Updated infographic of the Hub for Spiritual Life’s staff positions as of Oct. 2022. Graphic by Abby Wilt.
The Pepperdine community is seeing more changes to the Hub for Spiritual Life, after the resignation of alumna Olivia Robinson (’20) assistant director of Community Engagement and Service.
Robinson said she submitted a letter of resignation to the Hub last week as a result of the changes in the Hub, her vision for her career, compensation and to pursue opportunities outside of Pepperdine. Robinson has been at the University for the past six years — first as a student and then as part of the Hub — but she said she has been thinking about leaving since the beginning of 2022.
“That [changes in the Hub] has been a significant part of me wanting to leave,” Robinson said. “While my desire and my efforts to leave did precede all of the recent changes, I would say that recent changes have emphasized my desire to leave.”
Robinson started working at the Hub in 2021, after University Chaplain Sara Barton reached out to her and asked if she would be a part of the team, she said.
“She [Barton] handpicked each of us with the collaboration and the help of some others, but she really created a dream team,” Robinson said.
Barton’s transition out of the Hub and into the Office of the Chaplain was not the only reason Robinson said she left, but it did play a part in it.
“I wouldn’t say that Sara’s transition meant that I thought it was my time to leave too,” Robinson said. “That’s never my mindset. However, I would say that her transitioning to her new role was something that I was able to see and recognize that significant changes were happening here.’”
During her time with the Hub, Robinson said she worked with community partners and students to lead volunteer opportunities such as Step Forward Day, Disability Awareness Week and weekly service opportunities.
Robinson said in the past few months, she has realized the Hub is not a space she feels she fully belongs in, and working in the Hub’s environment caused her stress.
“Never have I experienced the environmental stress that I’ve experienced the last couple months,” Robinson said.
While her responsibilities did not change throughout her time at the Hub, Robinson said the way she feels working within the Hub has changed.
“I don’t think my work responsibilities are any more difficult now than they were all of 2021 through 2022,” Robinson said. “But I do recognize that there has been such a weight to work through in the environment that exists right now.”
The Graphic reached out to Danny DeWalt, chief of staff and vice president, and Christin Shatzer Roman, director of Community Engagement and Service, regarding a statement about Robinson’s resignation, but they declined to comment.
Robinson said a few incidents throughout this semester stuck with her.
At the beginning of the school year, Robinson said the Hub went on an introductory retreat. At that retreat, DeWalt used verbiage Robinson said concerned her and stood out to many others.
“It was basically something to the effect of ‘The kingdom of God is like a fire hose, so powerful, it’ll knock down anything or anybody in its path,’” Robinson said.
Robinson said she connected that metaphor to the Civil Rights Movement, when firefighters sprayed their fire hoses at African American children participating in a protest in Alabama.
“If you have any context of Civil Rights history, hearing anything about a fire hose being used on people isn’t appropriate,” Robinson said.
Robinson said after DeWalt used that phrase at the retreat, several members of the staff came up to her to make sure she was alright, and she said people checking in on her made her feel like team supported her.
“I remember hearing that in one of our first meetings after the leadership and being so stunned by how thoughtless it was,” Robinson said. “But also wondering, ‘Am I the only one who’s uncomfortable about this?’ How do you hear about a firehose being turned on people and not think about images from the Civil Rights Movement? Later, other team members spoke with me about how racist and violent they thought the analogy was.”
Another raise for concern was at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year, when Robinson said the initial Hub for Spiritual Life staff list online did not include her name. She said someone texted her about it, wondering if everything was OK.
“I went and looked, and I wasn’t even listed there,” Robinson said. “However, people who had been hired two weeks prior were listed on there, yet me having worked here, having been the only Black person for about a year until maybe July and actively working on one of Pepperdine’s biggest traditions — Step Forward Day — was not listed.”
She said she spoke with DeWalt the day after she realized the staff list left out her name, and they were able to fix the mistake, although it was still something that stood out to her as a concern.
“I didn’t know if I was going to walk into work the next day and still have a job,” Robinson said. “To be so publicly forgotten stood out a lot.”
Robinson said since she announced her resignation, many people around the University have congratulated her and told her they were happy for her.
“It is a very interesting thing because I do feel very seen,” Robinson said. “A lot of people have come to me and said, ‘We’re so happy that you are choosing your wellness.’”
Robinson said she is not sharing her future plans at this time and is leaving Pepperdine with hope and gratitude. She said all her concerns about Pepperdine come with hopes that one day it will be the best it can be.
“My goal is not to save this place,” Robinson said. “I feel as though I put in six years of solution-making and hopefulness. And I don’t leave angry. I don’t leave upset. I realize that Pepperdine is going to be Pepperdine.”
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Contact Abby Wilt via Twitter (@abby_wilt) or by email: abby.wilt@pepperdine.edu
