Move in day

[secundem_artem]

We've come to that time of the year where returning students are moving into their dorm rooms.  First years students will follow in a day.  As in previous years, faculty have been asked if they would like to assist our students in hauling their computers, microwave ovens, Bed Bath and Beyond sets, comfy chairs, wall hangings, mini-fridges, bongs, stereo equipment, musical instruments, etc out of the family mini van and up 3 flights of stairs to the students' dorm room.

As in years past, my response to this service opportunity is something along the lines of "Fvck the hell off and leave me alone.  I already have to take out my own office trash and I'm not interested in undertaking more tasks that have nothing to do with my job."  If the president wants to pose for a couple of selfies and then be gone 15 minutes later, and get their picture in the student paper, good for them.  As for me, not interested.

Thoughts, o wise ones?

[smallcleanrat]

When I was a college student, I would have felt weird if one of my professors showed up to help me move. It would have caused an uncomfortable feeling of indebtedness.

Also, personal belongings are, well, personal. I wouldn't have wanted to potentially be judged by one of my profs for my possessions or my taste in decoration. 

[pgher]

This strikes me as similar to the other thread about faculty buying food for a student celebration. By all means, I think faculty to interact with and support students, but not like that.

[MarathonRunner]

At my undergrad university, RAs (resident assistants who lived in residence and were senior students who acted as mentors and provided residence programming), OVs (orientation volunteers, who helped first year students move in and facilitated activities during the first week after first years moved in), residence staff, and student life staff were the only people helping students move in. No faculty members in sight. Not a faculty member's job. Residence on,y guaranteed for first year students, although there was separate family housing available for grad students and postdocs. Students in years 2-4+ typically lived off campus, as there was often not even enough residence spots for first years.

[Puget]

I can't imagine such a request going over well here. Here, the dorm RAs and orientation leaders (all students) perform this role during first year move-in.

It is a very well oiled machine, with each car unloaded into giant rolling bins in minutes and the (usually parent) driver directed on to parking so the next car can pull up while the student and their things are escorted on to their room.

Returning students trickle in over several days and are pretty much left to their own devices. Those still living in the dorms general store there things over the summer with a service that picks them up then delivers them back to campus -- the giant stacks of boxes move back in a few weeks ahead of the students, striping away the last of our denial that summer is coming to an end.

[Parasaurolophus]

At my UG institution, the football team was tasked with helping to haul stuff as part of their training.

FWIW, they hadn't scored a point in years, let alone won a game.

[Langue_doc]

We've come to that time of the year where returning students are moving into their dorm rooms.  First years students will follow in a day.  As in previous years, faculty have been asked if they would like to assist our students in hauling their computers, microwave ovens, Bed Bath and Beyond sets, comfy chairs, wall hangings, mini-fridges, bongs, stereo equipment, musical instruments, etc out of the family mini van and up 3 flights of stairs to the students' dorm room.

As in years past, my response to this service opportunity is something along the lines of "Fvck the hell off and leave me alone.  I already have to take out my own office trash and I'm not interested in undertaking more tasks that have nothing to do with my job."  If the president wants to pose for a couple of selfies and then be gone 15 minutes later, and get their picture in the student paper, good for them.  As for me, not interested.

Thoughts, o wise ones?

No, no, no! Admin should be hiring strong muscular individuals to help haul stuff, especially up three flights of stairs. Are professors with back problems expected to help? Pregnant women professors? Admin should be roping in deans, assistant deans, and DEI heads, not faculty who are busy getting ready for the semester.

[EdnaMode]

At my institution, they always ask for volunteers and that email immediately gets deleted. They also ask us to take the new international students shopping and help them run other errands. Nope. Not me. Not gonna do it.

[Puget]

They also ask us to take the new international students shopping and help them run other errands. Nope. Not me. Not gonna do it.

They do sometimes legitimately need help with this (although Amazon takes care of a lot of it), but faculty shouldn't have to do it. Here the international students arrive for a pre-orientation program 4 days early, and it includes a field trip to Target on a campus bus, which seems like a good solution. There is also a services fair during orientation with banks and other service providers vying for new customers, so that gets taken care of easily.

[EdnaMode]

They also ask us to take the new international students shopping and help them run other errands. Nope. Not me. Not gonna do it.

They do sometimes legitimately need help with this (although Amazon takes care of a lot of it), but faculty shouldn't have to do it. Here the international students arrive for a pre-orientation program 4 days early, and it includes a field trip to Target on a campus bus, which seems like a good solution. There is also a services fair during orientation with banks and other service providers vying for new customers, so that gets taken care of easily.

Oh, I agree that it needs to be done, but by the staff in the international students office (or whatever they are called now, they changed their name), not by random faculty.

[Caracal]

At my undergrad university, RAs (resident assistants who lived in residence and were senior students who acted as mentors and provided residence programming), OVs (orientation volunteers, who helped first year students move in and facilitated activities during the first week after first years moved in), residence staff, and student life staff were the only people helping students move in. No faculty members in sight. Not a faculty member's job.

Yes, and I've seen

I can't imagine such a request going over well here. Here, the dorm RAs and orientation leaders (all students) perform this role during first year move-in.

It is a very well oiled machine, with each car unloaded into giant rolling bins in minutes and the (usually parent) driver directed on to parking so the next car can pull up while the student and their things are escorted on to their room.

Returning students trickle in over several days and are pretty much left to their own devices. Those still living in the dorms general store there things over the summer with a service that picks them up then delivers them back to campus -- the giant stacks of boxes move back in a few weeks ahead of the students, striping away the last of our denial that summer is coming to an end.

Yeah, because moving crap up stairs is a job for the young and enthusiastic who aren't going to mess up their backs and it just so happens, that by design, college campuses are filled with young people.  I doubt it costs much to get college students to do this. In most cases, I bet you can get students to do it by just allowing them to move in early and with some free food or something. What a weird thing...

[mythbuster]

Unless you are the faculty in residence for that dorm the answer is NO! At my alma mater, they post some pics every year of the University president holding a box as "helps" first year student unload. I'm sure that it is staged, and that the box then gets handed off to the actually move in staff.

Dorms really should be a faculty free zone.

[apl68]

I can't imagine such a request going over well here. Here, the dorm RAs and orientation leaders (all students) perform this role during first year move-in.

It is a very well oiled machine, with each car unloaded into giant rolling bins in minutes and the (usually parent) driver directed on to parking so the next car can pull up while the student and their things are escorted on to their room.

Returning students trickle in over several days and are pretty much left to their own devices. Those still living in the dorms general store there things over the summer with a service that picks them up then delivers them back to campus -- the giant stacks of boxes move back in a few weeks ahead of the students, striping away the last of our denial that summer is coming to an end.

It's what I recall from when I was in undergrad and grad school too.  Except I don't recall it being as organized as all that.  Nobody ever seemed to get hurt, at least.

Faculty weren't expected to have anything to do with it.  Even at my undergrad alma mater, which was the sort of place where faculty members didn't seem to have a problem with providing refreshments for occasional events.  My mother actually liked it.  Even Dad got involved with the food preparation, and he was a construction worker and not a university employee.

[BadWolf]

Admin should be roping in deans, assistant deans, and DEI heads, not faculty who are busy getting ready for the semester.

And exactly why should they be helping? Or do you just have a hatred for all AdminCritters? Many people in these roles meet the other exclusion criteria (physical injuries, age, pregnancy).

My institution also makes the same ask every year. For a long time I did help - I stood and directed traffic and my son used it as an opportunity to get his state mandated service learning hours by acting as a runner for the first-year staff. (Handing out water, getting new walkies when batteries would fail, giving families directions once they were on foot). He's grown now and I now avoid campus on move-in day and work from home.

[ciao_yall]

There is something weird to me about the dynamic of students and parents bossing faculty around doing manual labor.