Editorial: The Pitt News endorses Kenyon Bonner for Dean

Pitt’s best option for the dean of students position has already filled the role for a year.

With four seemingly qualified candidates, the University should select the one who best understands our student body. By that measure, Kenyon Bonner, Pitt’s interim vice provost and dean of students, is right where he should be. The real question is why it’s taken the University so long to acknowledge it.

Since coming to Pitt in 2004, Bonner has done nearly everything right.

He served for seven years as associate dean of students and 11 years as the director of student life. While associate dean, Bonner was the program director for RISE, Pitt’s student mentorship program, and in 2013, Bonner won the Chancellor’s Award for Staff for Excellence in Service to the University, the highest award given to University administrators.

During his tenure here, the University — as well as the city — has undergone massive growth and change. As the University handled growing pains, Bonner never shied away from students or confrontation.

When students requested strategic planning forums to have a larger voice in University decisions, he welcomed their perspectives every time. He has also met with leaders from student organizations, such as Black Action Society and the Fossil Free Pitt Coalition, to discuss their concerns directly, inviting students to the table rather than hiding behind an administrative curtain.

These relationships are bridges that require maintenance, not reconstruction. Pitt, a school within a still-developing city with hyper-specific diversity and economic storylines, cannot wait for someone to form relationships from scratch. Replacing Bonner with an unfamiliar face is more counterproductive than anything.

Bonner has built these ties already — he should be the one to make them count for something.

Part of improving our campus climate is being bold enough to advertise Pitt’s progress, as Bonner knows. Next fall, Ruskin Hall will begin its first year as a gender-neutral housing option for students, and even though the signs have not yet changed, all campus bathrooms will become officially gender-neutral, too. But, as always, there is plenty of work left.

Cara Appel-Silbaugh, one of Bonner’s fellow candidates and a strong contender, recommended that Pitt create an LGBTQ+ center. No matter who the University selects, we hope they will pursue this idea.

Concerns about high tuition persist, and mental health resources can always improve. Pitt’s student services need to be accessible to all of its students. Moving forward with increased inclusiveness and helpful services to ensure that every student feels welcome is something we must continue pushing toward.

Whoever takes over as dean of students must maintain Pitt’s momentum. Kenyon Bonner’s vision for Pitt students is already in motion — the University should let it stay that way.