Mentor Program Lowers Pay, Raises Expectations

As the Class of 2010 moves into dorms next fall, something will be missing: their mentors. This week Dr. Margaret Lindsey, head of the First Year Program, presented a major restructuring of the role of mentors in the program to PRIDE leaders, Residential Life staff and faculty involved with the governance of the First Year Program. "We realized there were some issues [with the program] that we wanted to address," said Lindsey. "We knew the program wasn't perfect, so the question was, '[what] can we do to fix it?'"Under the new plan, mentors will no longer live in first-year dorms with their students. They will be free to live anywhere on campus. Consequently, the program will pay mentors $500 for the fall term, compared to the $3000 they received this year. Lindsey said about $2500 of the mentors' pay compensated them for living with freshmen, similar to what RAs make for their duties. Most mentors will stay on for the fall semester only, as opposed to the full year the program currently requires. They will receive one credit for their fall term work. Mentors will also take a required half credit course during the fall term to give them the tools to help their freshmen academically. "At the moment, in the life of Trinity College," Lindsey stressed, "it is very important that mentors be part of a student's academic transition from high school to college."

Each first year seminar has a budget of $800. Beginning next year each mentor will also have his or her own budget of $250. While the money is intended for out of class group activities, the mentor will have complete control over its use.

Mentors have lived in first-year dorms since 1996, when they first became a part of the First Year Program seminars. The founding idea behind adding mentors was an attempt to pay attention to the "whole student" and his or her transition from high school to college. In the following years Residential Life and First Year Program staff began to realize the ambiguous position of mentors in freshmen dorms between disciplinarian and academic tutor. "Whenever you have a position like a mentor, with kind of a dual role, you're going to run into problems," said Director of Campus Life Amy DeBaun.

Dr. Lindsey worked with DeBaun and Associate Director of Residential Life Susan Salisbury to find a solution. They determined that taking the mentors out of freshmen dorms would help define the role of mentor and RA for first year students and allow both to do their jobs better. "I certainly wouldn't say [RAs and mentors] are in conflict now," noted Lindsey. "But they have very different jobs, and we think if we separate the two and leave the responsibility of the dorm community to the RAs they'll both be better off."

The restructuring changes the nature of the mentor position in a way that Lindsey and Interim Dean of Faculty Frank Kirkpatrick hope will attract more juniors and seniors to the program. Lindsey says that 75 to 80 percent of mentors tell her they're completely satisfied with their role in the seminar. "The only complaint I get, and really it's seldom that I hear this, is sometimes [mentors] don't feel like they're given a big enough role in class," she commented. While Lindsey leaves what happens in the class to the faculty, she believes the mentors' new $250 discretionary budget will increase their interaction with students outside of class.

The changes will also free up the mentors' living situation. "Although the mentors have been a very good resource in our FY halls, some of them may look forward to living with their friends and fellow classmates," said Salisbury. Current mentor David Stricoff '06, who was given a single in Jones, agrees. "I think the changes are wonderful," he said. "I found that the biggest drawback to mentoring was living by myself. Living with the freshmen is not actually that bad, however, living without roommates is."

Because the program requires only a fall semester commitment, mentors will now be able to go abroad during the spring. They'll also receive a full credit in the fall, instead of a half credit for each term. Distributing the credit over two terms had sometimes complicated credit totals for students going after academic awards.

Senior mentor Sarah Whittemore who was able to live with another mentor, also suggests that some of these changes could enhance the program. "I wasn't going to mentor my junior year because I wanted to go abroad, and I know there were other people that didn't mentor for that reason. I think getting one credit in the fall is good, because I do interact with my mentees a lot, and I feel like one credit isn't enough for that amount of time. As for the living situation, my roommate and I are lucky in that respect, because living in a single as a senior can be lonely."

This is a sentiment agreed upon by Senior Luca Delpuppo. "Living in a freshman dorm isn't that great, obviously I'd rather live with my friends. The money definitely attracts people. I know the money helps me out a lot with books and that kind of thing. So it's a two-edged sword. But I think the changes will attract mentors that care a lot about their mentees' academics -- they won't just be doing it for the money."

"By moving the mentors out, we're forcing them to think more creatively about how to get to know their students and facilitate group activities," said Lindsey. She says the restructuring is designed to give mentors the tools to do this. The new half credit course, in particular, will help mentors learn to work with the very diverse array of high school experiences their freshmen usually come from.

In that vein, Area Coordinator Chrissy Solis believes mentors will still need to make an effort to learn about their mentees' lives. "What [the restructuring] will change most is the RA and mentor line of communication," Solis said. "RAs can't see the student in the classroom, and mentors won't see the student's dorm life, so they'll need to communicate to both get the picture of the whole student."