Lights Are On, But Nobody’s Home
The Office of Residence Life has experienced major losses in staff during the 2024-2025 academic year. Graphic by Isa Montes
In the 2024-25 academic year, seven resident directors left their position mid-year. Six of the seven left Santa Clara University completely. With only nine resident directors across campus, the assistant resident directors and community facilitators have shouldered the costs of such a loss, acting as paraprofessionals while also managing full-time course loads.
This year, the Office of Residence Life has never been completely staffed. The absence of a resident director in multiple residence halls leaves an inevitable impact on students. Without a resident director who is present, our communities—from top to bottom—have not been administratively, professionally or personally supported.
Back in 1997, Santa Clara University’s Multicultural Center went through a months-long process of “rechartering” review. According to Jim Briggs, vice president for student affairs at the time, rechartering is “the process by which the university periodically reviews existing Chartered Student Organizations and updates the charter of the organization, including proposed changes to the organization’s charter.” By this process, student groups have an opportunity to review their structure, mission and purpose, and propose changes as appropriate.
In the same spirit, I ask for the University to “recharter” the Office of Residence Life.
An abnormal increase in resident director vacancies are an alarming sign that something must not be right. While I cannot be certain of the forces driving resident directors out of their positions, it seems that the Office of Residence Life is laden with issues born out of a lack of support for those actually working with students and in the residence halls.
In order to better care for the resident directors, assistant resident directors, and community facilitators who are working with students and in the residence halls, there must be transparent communication and accountability for the highest administration. As an assistant resident director, I have noticed that assistant resident directors and community facilitators are bearing the cost of resident director vacancies, yet our experiences also feel the most unknown to University leadership and administration. The current state of Residence Life calls for opportunities of transformation and realignment with the educational mission and Jesuit tradition of the University.
With every residence hall, we have a place to practice the University’s cherished mission of creating a world that is more compassionate, sustainable and just. Collegiate residence life is, in many ways, a microcosm of broader society. Perhaps there are some caveats, but I’d like to think of Santa Clara University’s residence life as more or less a chance—though fleeting, given limited room space and only 2-years as the typical duration of student residency—to practice our deepest hopes for ourselves and the world.
When I was a community facilitator in Loyola Residential Learning Community, housed in Sobrato Residence Hall, I saw first hand how the RLC model can do right by students and seek to fulfill the University’s mission. I had a resident director who created a home for all because she cared to truly know students and support their experiences. In her absence, it is clearer now than ever before just how much the Office of Residence Life needs more leadership like her.
In an effort to invite University leaders to join me in imagining a more just Residence Life and world—just as the University mission pushes its students to do—I lay out a call to action for the Offices of Student Life and Residence Life of Santa Clara University: Just as you ask our students to undergo the ‘rechartering’ process for their organizations, may you too submit to honest self-assessment and pursue opportunities for change. Just as student groups have, may you too review your structure, mission, and purpose and propose changes, as appropriate.
