Counter in TUitive 10.8.10

I love the Trinitonian. In the most recent edition, a photo is displayed on page 2 of the Dean of Students' campus house - my home - which was TP'ed with toilet paper the previous night. The headline read: "Are we in middle school again?"

Actually, it is high school. My house was toilet papered by the cheerleaders for Central Catholic High School for my son, who plays football as a senior there. I actually went out and chatted with the vandals as they decorated. They also did a little work on the Suburban, as pictured above. The front windshield actually said "Sexy Senior" which drew all sorts of odd looks when I was driving around alone later that week. Senior, yes, as in gray-haired old man.

I will think the Trinitonian staff thought I was the target of this: That -- by their headline --they were chastising the childish pranksters in a way that was protective of their Dean. That is good news to me. Even better news is that TUPD, housed next door to me on Kings Court, had also noticed the decorating and called me about it before charging in.

In Stride: the Long run

This is a series on runners participating in the 3rd Annual Dean of Students Half Marathon Challenge on November 14, 2010. We begin the series with senior Jessica Long, a Biology major from Arlington, Texas.

Why did you decide to do the half initially?
I had run off and on for years. Then you sent out an email saying if we could run three miles by the end of the summer we should be able to train for the half, and I love a challenge.

Why a full this year?
A half was no longer a challenge distance-wise. I knew I could do it, so I needed another challenge.

What motivates you?
I’ve always been self motivated. I have a strong need to succeed that drives me and keeps me going.

What are you proud of?
I’m proud of being at Trinity, especially since neither of my parents went to college, my baking abilities, and the two half marathons I have run.

Tell me about your grandparents and what they mean to you.
My grandparents mean the world to me, and I don’t know what I would do without them. I have lived with them since I was 13 years old, and they have always supported me any way they could. Because of them I have had countless opportunities I would not have had otherwise, including Trinity. Technically, they are my grandparents, but, for all practical purposes, they are my parents. I know they will be sitting on the front row at graduation in the Spring cheering me on now and always.

Underdog forever

Kayla Mire ('10) passed away on October 2, 1010 in a one vehicle accident. I wish she hadn't been alone, but she had grown comfortable there. The last year or two weren't the easiest for her, but she was making a comeback. In her sister Jaime's blog honoring Kayla, she encourages that we be honest and "say what we feel." A stressed out Kayla sought advice from me about her commitment as an ASR senator. She decided to step down, and her peers in the senate rejected her personally delivered resignation. They didn't care if she didn't do another thing. They were pulling for her. They weren't the only ones. She had professors who loved and appreciated her and who worked closely with her to get back on track. They were pulling for her too. So was I. She played the unwilling underdog and is forever stuck there for me.

Her story is much fuller to many other people though. I look forward to the memories as posted on Jaime's blog and to hearing more stories about her from previous, happier times. Her sister, also a recent TU grad who had to endure the death of her brother in 2004 as well, says "I'm working on putting together a service project in her a honor, most likely a posthumous poetry reading, featuring her writing combined with the writing of those who knew her. It's titled the KAYLA project: Keeping Active with Youth, Love, and Art. I set up a blog where people can post their favorite memories, a letter to her, maybe a poem - whatever they feel. And their words, inspired by Kayla, will go on to better the lives of others. She wanted to devote her life to service, so I feel it's the best way to honor her."

Please honor Kayla's memory by reading or contributing to the KAYLA project blog. The funeral is set for Saturday afternoon.

Minerva, Meredith, M*A*S*H, and Mary

Student Affairs staff member Minerva Lopez, shown with President Dennis Ahlburg, was the recipient of the Helen Heare McKinley Employee Excellence Award for September, 2010. Minerva is on the left.

An announcement by committee member Meredith Elsik noted: Minerva has been a member of the Trinity community for over 10 years, currently serving as the Senior Secretary in the Counseling Services offices. She also worked as a secretary in the Health Care Administration department for several years. One of her co-workers described Minerva’s dedication to her job, saying “Minerva Lopez is the Radar O’Reilley of Counseling Services. Like the M*A*S*H character, Minerva knows how to get things done and makes them happen."

Minerva was also honored at the annual University Awards ceremony for ten years of service. At that same ceremony, Mary Butler, from the campus Mail Center, was recognized for 20 years of service to Trinity University. Mary is a tremendous employee and colleague and serves with pride and enthusiasm. She is pictured with several family members who attended the October 5 ceremony. She is the one clutching the award like she earned it every day of those 20 years. Congratulations to these great two staff members!

The Right Stuff

This is complicated. The campus paper, the Trinitonian, has participated in a one-week celebration of the First Amendment, by publishing a four-page wrap-around TriniPHONian with news that is presented as, well, phony news. That wrap-around illustrated what the paper would be like if the administration - not the student body - was the publisher. The editorial in the regular portion of the paper explains this and then explores the importance of free speech, applauding the way it is practiced here. (No prior review of the paper, for example.)

This is all set to the back-drop of a story and editorial from the previous week, about Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. Apparently two club officers were stripped of their leadership positions in IVCF because one was dating a non-Christian, and another announced that she no longer believed in hell.

But before judging IVCF too harshly, check out the Trinitonian story about the speaker the group brought to campus this week. She is Trinity parent Evelyn Husband Thompson and she talked about her faith following the loss of her husband Rick in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle tragedy. He was the mission captain. Her talk, as covered by the Trinitonian, was inspiring. Her faith, apparently, helped her rebuild her life from a very real kind of hell. Maybe they are on to something.

A Trinitonian columnist who is actually the President of IVCF wrote a personal and stirring column about some of the less-than-civil criticism he has endured in the wake of last week's story. In his column, he openly disagreed with the paper's coverage and editorial the previous week. So he wrote about it as a columnist for the same paper this week. The paper, apparently, practices what it preaches, no pun intended.

This week there is also a letter from a professor who suggests Jesus wouldn't be able to hold an officer position in IVCF under current rules. I think is tongue-in-cheek. It's hard to tell, because the letter includes terms such as "anti-intellectualism"(guilty), "relativism," and "secular humanists." This is why I prefer being a staff member. (I could do a whole blog post on the pros and cons of Jesus being in a Trinity student organization, by the way.)

A library staffer, two brothers, and a satirist also weighed-in this week on the IVCF issue. I offer a brief synopsis:
- If I believed in hell, which I don't, I would suggest you go there;
- Date people of different faiths even if marriage isn't imminent;
- Houston is hell and;
- The words "womb" and "anathema" are good to keep in your arsenal.

As we learned during last year's diploma debate, sometimes being right, doesn't make you right. Sometimes there is much more gray than black-and-white. People in the same community and even part of the same publication can make legitimate differing points through civil discourse. And yet again, we see the students and the learned faculty and staff here able to exercise their First Amendment rights (even at a private institution) and debate in generally thoughtful, emotional, and intellectual ways. The focus is on teaching and learning. In the end,the details really don't even matter that much. Yes, it's complicated. On a college campus, it should be.

Laurie's Head

I don't know that I can play this straight. No one else has seemed able to. My first experience with Laurie's head was seeing Marc Raney, former VP for Advancement, carrying it in the elevator en route to the Northrup fourth floor supply room last spring. It was a bit shocking, seeing Marc with a head -- in addition to his own -- bigger than most, and with what appeared to be some slight damage. It was shocking too, apparently, for secretaries who went looking for office supplies only to come face-to-head with the University legend.

In a ceremony on September 13, 2010, Laurie's head (a plaster sculpted head - not a bust - of former TU President James Laurie) was presented by its artist, Phil Evett, and installed in Laurie Auditorium. Evett, a former TU art professor, looking out over the graying and balding crowd noted that for awhile he actually thought he might have died. What probably should have been a somber and formal ritual seemed to turn into a series of head jokes worthy of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The Trinity old-timers, it turns out, are just like us. Current President, Dennis Ahlburg actually set the tone, announcing first that Dr. Laurie built the campus and while the Ahlburg legacy is to renovate it.

President Laurie retired in 1970 and died later that same year after being stricken with hepatitis. At Laurie's retirement ceremony in May of 1970, Andrew Cowles announced that the new auditorium on campus would bear Laurie's name. At that same ceremony, professor Frances Swinney thanked Dorothy Laurie, who by all accounts was universally revered, for her grace as a "respecter of life and love." The same Frances Swinney had a front row seat at the September ceremony this year. (I actually met this hip, charming, and witty lady at a function this fall.) Reverend Raymond Judd, who presided at Dr. Laurie's funeral, was also back and offered an invocation at the ceremony. Dr. Laurie was beloved as a remarkable, giving, warm, and principled man. Raymond Judd came to trinity as a student when Dr. Laurie arrived as President.

The ceremony led me back to the Doug Brackenridge history tome of Trinity. In it, he details the Laurie years, which saw Trinity move to the current location, often referenced as the "miracle on the hill." Current professor and former Dean of Students Coleen Grissom confirms that Dr. Laurie had the presence and vision that made him a pivotal institutional figure. He hired her back to Trinity after she initially left. That should be enough proof of his judgment. He knew all employees by name before his first day on the job. He would spend money the University didn't have to build the campus we have today. At his retirement a speaker noted that he "always insisted that Trinity live within its means, even if it had to borrow money to do it."

This was one of the best University events that I never looked forward to. The artist went on to discuss how, in the initial stages of this secret commission, he would stealthily stalk President Laurie at various events to get the right perspective for his piece. When the widow of President Laurie was first being shown the auditorium that would posthumously bear his name, she actually unexpectedly turned a corner to be faced with the stunning head of her late husband. No one noted the irony James "Woodin" Laurie was immortalized by plastic. The unique style actually does give the appearance of an incomplete sculpture, which makes it more art and less figurine.

Laurie's head sat in the studio of Professor of Phil Evett until a retired professor, Frank Kersnowski, worked with Trustee Jim Dicke (art expert - see Dicke Art Building) to have the head displayed in Laurie Auditorium. It went from studio, to supply room, to where it sits now, in the Laurie Auditorium lobby.

This has created for me a rush of nostalgia for a time I didn't even experience. The ceremony, with all of these elderly University relics, was spirited, funny, warm, and personal. Dr. Evett said he would replay the day in his thoughts in the months ahead because its meaning and being back on campus with his old colleagues and memories. The day was an incredible reminder of the vibrant life of a past so often dulled by black and white photos and historical footnotes. It could not have been a better tribute to a man, a head, and mostly, a heart that still beats strong today.

Counter InTUitive 9.10.10

This is a regular feature to examine the information in the weekly Trinitonian editorial. I love the Trinitonian and the students who run it. Sometimes, however there are more nuances to the issue than they have space for. Besides, electronic media allows for there to be "watchdog" watchdogs. Editorials are rated by "hits," as in blog hits, with one being worst and 5 being best. If they are published on-line I will provide links.

Since this is the first Trinitonian review of the semester, I will offer some broader feedback. Overall this issue features great quality regarding depth, writing, reporting, professionalism, and appearance.

On the University screening student e-mails:
Not only can we not technically or legally read student e-mail, we have no interest. Most of us don't have time to read our own e-mails, let alone get into a raunchy student exchange about the Iliad. Mainly though, we just don't think you are that interesting (no offense).

RIP Cobb-Racy
Regarding a small building being torn down as part of science facility renovation:
It might help for people to know that SLH stands for Science Lecture Hall. SLH was mainly the term for the 60's era terraced classroom. Oh, and you owe Dr. Blyston an "e."

Professor Play list:
Speaks for itself. Great feature.

Hot water story and editorial
Regarding the lack of hot water over Labor Day weekend
So, I only learned of the water softener angle by reading the Trinitonian. Despite having measures in place to manage things like hot water outages the University response was rife with miscommunication, late communication, and errors. We will do better next time. In our defense, some of these things unfold over time in unpredictable ways. The long weekend, the rain, and narrowing down the problem all compounded things. I am not making any excuses... Just kidding, I am. Our bad. (Note to students: next time you stage a protest do it when we are around. It looked fun though.)

4 blog hits

ASR (student government) Student Activity fee
Coverage on the initiative by ASR to propose a fee increase
Good story and editorial. Equally thrilled and bummed that a former blog post of mine was used against ASR. We ARE over-programmed AND under-funded. Those things are not mutually exclusive. Well-considered editorial, but there is more to this in terms of student groups wanting funding. That's not ASR's fault. But at least people aren't criticizing ASR for inaction. This is more like it!

4 blog hits

Interim Steps

In the role of interim VP for Student Affairs I identified several major goals for the year ahead, dating back to February. Serving in this role offers an opportunity to address some things that are stuck in my craw and that will hopefully reduce some ongoing friction points with students. The big three, in no particular order, are as follows:

Dining Services
ARAMARK will be presenting some preliminary findings to student government next Monday from the Market View study they have been conducting over the past several months. The preliminary recommendations should be well-received by students, faculty, staff, and the administration. The next step will be to study the costs of the recommendations and then roll them out to the students and University community this fall. Some changes could be made as soon as early spring. I am very excited about the opportunities for an extreme makeover to our dining program.

Greek Life
Next week a consultant will meet with fraternities and sororities as a community and then individually to look at our overall program and individual club orientation programs and values. This is on the heels of the roll-out of the new Greek Alumni Advisory Board and the new alumni advising system that is being put into place. In addition, and related to the consulting, we will convene a group that can help us develop ways for groups to socialize off campus in as safe a manner as possible. This is also exciting as it appears that administrators (particularly me), students, and alumni are all ready for a less adversarial relationship. We need the alumni involvement in this and they are thrilled to be involved.

Residency Requirement
At the Board of Trustee meeting late next week we will take a little time to discuss the three-year residency requirement. Why do we have it? Is it still relevant? Does it hurt more than it helps? Does it make students feel controlled? Do our facilities support the requirement? I have ideas, but the trustees certainly do too. Ideas from this discussion will be helpful as the full university-wide strategic planning process unfolds this year.

Student Affairs is still engaged in year three of its own five-year strategic plan, is looking at weekend campus programming options, hoping to revive the Tigers' Den (related to ARAMARK plan), developing leadership programs and a men's conference, building a sexual assault survivor ally program, and is focusing on social media as a way to connect with students and other constituents. Expanding or redefining Career Services will certainly be discussed in the broad strategic planning efforts of the University. Look for updates on these issues and others in Student Affairs as the semester moves forward.

By the Numbers, and the Book

There has to be a better way to count people. Grant it, we didn't trek to Bethlehem on a donkey, but couldn't we use satellite imaging or something? I was confused by the whole process of counting students, but we must have done well, because we received a certificate for our good work, (See photo below.) Our good work involved hanging posters in the dorms and letting census workers sit in the Coates Center lobby. I think I should get a certificate for working with Louise (above, left) every month.

Louise works for the census bureau and her job is to do a monthly count of residents in a specific dorm and interview ten of them. This month it is Susanna Hall. She deserves a certificate too. She doesn't just sit at a table and I doubt there is a better census taker in the nation. Let me lay out the evidence.

Louise is a rule follower. Despite the fact that she has met me monthly for about two years, she never strays from her script: "Hello, I'm Louise and I am taking a census of Susanna Hall." Yes, Louise, I know you. Then she shows me the card that lists six options for the type of facility we are discussing and I identify that it is, in fact, a college residence hall, just as it was 16 months ago. Louise takes no shortcuts as she hands me the census brochure that I immediately recycle. I then complete and sign the confidentiality agreement that is required annually but makes her feel better to have monthly, because she is a rule follower. (I don't know if the agreement covers blogging.) This is followed by her explanation that her supervisor may contact me to evaluate her performance. I wish he would. Louise would get an A+.

Louise holds people accountable. She described to me, in great detail, her experience with the census worker who came to Louise's door. That woman never had a chance. She was not a rule follower and Louise made her re-do the interview following the script. I am more of a spirit of the law than a letter of the law person, despite being in charge of student conduct. I would have failed as a census worker.

Louise is my third census worker. Shedrick and Diana were my first two. Shedrick resurfaces once in awhile. I was his first client and he was nervous, so I tried to be really nice and helpful and just kind of got attached to him. As time passed he became uber-confident and started showing up wearing bling and alligator-skin cowboy boots. I like to think I played a confidence-boosting role in that new swagger.

The census people have to interview ten students a month and ask them questions that are illogical to ask college students. I could have delegated this long ago, but instead, I e-mail the students and tell them to be nice to these people and cooperate. The students assume I am a rule follower and want to comply.

I regularly receive articles in the mail cut out from the local paper that contain Trinity references. These come from Louise. She likes to add a personal touch to her work. She doesn't own a computer and I suppose doesn't know that I see these articles on-line and also read the paper. I don't care. I think it is sweet that she clips articles and mails them. Who does that? Not every census worker, I assure you.

So, I will recycle my certificate for my good work in 2010. It doesn't mean much to me. The clippings - those I will save. I will also print this post and mail it to Louise. But no matter how you count it... we won't be even.

Sprayin' some hits...

Classes haven't started, it isn't baseball season yet, and there was a bizarro magician performing as part of Welcome Week to a packed house in Laurie Auditorium. Despite all that, and the unexpected activation of the sprinklers, and that no one was around to shag balls, senior Tiger baseball player Ryan Murphy spent some time Monday night honing his craft with a bat, a tee, and a bucket of balls.

I like that the field was available to him. I like that the lights were available to him. I like t

hat there was no homework for him to think about. And I just like the image of a guy with a work ethic, indifference to recycled water, and a little muscle memory: All with Trinity as the backdrop. Moments make the experience. This seemed like a cool one. According to his Coach, Tim Scannell, Ryan is a hard worker and a terrific young man. All the better.

Loser's Lament

Above, seniors participate in the annual toast at the annual Last Great Reception.

Trinity has stopped booking spring commencement speakers. The truth is, our student speakers are so good, and their messages so personal, that there is no need for anyone else. The ceremony lasts long enough as it is. A committee of seniors, staff members, and a professor audition students and the seniors on the committee select the finalist.

This works for us. Students are empowered here to do a lot: Our conduct board is uniquely an all-student board. We offer self-governed living communities and allow juniors and seniors great autonomy in halls specifically for them. Students serve on all university committees and even represent at Board of Trustee meetings. For commencement, about 30 seniors are asked to consider being on the speaker selection committee. From that, a committee is set. An all-call is made to invite students to audition.

In 2010, Brendan McNamara gave a fun speech in which he recalled mud fights and punctuated his theme with a reference to the Road Less Travelled, with his own interpretation: "Screw the road."

There were 11 students who auditioned. I asked the losers to send me their speeches because they were all really fantastic. It seems a horrible waste for ten students to write speeches that no one would ever hear. While these refections are pertinent to the Class of 2010, they contain terrific wisdom for the Class of 2014. So with their permission, I share some highlights:

Persistence
"We are not quitters, and this is not a trait that I take lightly, or for granted. There was a time when I was ready to quit. I filled out the forms to withdraw from Trinity and planned to transfer to another school. I had my fair share of rough times and I doubted my ability to continue – a sentiment that I suspect I am not alone in feeling at one time or another. How many times did we get frustrated at our work load, almost crumble under the pressure of the myriad commitments we took on, feel like we were at our wit’s end? How many times did we want to just give up and quit? How many people do we know that did? But we didn’t. We persevered."

"...But after the initial joy of being independent and free went away, I realized how awful college actually was. The methods that worked to get you through 12 years of education did not work anymore. We had to work harder than we had ever worked before. We had messy roommates, loud hallmates, and we were convinced that professors schemed together to assign all of our midterms within a 48 hour time period. We were forced to live on campus for three years, subjected to eating Mabee food, and despite paying $40,000 a year, we were handed toilet paper rougher than sandpaper."

Relationships
"Trinity is a haven for cultivating relationships - with friends, professors, administrators, musical directors, coaches, grounds workers, boyfriends, girlfriends, and even with the Trinity cats."

"I started to think about what made my Trinity experience. And then I realized it same thing that makes all of our Trinity experiences - people."

Breadth
"You just never know and the beauty of college is that it prepares you for that unknown. I came into Trinity wanting to be a doctor since age six. Had this been one of many other schools, you known what I would have done? Taken the courses I needed, graduated, and got on with my life, without ever stepping out the world of science. I’d be a one-sided individual without anything to hold me together besides what Id learned for the MCAT. Trinity changed that for me. I’m graduating as a premed frat biochemist with a passion for drama. And there’s no way I could’ve known."

Depth
"When you reflect upon the memories that Trinity University has given you, that you and all those around you have helped to create, look harder. Look past the tower that you climbed as a first-year, and realize how much farther into San Antonio you can see, the community that has revealed itself to you beyond the Trinity bubble. Feel past the chill of Miller Fountain on your 19th birthday, and realize how many people have filled you with warmth since that day, relationships predicated upon introductions to fellow innocent strangers at Trinity 360. Hear past the chorus of hand bells in December of 2006, as they delicately place their chimes amongst the yuletide voices in Laurie Auditorium, and realize how many words you have heard, how many songs have been song, how the clarity of sound is deafening now that you know what those words mean. Smell past the mud caked on your knees from your first IM game, your first tumble up Cardiac Hill, your first (and last) mud fight in the Quad on a rainy day, and realize how many rains have fallen since then and the freshness you feel when the sun hits your weathered cheeks, how the smell fills you with life and a renewed purpose everyday. Go past all of these things, and realize that there is something more than what you have seen, something more than what you have felt, something more than what you have heard, something more than what you have smelt, something more than what you have tasted."

But the speech that struck me most focused on risk-taking and involvement which is where all of the above begins. It called out those who missed out on the experiences that were there for the taking, but never taken.

Probably it wasn't chosen because those who sleep-walked through their experience would have felt like they wasted their time here. If they were listening. My hope for the Class of 2014 is that they are listening. Before those students know it, they will be graduating. And I hope it doesn't pass them by without their full involvement. If so, it will be the loser's lament.

The Short and the Long of it

Is she tiny? Is he tall? Students can find out when they return in August and meet Soisouda Inthavong (left), Coordinator for Intercultural and Diversity Relations and Erick Twyman (right), ASR Accountant. Soi will work with TDC and coordinate programs such as the MLK events and Women's History Month. With a degree from Schreiner University, Erick will work part-time to keep the books straight for ASR in its newly-constituted money-disbursing role. He will assist other sponsored organizations as well. His position is funded by ASR with money from the Student activity fee.
Lisa Steelman will serve as the new Residential Life Coordinator for part of the first-year area with returning Coordinator Lily Gonzalez. Mark Barker will oversee the Sophomore College while Cally Chenault has moved to the upper-class area. We are thrilled to be at full-staff in Residential Life and for residents to work with these new and returning staff members.