97-04-09 Student Life Offices Restructured

OHIO STATE STUDENTS TO SEE ENHANCED SERVICES IN STUDENT LIFE

     COLUMBUS -- The Office of Student Life and the nine student 
services and programming units that report through it have 
completed a year-long review and restructured themselves to 
better serve students at The Ohio State University.

     Under the new plan, Student Life has been eliminated as an 
umbrella office.  Instead, there are three administrative units, 
or clusters, reporting directly to the assistant vice president.

     According to Kathy Cleveland Bull, acting director of 
Student Life and facilitator of the restructuring review, the new 
organizational plan will improve services to students by 
increasing collaboration, making more effective use of resources, 
and creating greater visibility and access.

     Student Activities will now form one cluster and include 
student organization services, greek affairs, student events and 
a leadership development component.  Culture and Ethnicity will 
form a second cluster to include African American, Asian 
American, American Indian and Hispanic student services.  The 
third cluster, Gender and Sexual Identity, will include the Rape 
Education and Prevention Program; Gay, Lesbian, and Bi-Sexual 
Student Services; and Women Student Services. A men’s issues 
component is planned in the future.   

     “We are not suggesting the blending or mingling of 
constituency offices,” said Bill Hall, assistant vice president 
for student affairs.  “It is important for minority students to 
have offices on campus where they can come to have a safe place 
and to meet cultural needs.  By cutting out the middle 
bureaucracy, we can offer more visibility and strengthened 
services for all students.” 

     The review process, which began winter quarter 1996 and 
continued through winter quarter 1997, involved four steps: an 
internal Student Life committee, external review, student 
assessment and community forums.  The review outlined several 
goals for the unit, including increasing visibility, impact, and 
collaboration among units; improving customer service; retaining 
programming, consultation and advocacy; and developing an 
organization consistent with cutting edge features with utility 
in the long term.

     “We are not dissolving any of the constituency offices, just 
operating them as a cluster.  All administrative support 
remains,” Cleveland Bull said.  “No one is losing anything.  
Through more efficient uses of resources, everyone gains.”

     Each cluster will have a director and several coordinators 
to oversee each component or student service.  A national search 
will be held to fill the three director positions.  None of the 
current student life staff will lose jobs as a result of the 
restructuring.

     Hall said the restructuring creates levels that interact 
more directly with students, and will support programming for a 
broader base of students by programming for issues that cut 
across different constituencies within the cluster.

     “We are taking the resource pool and support structure from 
each office to create stronger support and deliver better 
services to students,” he said. “Each cluster forms a smaller, 
more manageable unit than the previous Office of Student Life.  
By creating three director positions reporting directly to the 
assistant vice president, each cluster’s visibility and impact 
will be enhanced.”

     Hall said the transition to the new model will begin 
implementation this quarter and continue through the summer, with 
the clusters complete and running by fall quarter.  The long term 
goal is to move all of the offices to the fourth floor of the 
Ohio Union after the current offices of Counseling and 
Consultation Services move into the new building to be built at 
Neil Avenue adjacent to the south residential complex. 

     The Office of Judicial Affairs, now a part of Student Life, 
will become a separate office.

                             #

Contact: Kathy Cleveland Bull, acting director of Student Life, 
(614) 292-6091.

Written by:  Tracy Turner, University Communications, (614)
             688-3682.


[Submitted by: Von Vargas  (vargas.12@osu.edu)
               
Wed, 9 Apr 1997 10:10:16 -0400 (EDT)]
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