The Daily Campus

Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: Commentary

Since Lee Williams announced her resignation from the Dean of Students position at the end of last fall, UConn has decided not to replace her. Vice President of Student Affairs John Saddlemire said that the decision is due primarily to economic concerns facing UConn, The Daily Campus reported.

With all the discussion about budget cuts and possible tuition increases, cutting the Dean of Students position is a great move on the part of the university. Also, a brief reflection on what Williams did in her time as a dean will show that her position wasn't a great necessity to the university.

Williams told the UConn Advance that her job was "to see campus life through the eyes of students." How much she actually did for students is in the eye of the beholder. Since Williams came to the university in 2005, she has received mixed reviews from the student body. She was the subject of a letter to the editor calling her insensitive for her first installment of "The Dean's Almanac" in February 2006 about crosswalks that said UConn pedestrians get hit by cars because "they seem to believe that stepping into a crosswalk creates a force field around them that belies the laws of physics." She received a lot of feedback on that post and in her next entry, she apologized for offending anyone. Later that year, The Daily Campus ran an editorial commending her for her efforts with "The Dean's Almanac" and her visibility on campus.

Then, in 2007, Williams held a heavy administrative hand when it came to the controversial cracking down on Carriage House Apartments. That same year, Williams personally yelled at a former Daily Campus student columnist about his columns, and in turn, that columnist wrote about that encounter and pointed out Williams' rude, sarcastic tone in her "Almanac" and at "Straight from the Source" hearings.

For those seniors who started at UConn four years ago, Williams was the Dean of Students for their entire college career. The above-mentioned incidents may be the only thing they know about Williams herself. Many students still may be unsure of what a Dean of Students does. Their main view of the position was probably Williams' "Almanac." Sure, some students will miss "The Dean's Almanac," but this gives other administrators the chance to come clean themselves. They should be open about the university in general, and students shouldn't have to depend on a middle man to answer their questions. They should be able to directly ask who's responsible for issues about housing, graduation requirements and recycling, which were all topics brought to Williams' attention.

Williams' resignation and UConn's decision not to hire a new Dean of Students at this time is a win-win situation - it's one less person to pay a dean's salary to, and students won't have to deal with a dean who didn't really do much for them.

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