Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 45

their different perspectives. Some are
focused on this resource being for
trans-identified students, others just
for students who want to live beyond a
binary. I know that I have had to seek
out resources to keep myself informed
on this topic and understand how I
can negotiate my own privilege and
guide these students to a place where
their thoughts become tangible goals
and realities. Being on a campus
where we are in the midst of massive
growth and renovation residentially
has opened my eyes to forward
thinking. Planning to have all firstand second-year students on campus
means reviewing what those years
look like for all students.

W. Darrell Hess: I agree with all
of the comments so far, especially
the notion that we can always be
more inclusive. Just having this
conversation is a good start. I also
think that we need to conduct
meaningful research and assessments
to determine what will make housing
more accessible. Oftentimes it seems
easier to make assumptions or just
move forward with ideas that are
not fully developed. This type of hit
or miss approach is not appropriate
and can often have a very different
outcome than what is expected.

coed restrooms. I disliked it my first
couple of weeks but grew accustomed
to it. This was over 10 years ago, and it
is interesting to think that for me this
was about growing accustomed versus
someone's need. It's also interesting
for me to reflect and process why I
automatically focused on finances but
did not fully embrace what it means to
be inclusive.

Nash: Good morning everyone, I'll
add in on Darrell's comments and
say that I also see the flip side of
the hit or miss approach, where we
were very intentional in developing
inclusive communities, to get
them up and running, and then for
whatever reason simply allowed
them to remain the same year in
and year out instead of evaluating
them and evolving them as both our
students and administration change.
I unfortunately see this regularly with
theme floor concepts based around
race and ethnicity. Oftentimes the lack
of evolution paired with the lack of
true assessment that occurs in these
communities simply allows us to give
lip service and not true substance to
their existence. If we do not begin to
approach these communities from
a learning outcome and quantitative
basis, resources for them will become
more and more difficult to garner.

Straker: Thanks, Liz, for bringing
up the point about gender-neutral
housing. When originally posed with
the question, I automatically went to
affordability in housing. When I was
in undergrad we had gender-neutral
housing after freshman year if there
were separate rooms. Basically if
you lived in a suite, you could share
housing with whomever. We also had

Deb Schmidt-Rogers: Romando or
anyone -Why do you think we just let
them (programs, theme communities,
etc.) go on without evaluation or
assessment? Are we afraid of what we
might find if we do? Is it about our
own personal stories or baggage with
inclusivity? Laziness? Just curious. Do
you think we do this with all programs

or just those that we perceive to
be associated with inclusion and
accessibility of housing?

Nash: Hi Deb, great question. Off
the top of my head, I think that there
are a variety of reasons including the
ones that you list. In my opinion, it
is oftentimes simply good enough
that we have created the community,
as that is what as a profession we are
all about doing, community building.
In these sorts of communities, I do
think that there is a fear of diving
in too much if we ourselves are not
well versed in that particular race and
ethnicity. This deals with our own
baggage, sometimes the baggage of
the campus partners who we may be
working with to help us facilitate these
communities, and a likely fear of
looking like the bad person if you are
not of that race or ethnicity and are
coming in asking for data, changes,
learning outcomes, or improvements.
Professionals oftentimes do not want
to be perceived as not understanding
of these communities, when in reality
that simply isn't it. The understanding
of the need for them is generally
there, but there also needs to be the
understanding that simply having
them exist cannot and should not be
good enough. We need them to exist
and be attractive, student-centered,
true learning environments that
demonstrate why we put the resources
into them that we do. I do find that
these sorts of issues are generally
more associated with inclusion and
accessibility of housing. In my mind,
it simply comes down to this: There
is much work to be done individually,
as an association and overall, around
inclusivity issues for all ACUHO-I
professionals.
November + December 2013

45



Talking Stick - November/December 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - November/December 2013

Talking Stick - November/December 2013
Contents
New Member Highlight
Vision
Just In
Your ACUHO-I
Transitions
Res Life
Business Operations
Special Focus
Calendar
Partnerships in Programming
Mind over Matter
Conversations
First Takes
Reporting Out
New Members
Snapshot
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Talking Stick - November/December 2013
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Cover2
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 1
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 2
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 3
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - New Member Highlight
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 5
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Vision
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 7
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Just In
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 9
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 10
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 11
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 12
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Your ACUHO-I
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Transitions
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 15
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Res Life
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 17
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 18
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 19
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Business Operations
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 21
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 22
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 23
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Special Focus
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 25
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 26
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Calendar
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Partnerships in Programming
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 29
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 30
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 31
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 32
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 33
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 34
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 35
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Mind over Matter
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 37
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 38
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 39
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 40
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 41
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 42
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 43
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Conversations
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 45
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 46
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - First Takes
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Reporting Out
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 49
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 50
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 51
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 52
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 53
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - New Members
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - 55
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Snapshot
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Cover3
Talking Stick - November/December 2013 - Cover4
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