News

Groups consider options with Wilcox's departure

In print | January 28, 2010

With the creation of the 2010-2011 budget and the search for the new Dean of Students still in the works, no definitive decisions have been made regarding replacements for outgoing Assistant Director of Student Life Kelly Wilcox ’97 and Assistant Dean and Director of the Black Cultural Center Timothy Sams.

Although Wilcox is set to leave for NYU Abu Dhabi at the end of the month, it is unclear what will happen to her responsibilities in the long run. As assistant director of student life, Wilcox was in charge of a number of projects, including the Drug and Alcohol Resource Team, which she created, and Swarthmore Wellness Awareness Team. She was the go-to person for Parlor Parties and Paces, as well as an academic advisor.

“We haven’t absorbed and re-sorted everything yet,” said Myrt Westphal, Associate Dean for Student Life. According to Westphal, the President and the new dean will eventually evaluate the positions and, keeping budget constraints in mind, make hiring decisions for the long term. However, at the moment there are no concrete plans or committees.

“This is a time to stop and analyze. … I would love to see a separate person for Wellness, but there are budget constraints,” she said, referring to Wilcox’s position.

How the budget will impact the hiring selection is as of yet unclear. While the budget for next year will be determined next month, StuCo president Rachel Bell said that she doesn’t expect anything major in the current budget to change. Bell also said that the administration has not approached the council about how the college will deal with Wilcox’s or Sams’ absence yet.

She added that she has neither met with Acting Dean of Students Garikai Campbell ’90 nor been e-mailed about the matter. Though it’s typical for the president and vice president to meet with the dean of students frequently, she said that this has been delayed by the special vice presidential election.
In the meantime, DART and SWAT are undergoing a process of reshuffling and self-evaluation. DART has recently doubled in size, acquiring twenty new members. “We’re more in the process of phasing in the younger students in than phasing Kelly out,” said Tyler Bradshaw ’10 a DART team member.

Two December Swarthmore graduates, Sami El-Dalati ’10 and Humzah Soofi ’10, were hired as paid interns to take over the administrative part of Wilcox’s job, including overseeing DART and SWAT.
El-Dalati worked with Wilcox as a Party Associate during his time at Swarthmore. Currently he is shadowing Wilcox during her last week. “The team itself is pretty self-sufficient. I’ll just be working as a facilitator for meetings,” El-Dalati said of DART.

Soofi was not available for an interview because he is currently out of the country.

DART member Rosalie Lawrence ’12 said, however, that this self-sufficiency might not foster enough stability within the group. “We’re trying to be more self-sufficient, but there is a lot of uncertainty because both Kelly and the seniors are leaving,” she said. “It’s going to be messy.”

Though an action plan for the spring semester has been established, events have been planned, and staffing arrangements have been made for the time being, students have voiced a need for an advisor. Bradshaw said this need is connected with the issue of liability and safety of the advice DART gives to students.

Wilcox stressed, however, that she is making sure that student leadership is in place.

“It is my responsibility to leave [the teams] structurally sound,” she said. “There might be a slight learning curve at the beginning, but the students will have the institutional memory [needed to carry on]. It was a collective effort from the start.”

Natalie Degaiffier ’10, who has been a member of SWAT since her freshman year and even a leader at one point, said that she thinks Wilcox has “done a good job at making the transition go smoothly.” She added that leadership within SWAT will be spread out — for example, one member may be responsible for publicity and another for education.

“In an ideal world, a new position would be a full-time Wellness director,” said Wilcox. Beth Kotarski of the Worth Health Center and Westphal, a Wellness advocate, will be deliberating long-term Wellness initiatives.

Wilcox lists qualities that a person replacing her be “detail-oriented, hardworking, listening to the students, patient, not narrow minded. It would be helpful if they had background in Public Health and Student affairs.”

Both Wilcox and the students acknowledge that her being an alumna was also very helpful in conversations about campus life.

“When talking about drug and alcohol issues you have to be candid, and with Kelly we could talk openly — it was a safe space,” Lawrence said.

Wilcox has been a part of the Swarthmore community for 17 years, as student, alumna, field-hockey coach and a member of the Dean’s office. She said she is grateful for the freedom and space she had been given, the deans’ trust in her vision, the support. “I had the opportunity to directly give back to my alma mater, a place I love, students I love,” she said.

“I will miss the people, the beautiful campus, the woods that bring me peace. But above all the people, the interactions which bring me joy. This has been such a collegial, supportive, vibrant environment,” she said.

Since Wilcox got involved with SWAT over the past two semesters, Degaiffier said that Wilcox has helped the team rethink its mission statement, get dean support and create a website.
“She’s just been great, and she’ll be sorely missed,” Degaiffier said.

Bradshaw agreed. “We’re sad, but it’s a smart career choice for her,” Bradshaw said.

Wilcox won’t be directly transplanting her Swarthmore projects to NYU Abu Dhabi. “It’s a different cultural context, perspective,” she said of DART. She will be, however, working on wellness initiatives there. “My core value is supporting students anywhere I would go.”