ResLife announces project house changes, plans to implement neighborhood supervision model
Scarlet & Black 2025-12-05
Grinnell College will eliminate the house coordinator title and restructure its residential life staffing model beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, according to an email sent to house coordinators and community advisors Thursday afternoon.
The email stated that the house coordinator title “will no longer be used to describe student staff members who work in Renfrow Hall or in the houses on East Street and Park Street.”
Under the new structure, house coordinator positions will be replaced by a neighborhood supervision model with Community Advisors-Neighborhoods (CA-N) supporting multiple houses. The email specifies one CA-N for the three houses on East Street, two CA-N for the language houses north of 8th Avenue, and one, potentially increasing to two, CA-N for houses on Park Street south of 6th Avenue.
The announcement also revealed that the Clark, Cleveland, Loose, Main and Norris residence halls will each reduce their community advisors by one position.
Paul Frost-Lau, associate director of housing operations, wrote that the change “strengthens connections between houses, ensures more consistent support, and aligns with the College’s strategic goal to reinvent a residential experience.” He emphasized that budget considerations did not drive these decisions, attributing them to input from student staff and the division of student affairs’ commitment to maintaining thriving project houses.
In an email to The S&B, Morgan Smith `26, co-president of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers, wrote that “The elimination of any student worker position would likely constitute a violation of the contract if Grinnell College did not provide 20 days notice of the change and an opportunity to bargain over the effects of the change.”
What House Coordinators Do
House coordinators are Residential Life employees who live in project and language houses and facilitate community and house culture. There are only 12 positions campus-wide.
In an email to the S&B, Molly Wilcoxson `26, Farm House resident, wrote: “Eli manages the planning of our major events and sets the general tone of the house,” referring to Gallagher. “He possesses institutional knowledge through his three years of living here. This is important to ensuring the longevity of Farm House.”
No one takes this job because of the money. We take the job because the house is important to us.
— Elijah Gallagher `26
“No one takes this job because of the money,” Gallagher said. “We take the job because the house is important to us.”
The Changes
According to Frost-Lau, the neighborhood model addresses workload equity among student staff. “We heard from staff that the time and effort they spend supporting residents can look very different depending on the size and make-up of each community,” he wrote. “Our goal is to align CA responsibilities in a way that ensures a more equitable workload and proportional number of residents for each CA to support.”
Frost-Lau wrote in an email to The S&B that although the idea of designated faculty or staff liaisons will not be implemented, ResLife is looking into alternative approaches to strengthen houses’ connections with campus resources and increase their visibility as the new model takes shape.
The Thursday email to house coordinators confirms three specific house changes: Farm House will move to 1128 East Street, where GAME House currently operates, to strategically integrate Farm House operations with the College Garden. The email states: “That partnership is still taking shape, and we welcome student input as it develops.”
GAME House will close at the end of this year because student interest has decreased over time, especially since additional substance-free housing alternatives have been introduced.
Japanese House “will have its inaugural year at 1023 Park Street in response to the College establishing a Japanese major in collaboration with the dean of the college office and the Language Department.” 1023 Park Street is the current location of Farm House.
Frost-Lau stated that ResLife expects “each house’s culture, programming and traditions to continue — simply supported differently, with campus-wide programming coordinated through Residence Life. Affinity houses will continue to operate as they always have, within a broader neighborhood supported by a CA-N.”
[ResLife expects] each house’s culture, programming and traditions to continue — simply supported differently, with campus-wide programming coordinated through Residence Life.
— Paul Frost-Lau
Affinity Houses and Specialized Communities
House coordinators expressed particular concern about whether the new model can adequately support affinity houses and specialized communities — concerns that coordinators say ResLife has not addressed.
For GWARC House, which serves students with severe allergies and dietary restrictions, the house coordinator role is critical to maintaining safety. Karima Rostom `26, GWARC house coordinator, said that the house “was created out of necessity for students who were … in physical danger staying in the dorms because people weren’t being careful about their allergens.”
The safety protocols are complex and life-threatening if not followed correctly. “If you bring in any ingredients that contains shellfish, you are putting a resident’s life at risk,” Rostom said. She described detailed procedures including dedicated allergen-free dishes, proper cleaning techniques and careful management of cross-contamination — all of which she said must be taught and enforced by someone with adequate knowledge and training.
“When student initiative, student projects are outsourced to administration, we lose the care for each other that we have, that creates the mutual respect and community that we worked so hard to create,” Rostom said. She said that she was worried that without a designated house coordinator, residents would feel uncomfortable enforcing safety protocols with their peers.
For the Latinx Cultural Center, which opened this year as the first Latinx affinity space in Grinnell’s history, house coordinator Yessenia Alvarez Zamora `27 described ResLife’s planned changes as undermining recent progress. “For the Latino community on campus, it was like a huge sign of progress — that we’re becoming a recognized group on campus, that we’re being recognized for our background and our experiences and what we have to offer here at Grinnell,” Alvarez Zamora said. “And so imagine just going from that to hearing that the decision would be compromised.”
Alvarez Zamora raised concerns about whether future CAs would share the cultural background necessary to support affinity house residents, or whether students from marginalized communities would be asked to take on significantly more work for the same pay.
She said, “if we think about affinity spaces, at least the ones that I can think about right now, for First Gen Low Income, Latinx and The Sawubona house, these are groups of individuals who historically have had additional challenges, systemic into succeeding in undergrad. And so you’d be putting a higher workload on one individual from that community, and you’d be taking away, I do feel, from their ability to put their full effort, their full energy, into their one house.”
The Thursday email does not address if affinity houses will be staffed in a different way than other project houses in order to address these concerns under the new model.
Alvarez Zamora said, “I think this change will undermine the ever so advertised principle of inclusion. Every position that we have within these affinity spaces — whether it be student work, advisory boards, students and staff, professional staff or student staff — these are all crucial for creating a more accepting experience on campus.”
I think this change will undermine the ever so advertised principle of inclusion. Every position that we have within these affinity spaces — whether it be student work, advisory boards, students and staff, professional staff or student staff — these are all crucial for creating a more accepting experience on campus.
— Yessenia Alvarez Zamora `27
Sophia Mason `26, Farm House resident, questioned whether signature project house events would continue under the proposed model, noting that a single CA cannot effectively plan multiple major events simultaneously for different houses. Farm House’s Brarvest Hunch, a community breakfast held this fall, involved 20 volunteers and served over 200 people. The house also grows produce for donation to the Center for Religion, Spirituality and Social Justice (CRSSJ) food pantry.
Farm House has already suspended spring planting because of uncertainty about the garden transition. Mason said she values how Farm House offers a student-led space that feels different from the College Garden’s more structured programs.
Wilcoxson wrote: “Farm House has been at 1023 Park Street since 2018. It is frustrating that Farm House is being treated as a meaningless space that can just be moved for the sake of efficiency. So much love and effort has been poured into Farm House for nearly a decade.”
A Broader Pattern
The proposed changes come as the College has tightened restrictions on off-campus housing, citing the strategic plan’s vision for all students to live on campus. A few weeks ago, ResLife denied off-campus housing approvals to dozens of students who had already signed leases.
In his earlier email, Frost-Lau wrote that the project house restructuring was decided within the Division of Student Affairs in collaboration with strategic plan initiatives, with the goal of strengthening “the student experience, build stronger communities, and sustain programming and support across campus.”
Gallagher argued that while the changes might be reasonable if implemented over several years, they are “rather violent and ill-advised” at the current speed. “Sudden shocks, freezes and movements will kill a delicate plant,” they said, using a gardening metaphor. “I’m not sure at this point that any house’s internal culture will survive the change.”
“ResLife has its hand around the beating heart of campus culture and refuses to acknowledge that it continues to squeeze and crush,” Gallagher said.
ResLife has its hand around the beating heart of campus culture and refuses to acknowledge that it continues to squeeze and crush.
— Elijah Gallagher `26
Mason, who chose Grinnell in part because of the project house system, expressed similar concerns. “Farm House honestly changed my life at Grinnell. I really started to feel more at home when I came to Farm House,” said Mason.
Wilcoxson wrote, “Student-run spaces have been on the decline, as evidenced by the closure of Bob’s Underground or Lyle’s Pub, or restrictions on RSOs [Registered Student Organizations] organizing events. Until this decision, Farm House felt like one of the last untouched outlets for spaces entirely organized by students.”
She continued: “It feels like another wave of Grinnell’s moves to remove power from students for the sake of efficiency and affordability. If Grinnell isn’t able to guarantee the stability of these spaces, then I no longer feel like I’m getting the campus culture I was promised when I was admitted in 2022.”
Editor’s Note: Akira Keene Teotrakool `28, a staff writer for The S&B, serves on the UGSDW executive board as member-at-large. Teotrakool was not involved in communication with the Union for this article. Asha Kulkarni `28 contributed reporting from UGSDW.