Things I wish I knew: College staff

We're starting this new section on The Frosher which will cover factors that you probably wouldn't think of when you're choosing a college but might go on to affect your life there. The first one is college staff.

I'm assuming that you probably do what the average person does when they apply: look at the rankings, the website, maybe visit the college, maybe hear from admissions staff, maybe even stay there for a weekend. Well, unless you ask specifically or dig a little deeper, you might not hear much about college staff changes unless they have just occurred and the positions were quite important.

Nonetheless, college staff - more specifically changes to college staff can really effect how a college works. Let me give you an example, one of the colleges I was at was one of the top ranked party schools for quite a while. It reeked of that 'white frat boy' image and was known for partying pretty hard. That was before the college shuffled the president and other positions. Of course this was pretty big news, but you might not have heard or might not have realized the significance of it.

Let's just say the new staff were not pleased by the image - they wanted to give the school a classier, harder-working, and more marketable 'stereotype'. They ramped up security, started stopping a lot more parties, and started giving a lot more police referrals. This was to the extent that when two drunk frat boys got mugged, the college police first referred them for underage drinking and then worried about their injuries and lost property. Within a year, the college was off the top party colleges list. College rankings also improved (helped by other initiatives taken) and the entire ordeal really redefined, maybe permanently, the school.

Now this is of course an extreme example that would probably only happen rarely. But a lot of schools in the past few years are trying to shrug off the frat boy party image and you should know if one of the schools you are thinking about is. New staff often means new policies and a college that will probably be different compared to what it was in the past. And since it is how the college will be, not how it has been, that will define your life there, knowing about these things can help.

So, how do you find out? A good first step is to read the college newspaper. You can learn a lot just from seeing what students are talking (or in this case writing) about. If you visit the college, try talking to students to find what's new there. Also, look at news about the college (an easy was is google news search the college's name) to see what other people are hearing about.

So take a look. Just something that might help you make the right decision. (photo: hull-college.ac.uk)