SEAHO Report - Spring 2017 - 16

SEAHO Features

Enhancing Residential Community through Intentional
Leadership Development for Resident Assistants:
The Kilgo Effect
By Charlie Clausen and Deb LoBiondo, Duke University

Campuses across our region work hard to make their on-campus housing options not just a desk and a bed,
but a home. Though a simple concept, achieving such a goal requires navigating many challenges. At Duke
University, we've developed an approach that has been statistically supported to have yielded significant
increases in resident satisfaction and assignment retention while decreasing policy violations, damage billing, as
well as frequency and severity of student of concern cases.
Background
At Duke, all undergraduates are required to live on campus for three years. East campus is the first home for all
first-year students while West and Central campuses house our Sophomores and Juniors. Freshman arrival is a
grandiose well-oiled-machine where 1,700+ students are welcomed and moved into their respective buildings in
just over 6 hours. Vehicles full of matriculating first-years and their belongings are met by staff welcomes and
student volunteer move-in crews that bring all belongings from the curb to the student's room while they park
and pick up their key. It is a truly fantastic welcome. East campus has only one cafeteria-style eatery, minimal
classrooms, and is a mile from main campus, enabling the new class to have high interaction with each other,
build relationships, and form community.
The Challenge
Recruitment for student-perceived elite social organizations (Greek Life and Non-Greek Selective Living
Groups) begins in January and coincides with a student's housing assignment for their Sophomore year. As
a Sophomore, students are assigned either Central Campus (apartments) or West Campus (residence halls).
The Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) office regularly notes increased anxiety reported in
appointments over these recruitment processes and housing assignments with the prevailing student belief being
their social life is over if not accepted into an organization.
All assignments are to what Duke refers to as a house (a section of a building, not a standalone unit itself) in the
5-year old "House Model". One building is comprised of up to 12 houses. There are three types of houses: (1)
Administrative - students apply to a program administered by another office (e.g., Women's Center) and live in
community with those in the program, (2) Selective Living Group (SLG) - housing-based organization which
could be a Greek-affiliated organization or a locally Duke organization that self-selects it's members/hallmates,
and (3) Independent - housing for students unaffiliated with the aforementioned programs/organizations.
Students perceive the use of the word "Independent" as a pejorative, viewing it as left over housing. The hope
for these houses is to develop identities, traditions, and community.
Upperclass move-in is incredibly underwhelming, especially for Sophomores given their first-year experience.
The culture of West Campus is that there are no rules and if you are in an SLG you are "in" and if you are not
then you are "out". Upperclass students are the volunteers who move in first-years so, by necessity, they need
to be approved to move in before actual opening day, along with athletes, executive council members of other
organizations that wish to have a head start, summer school students who don't leave, etc. On actual opening
day, it's not uncommon for 40%+ of a building to already be moved in with no special welcome.
SEAHO Report Spring 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Spring 2017