over in the residence halls or at one of the cafes on campus, and it allows our conversations to be a great deal more casual. Even if I had a bigger office with a conference table I don’t know how much it would get used. Or, if it were getting used how much that level of formality would change my relationship with my students.
I am looking forward to getting into the new space, whichever office I do end up with. First of all, the building is amazing. It is brand new, with awesome amenities and yet it is very focused on creating spaces for students to get involved and engaged. It is far from those monstrosities you read about in The Chronicle where 90% of the square footage has been dedicated to retail spaces. There is no Mystic Tan on the premises. There is, however, going to be a great resource room for student organizations, and a really neat room designed by a committee of students for holding retreats and workshops.
Equally exciting, though, is the foot traffic. This building is going to be high density and high use! It is situated smack dab in the middle of the campus, and will effectively serve as the transitional building between the residential campus and the academic campus. This means that lots of students will be passing through it on their way to class. Hopefully students will also be hanging out there between classes. My potential office looks out onto the primary courtyard which means students can see if I’m available and come by and say hello.
Right now, although I’m in the student activities suite (and I should note I don’t work for student activities so they’ve been very nice to house me) I’m tucked away in the back. Students have to make an effort to seek me out, and generally the students I see on a regular basis are my student leaders who come by for signatures or students who find themselves in serious trouble. This new geography will hopefully encourage more casual visitors and allow me to develop new relationships with a greater spectrum of students.
At the same time, my students are currently redecorating their lounge (yes some of the larger student organizations on our campus have their own lounges as much as an administrative nightmare that presents). This is an amazing resource that they seriously underutilize. When I first got here it was effectively being treated like a storage room. I put an end to that quickly, but last week a huge chunk of plaster fell off a wall and almost hit a student. To their credit they used to the incident to convince facilities that it was time to redecorate. So everyone has new furniture fever. On Monday I met with them and the University Interior Decorator (seriously! We have a university interior decorator?) and they picked out lots of cool stuff. Now if only I could get that old lock that refuses to open for me fixed, we’d be set!
I’ve promised them starting in the spring once the new furniture is here and the space is cleaned I will do office hours in the lounge. I don’t know if this will continue next year when I am in my Snazzy New Office™. The idea is to get students comfortable and used to the Lounge as an opne alternative space on campus. I'm all for that, but what I'm hoping for out of the Faustian bargain is more student foot traffic. In theory that shouldn't be a problem next year. For me anyways. Oh well! T-minus 8 and a half months!