Student Life director qualified; others more so

In the beginning, there was Student Activities, and it was good.

It was an aptly named… In the beginning, there was Student Activities, and it was good.

It was an aptly named office, dedicated to (almost) all the things students do, and led by long-time student activities professional Joe Cavalla. Parallel to Student Activities was Residence Life, also aptly named, which was in charge of students’ lives in the residence halls.

Then came the great consolidation. The two were combined, Cavalla fired, his ResLife counterpart Denine Rocco demoted, and we had a Frankenstein’s monster called Student Life, which theoretically combined the two offices, only without the experienced supervision and the devotion to students.

Flash forward two years. Rocco has gone to Akron, the Elysian Fields for former Pitt student activities employees, and it’s time for Dean of Students Dr. Jack Daniel to hire a replacement. Except that he didn’t. He recreated a position that used to exist, director of residence life — the position he refused to give Rocco — and gave it to former Director of Public Safety Deborah Furka.

When Dr. Daniel hired Furka to head Residence Life, The Pitt News supported her appointment. It was a commitment to safety — an area in which Furka had experience– even if it was odd to choose someone who had been out of Student Affairs.

Now Dr. Daniel has filled Student Life’s vacant directorship with Furka’s assistant, Kenyon Bonner. Dr. Daniel said he was committed to hiring someone quickly, which was good. Slightly less good is the fact that he was so committed to hiring someone quickly he never advertised outside of Pitt’s Web site.

Such a decision might make one think Dr. Daniel had a specific candidate in mind. In the last three years, Dr. Daniel has consistently fast-tracked young professionals through the ranks. He has also consistently promoted minorities and women, an admirable goal set out in his Orwellian mission statement, “The Dawn of a New Era.” Add that to talk about “appropriate synergy between Student Life and Residence Life,” and all of a sudden advertising in, say, the Chronicle of Higher Education, seems like a waste of money.

Bonner’s experience in Residence Life meets Dr. Daniel’s requirement of five years in Student Affairs. The problem is that none of that leadership experience is in student activities — what we now call Student Life. Qualifications are a tricky thing. At this point, I have three years of leadership experience in Student Affairs. Bonner is not technically under-qualified; it’s just that the qualifications were too light, given what we have internal to Student Life.

Two other people from within Student Life right now applied for the job Bonner now has: Terry Milani, who carries with him about 40 years of Student Life experience, including four stints as an occasional interim Greek adviser; and Student Government Board adviser Joyce Giangarlo, who also has decades of Student Life experience and is beloved by the students with which she works.

I, like just about everyone I’ve talked to, know nothing about Kenyon Bonner, except that he has a reputation as a hard worker and a great guy. I like that he knows about Greek life in Student Life, but I wonder why, with so much Student Life experience available, Dr. Daniel felt the need to choose someone with so little of it, especially when every bit of experience is likely to be needed, given what has happened to Student Life in the last three years.

Bonner will take over an office ravaged by personnel losses and discontent. The following Student Life subdivisions have lost professional support staff since Dr. Daniel took over: Black Action Society (twice), Pitt Program Council, WPTS and the Greek system (twice). That doesn’t even count the numerous people gone who worked with many organizations and just slipped through the students’ hands and away under the radar.

Also in Bonner’s hands is a staff that is in many cases more experienced and qualified for his job than he is. Divine mandate may have worked for the Holy Roman Empire, but Bonner will need to establish his authority the old-fashioned way. And all the while students will be wondering if what we have to look forward to is just more instability and intransigence.

Dr. Daniel is in his last year as dean of students, and he wants, no doubt, to leave a legacy — one other than the legions of Student Life professionals who have fled Pitt like it’s plague-ridden. Kenyon Bonner will be the face of that legacy. Let’s hope he’s ready.

Greg Heller-LaBelle is the editor in chief of The Pitt News.