The departure of Associate Director of Residence Life & Orientation Kim Hinds-Brush, who has watched five classes graduate and lived on campus as an RLC for four years, will be a great loss for Grinnell. Kim is an undeniably positive and essential presence on campus as a staff member, a community member and, according to one of last year’s more accurate issues of the B&S, a “general campus badass.”

How good of an RLC was she? Great, just ask anyone who lived in Loosehead or worked on student staff. Would SGA run well without her as adviser? Probably, but the SGA cabinet would probably be the first to tell you that she’s an essential, steady piece to the chaos. But beyond her contractual duties, Kim, along with her husband Randy Brush, are pillars of the Grinnell College Community.

Even if Student Affairs has someone as qualified to solve housing conflicts or run the fines system, they don’t have anyone who knows the College so well from both the administrative and student perspectives. This doesn’t reflect poorly on Student Affairs—they’ve shown diligence in hiring people who fill their roles well—but instead how important Kim is to the College.

And the only way to find a new “Kim” is to invest in a person who shows a clear commitment not only to the Office of Student Affairs, not only to the professional role of administrators, but to the actual everyday lives of students. To grow that sort of staff member takes the right type of person and, more importantly, time spent at Grinnell and a commitment to the school. So, with Kim’s departure, Student Affairs should take her five years here as a prime example of how this school can grow and nurture the sort of administrator that fulfills its core statement of “Student Centerdness.”

If you haven’t gotten to meet Kim and/or Randy yet, take some time out of your schedule if you see them around and get to know both an official and unofficial staff member who embodies the mission of Student Affairs.