The Scarlet & Black

The Independent Student News Site of Grinnell College

The Scarlet & Black

The Scarlet & Black

Staff ed: Improvements in the RLC sphere

The Grinnell College community has been subject to many changes in staff in recent history. Last year, the four new Residence Life Coordinators (RLCs) quickly garnered a less-than-positive response from students. This year, a similar staff turnover occurred, with four out of five current RLCs new to campus this year—but life on Grinnell campus has remained surprisingly stable.

Last year, students at Grinnell bore witness to RLCs using the popular cyber-forum GrinnellPlans to attack other colleagues, not stepping foot on floors in their cluster even once during the year or leaving their positions before the semester had even finished. By comparison, no such drama has yet transpired on campus. We attribute the significant improvement in staff hires to the RLCs’ ability to relate to Grinnell students and Grinnell life on a personal and professional level, as most of them are graduates of small liberal arts institutions akin to Grinnell.

In general, RLCs this year seem to be more in tune with what it means to be a party of a campus community—that their job is not a typical 9-to-5. Students should be unsurprised to see their RLCs in the dining hall, walking their pets and visiting with non-Student-Staff students, even in their “off-time.”
Though perhaps we’re jumping the gun, as its only been a total of X days into the academic year. As mentioned in the article on pg X, RLCs have already begun cracking down on students who have cats in their dorms. What RLCs may have yet to learn is the reality of self-governance on campus—that while the institution may decree a rule as hard-and-fast, Grinnell students typically engage in a larger floor, dorm or community conversation to come to a consensus.

But let’s cut them some slack and wait it out—they are first years, after all.

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