Students met with Brian Dawson, associate dean of students, yesterday to relay their concerns regarding Housing and Residence Life’s connection with the Pepperdine community. The students and Dawson discussed a wide range of issues during the hour-long dialogue, covering everything from problems with the newly implemented laundry system to a proposed change in mixed-gender housing options.
The meeting was part of a semester-long group project in Professor Sarah Ballard’s communication and conflict course. The four students responsible for the meeting are all seniors who have lived on campus throughout their time at Pepperdine: JC Meza, Gustavo Tiffer, Danielle Germann and Francis Lubuulwa.
The assignment was to “choose an organization and address any conflict within the organization,” Meza said. The group thought that HRL would be a relevant organization because of the many recent housing changes and because, as Tiffer said, “Every student deals with HRL at some point.”
The group began with an attempt to understand the perspectives of both students and HRL through surveys and interviews.
“We found that the common factor in the conflict was miscommunication,” Meza said. “Students felt like HRL didn’t understand where they were coming from or that they couldn’t get their perspective across.”
With this realization, the group decided the best next step was to hold an open forum.
Dawson has worked in campus housing for over 15 years and began his time at Pepperdine less than two years ago. He explained that the goal of HRL is to build community and “have a place where students feel welcome.” Dawson continued, “We may not have all the answers to this,” admitting that he would only “give HRL a C or a D on telling our story and letting students know what’s going on.”
The group of students facing Dawson was made up of six freshmen and five senior campus residents. The major concern of seniors present included the lack of community in upperclassman housing.
“I felt like we have been pushed aside,” said one senior.
“I feel that the HRL is not working toward a healthy learning environment,” said another. “I think they have really good ideas. They’re just not implementing them well.”
The freshmen conveyed frustration with the new laundry system, which has been causing problems across the campus. One freshman claimed that their dorm has had working machines for a total of one week since the beginning of the school year.
Another interest expressed was mixed-gender freshman housing — this was confirmed as a possibility by Dawson.
“This is not a new concept at Pepperdine,” Dawson said. “Whatever we’re doing in International Programs seems to be working, so why not try it here?” Dawson also explained that HRL has not had a single disciplinary problem between men and women in the current sophomore mixed-gender housing options.
The feedback was not all negative. Both seniors and freshmen said they thought the new sophomore themed houses were a great idea, and several freshmen said they look forward to participating next year. All of the seniors expressed satisfaction with junior and senior discounts for on-campus housing.
“My wallet really needed that,” one senior joked. Because of the discount, 442 seniors and 420 juniors are living on campus this fall, which is the highest rate of upperclassmen living on-campus in the 75 years of Pepperdine’s existence. Students also said they have benefited from the resident adviser and spiritual life adviser roles in housing.
“I know I can go to my RAs and SLA,” said one freshman. Another senior said, “I really think RAs and SLAs will make the difference.”
Lubuulwa, who acted as moderator for the discussion, closed the meeting on a personal note by expressing his thanks to Dawson and the students for being open and honest in the dialogue.
“We all want the best for us and for those who come after us,” Lubuulwa said.