The last few weeks have seen a wonderful improvement in my relationship with students in the capacity of hostel warden. I actually don't mind being a warden anymore, even though this year I will be responsible for a hostel with 120 students, both men and women. I am happy to meet students when they come to my office or when they stop to talk to me in corridors.
This is due to various reasons. Firstly, the institute now invites student representatives to certain committee meetings which involve their life on campus.
In these meetings, students are encouraged to speak up and share their viewpoint.
But, most importantly, by being part of the discussion, they become aware of the constraints under which the institute is functioning and why their demands cannot be immediately met. They understand the working of institutional procedures and realize why certain things cannot be done overnight. As a result of it all, the warden is not seen as a bad cop any longer (at least, I hope that s/he is not!) [1]
Secondly, I now follow the policy of transparency with students in my hostel.
Whenever any complaint has to be forwarded to different sections, I cc the email to the student representative. If they come to my office to ask why a certain decision has been taken, I tell them the reason instead of meaningless references to "instructions from the authority."
For example, last week, a section of PhD students, accosted me after a seminar to demand why they are not being alloted single rooms despite repeated promises made to them about it. "We lose our HRA to live on campus, but are treated like undergraduate students. Is this fair?" I was a little annoyed at being questioned in this way. At the moment, N1 does not offer hostel accommodation to its PhD students because of space constraints [2]. However, we try to provide hostel seats for them if space is left after accommodating our undergraduate students. As this entails losing their HRA, very few students have opted for it and on this account, they naturally feel upset with the hostel wardens for not providing them single seater rooms. I took the students to my office and showed them the data about incoming students. After that, I showed them our allotment charts and convinced them that single seater rooms are not possible unless we turn some rooms into cramped three-seaters. As a result, the students understood the reason why we cannot meet their demands and we parted on a friendly note.
The delay in the construction of our permanent hostel complex (for reasons completely beyond our control, as the students now realize) also results in students moving between the available hostels every year (due to changes in numbers of men and women). As warden, I have had to organize two such moves. The move last year upset many of the women students because they had to move from a building close to the academic area to a building far away. There was also some confusion because the security guards insisted on searching their baggage before they left a hostel and the vehicle helping them to move was too small (and in between the move, the driver suddenly went away for lunch, leaving the students stranded for a long time). I was inundated with angry phone calls all through the day. The students also had to face many problems in the first few days of their move to the new hostel. For a long time, many of these students even refused to speak to me!
However, the same students happily cooperated with us in orchestrating another move. Although the students had been warned about their impending move, due to some logistical reasons, we had to shift the dates a little. As a result, this move happened while most students were away. However, the student hostel representative got in touch with them, informed them about the move and explained to them the reason behind the shift in dates.
This time, the registrar's office was kind enough to provide me with the assistance of two office staff members who coordinated the move. These assistant wardens first ensured that the hostel to which the students were moving was in a livable condition. They got all the rooms thoroughly cleaned up and the electricity fitments inspected and repaired. Many of the students were away on vacation, but had packed their items properly before leaving. Under the supervision of the assistant wardens, the housekeeping staff properly labeled all the boxes and also packed the items which had been left unpacked by students. We hired a truck, which transferred all the items in a couple of rides (and therefore, students did not have to wait for hours for the institute vehicle driver to return from his long lunch!)
The student representative was pro-active in coordinating the whole move along with the assistant wardens. Incidentally, on the day of their move, I was traveling for a conference to a different city. I only received two phone calls on that day - one to inform me that the move had begun and the other to inform me that it was over. Both the AWs were highly appreciative of the student representative's presence of mind and involvement.
To conclude, I have learnt that the relation between faculty and students can immensely improve if students are kept informed about institute policies, treated like responsible adults and encouraged to take initiatives to solve their problems. I have always admired students at N1 for staying happy in spite of the difficulties that they have seen here, but their involvement with the institute makes things even better.
[1] Last year, I heard, through "anonymous sources" in the hostel that many students were under the impression that I was against providing regular bus services to them between their hostel and academic buildings. This is of course far from the truth. I hope that this misinformation has been quelled due to the presence of our student representative in the transport committee. After attending this meeting, she is aware of the limited vehicles at our disposal and how bus routing has to be optimized.
[2] These space constraints will vanish once our permanent hostel building will be ready in a few months.
This is due to various reasons. Firstly, the institute now invites student representatives to certain committee meetings which involve their life on campus.
In these meetings, students are encouraged to speak up and share their viewpoint.
But, most importantly, by being part of the discussion, they become aware of the constraints under which the institute is functioning and why their demands cannot be immediately met. They understand the working of institutional procedures and realize why certain things cannot be done overnight. As a result of it all, the warden is not seen as a bad cop any longer (at least, I hope that s/he is not!) [1]
Secondly, I now follow the policy of transparency with students in my hostel.
Whenever any complaint has to be forwarded to different sections, I cc the email to the student representative. If they come to my office to ask why a certain decision has been taken, I tell them the reason instead of meaningless references to "instructions from the authority."
For example, last week, a section of PhD students, accosted me after a seminar to demand why they are not being alloted single rooms despite repeated promises made to them about it. "We lose our HRA to live on campus, but are treated like undergraduate students. Is this fair?" I was a little annoyed at being questioned in this way. At the moment, N1 does not offer hostel accommodation to its PhD students because of space constraints [2]. However, we try to provide hostel seats for them if space is left after accommodating our undergraduate students. As this entails losing their HRA, very few students have opted for it and on this account, they naturally feel upset with the hostel wardens for not providing them single seater rooms. I took the students to my office and showed them the data about incoming students. After that, I showed them our allotment charts and convinced them that single seater rooms are not possible unless we turn some rooms into cramped three-seaters. As a result, the students understood the reason why we cannot meet their demands and we parted on a friendly note.
The delay in the construction of our permanent hostel complex (for reasons completely beyond our control, as the students now realize) also results in students moving between the available hostels every year (due to changes in numbers of men and women). As warden, I have had to organize two such moves. The move last year upset many of the women students because they had to move from a building close to the academic area to a building far away. There was also some confusion because the security guards insisted on searching their baggage before they left a hostel and the vehicle helping them to move was too small (and in between the move, the driver suddenly went away for lunch, leaving the students stranded for a long time). I was inundated with angry phone calls all through the day. The students also had to face many problems in the first few days of their move to the new hostel. For a long time, many of these students even refused to speak to me!
However, the same students happily cooperated with us in orchestrating another move. Although the students had been warned about their impending move, due to some logistical reasons, we had to shift the dates a little. As a result, this move happened while most students were away. However, the student hostel representative got in touch with them, informed them about the move and explained to them the reason behind the shift in dates.
This time, the registrar's office was kind enough to provide me with the assistance of two office staff members who coordinated the move. These assistant wardens first ensured that the hostel to which the students were moving was in a livable condition. They got all the rooms thoroughly cleaned up and the electricity fitments inspected and repaired. Many of the students were away on vacation, but had packed their items properly before leaving. Under the supervision of the assistant wardens, the housekeeping staff properly labeled all the boxes and also packed the items which had been left unpacked by students. We hired a truck, which transferred all the items in a couple of rides (and therefore, students did not have to wait for hours for the institute vehicle driver to return from his long lunch!)
The student representative was pro-active in coordinating the whole move along with the assistant wardens. Incidentally, on the day of their move, I was traveling for a conference to a different city. I only received two phone calls on that day - one to inform me that the move had begun and the other to inform me that it was over. Both the AWs were highly appreciative of the student representative's presence of mind and involvement.
To conclude, I have learnt that the relation between faculty and students can immensely improve if students are kept informed about institute policies, treated like responsible adults and encouraged to take initiatives to solve their problems. I have always admired students at N1 for staying happy in spite of the difficulties that they have seen here, but their involvement with the institute makes things even better.
[1] Last year, I heard, through "anonymous sources" in the hostel that many students were under the impression that I was against providing regular bus services to them between their hostel and academic buildings. This is of course far from the truth. I hope that this misinformation has been quelled due to the presence of our student representative in the transport committee. After attending this meeting, she is aware of the limited vehicles at our disposal and how bus routing has to be optimized.
[2] These space constraints will vanish once our permanent hostel building will be ready in a few months.
5 comments:
I think its great you are putting so much thought into involving the graduate students into the internal workings of the institution. I wish this is how things worked where I used to be a student.
During my graduate years, the department had only one common room. The smart keys used by faculty and staff could unlock the room, but we students couldnt. We requested that the smart keys used by students should also unlock the room (so that grad student TAs could accommodate undergrads who dropped in at odd hours).
When we made this request, the chair just waved his hand and said: there are some expensive paintings in that room and so...no way! We felt small and humiliated. This and several other put downs meant that we never felt like we were part of the department.
Even a little bit of politeness from the dept head would have gone a long way. You seem to be doing a fantastic job involving students and as you say: "treating them like adults".
Oh...and do I need to mention that those expensive paintings were really crappy? I would have made much better ones for like 10 bucks each... :)
Hi Academic blogger,
I am so glad i landed on your blog. I have some time to go before i can be independent but am hoping to find something exciting back home. I will keep track of the changes and visit places to build a good number of possibilities for the future.
Good luck!
Hi Academic blogger,
I am so glad i landed on your blog. I have some time to go but am feeling like i need all the guidance to make the move when the time comes. Some of the N institutes sound awesome and few others i know have taken the leap as well to go back home!
Your tips are useful and i will start networking during my visits to India.
Good luck!
Hi VIBGYOR,
All the very best for your academic pursuits and building connections in India. There are also so many excellent resources for finding our more about the research atmosphere in India. You are probably aware of
http://www.indiabioscience.org ?
Ah empowerment. The older Epsilon gets, the more I am realizing that good parenting skills, and good HR skills are the same set of skills. Transparency and feeling like one has a stake in the process is key to make a person feel like their needs are being met, whether or not they actually are. Hats off to you for figuring this out without a toddler's help. I don't know that I ever would have. ;)
My one concern (and this is the American in me speaking) is whether there are privacy issues involved in showing other students the University's enrolment data. Depending on what you are showing, in the US, you could get in trouble with FERPA rules.
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