Talking Stick - July/August 2015 - 31

of things from university-managed
to totally private, operated and
managed and everything in between."
Ultimately, the way in which the
contract is designed will determine the
roles of both the institution and the
developer.
For Northern Arizona University,
their partnership is in the form of
a land lease, in which Payne says,
"The developer who developed the
project manages the project in total,
so students do not have a university
contract." Rather than paying housing
fees through student services, students
and parents allocate funds through the
private developer, much in the same
way that they would if they were living
off campus. Due to the management
role outlined in the contract, "they
handle all of their landlord-tenant
issues," he says.
On the other hand, Lynn Ellison,
director of residence life at Cleveland
State University in Ohio and who
is employed by American Campus
Communities says, "We manage
the facilities, residential education,
all employment issues, leasing
and university relations. We do
everything." Ellison attributes
American Campus's professionalism
and student housing experience as a
vital reason why an institution would
choose to have an auxiliary residence
hall managed by a third party,
especially for smaller institutions
that are just beginning their student
housing journey. She says, "Rather
than going through and hiring all
of the staff they need to build that
infrastructure, it's easier to partner
with a company that does this for a
living."
However, it's important to bear
in mind that various means of
development and management
are diverse in their contractual
implementations. Ellison notes that
American Campus has participated
in partnerships that operated under

a, "turn-key operation, where we have
handed the keys over to them and we
are done." Alternatively, American
Campus has held contracts in which
they managed the facility and/or
leasing, but the institution supervised
the RAs and resident directors,
further emphasizing that the amount
of involvement from the institution
stems from both the relationship with
the developer as well as the needs of
the institution.
Regardless of the nature of the
construction details of the contract,
clauses are included to protect
students and the institution. At
Northern Arizona, Payne says that,
"Contractually, they have a lot of
obligations, at least in our ground
lease, that include that the developer
must adhere to the university code
of conduct." Therefore, while the
developer may essentially operate the
entire facility, students and staff alike
are held to the same standard as the
institution-operated residence halls
and thus, "provides some insurance to
the university."
Maintaining contractual
commitment and clear distinctions
of roles is imperative for both
the institution's staff and private
developers to fluidly work together
and promote the best practices for the
overall residence life environment.
Maintaining communication and
avenues for collaboration on various
aspects of student growth and support
is at the forefront of American
Campus, Northern Arizona University
and University of Sydney's agenda.
Although Northern Arizona
University's private developer manages
the auxiliary residence hall under a
landlord-tenant position, Payne says
that, "In extreme circumstances, the
manager can refer students to the dean
of students for extreme behavior. The
dean would adjudicate under the code
of conduct." Extreme circumstances,
however, are not the norm, he says.

Rather, twice a year, a managerial
meeting is convened that allows
both parties to, "go over how things
are going and issues that have come
up." Despite the private developer
providing their own hired staff, RA
or community assistant, "if and when
they know about issues, they let the
university know," Payne says.
To further facilitate commitment
to students, Payne says the institution
and private developer have, "weekly
meetings, or what you might call
a behavioral intervention team
comprised of the police department,
student life, dean of students, our
office and a manager from the private
developer." During that time, the
forces come together to triage the
most major events on campus and,
as a result, each branch has the
information needed to monitor and
follow up with students and other staff
as needed.
Overlap of duties through meetings
as well as daily routines can become
a common occurrence, especially as
institutions and developers learn the
ways in which they work best together,
or decide on additional facilities. For
Ellison, who is employed through
American Campus and not Cleveland
State directly, she says "I sit on the
student affairs leadership team and
participate in campus committees.
For us, that works very well. We
can operate truly as a department
of residence life, the way people
traditionally perceive it as."
Ashvin Parameswaran, head of
student accommodation services
and student support services at The
University of Sydney in Australia,
routinely collaborates with the
developers on a daily basis, especially
when University of Sydney decided
to locate accommodation within the
student services division. He says,
"The way we do the transition is that
the Infrastructure Division manages
the construction/development and the

JULY + AUGUST 2015

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Talking Stick - July/August 2015

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