Episode 02: Kate Baier

Intro Voices [00:00:05] Where do I go? It only happened once. I think I was singled out. The phone calls began about one month ago. What is hazing? Something happened to me when I was younger. I'm worried about my safety. He said he was sorry. Can someone help me? Where can I get help? Can someone help me?

 

Intro Voices [00:00:31] This is You Matter, a podcast for the NYU community developed by the Department of Public Safety.

 

Karen Ortman [00:00:38] Hi everyone and welcome back to You Matter. A podcast created to teach, inspire, and motivate members of the NYU community who have been victimized in some form or fashion, and to identify resources both on and off campus that can help. I am your co-host Karen Ortman, Assistant Vice President of Field Operations at the Department of Public Safety, and a retired law enforcement professional.

 

Sabah Fatima And I am Sabah Fatima, a pre med graduate student here at NYU’s College of Global Public Health.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:01:06] If any information presented today is triggering or disturbing, please feel free to contact the wellness exchange at 212-443-9999.

 

Karen Ortman [00:01:16] Today we introduce Kate Baier, Executive Director of Residential Life in the Office of Residential Life and Housing at NYU, where Kate is responsible for the overall administration and operation of NYU’s 22 residence halls and 2 graduate living communities, home to approximately 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students during the academic year and summer session. Kate, thank you so much for being here and sharing with our listeners the services that your office provides not only to incoming freshmen, but to all students, regardless of academic year. Kate, if we could start by you telling our listeners what the Office of Residential Life and Housing at NYU is and how it serves the NYU student community.

 

Kate Baier [00:02:03] Sure, well I'm happy to be here and talk about the office. At the most foundational level, Residential Life and Housing Services provide safe and inclusive housing to primarily undergraduates, but also graduate students at NYU. We have a number of staff who live in the building, the BLT—who I'm sure I'll be talking about—who assist students and provide support. And really one of our goals is to help make students successful here during their time at NYU. So we provide opportunities for students to get to know other students who are living in the building, to explore NYU, learn more about the resources that are available on campus, and also to explore New York City. So one arm of our office is to coordinate the student experience when they're living in their residence halls, and then we also manage contracting and how students apply, pick a room, find themselves to be living with us for both the academic year and then we have a summer housing operation for NYU students as well as individuals who are interning with the many many opportunities to intern in the city.

 

Karen Ortman [00:03:22] I noticed that you use the term inclusive when talking about housing. What does that mean?

 

Kate Baier [00:03:29] That means that students feel comfortable, that they are aware of, respectful of, embracing of individuals who might be different from them and a variety of areas.

 

Kate Baier [00:03:43] So race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, spirituality and religion. We want our residence halls to be a place where people feel that they are included, that they find a sense of belonging living in the residence halls and also that they are able to explore differences that exist amongst people.

 

Karen Ortman [00:04:05] So important, particularly when you have so many people living in the same space, to feel that sense of belonging.

 

Karen Ortman [00:04:16] How do you help or guide students when it comes to picking a room, particularly incoming freshmen who have not—some who have never been here until they arrive.

 

Kate Baier [00:04:24] Sure. So I'm—one of the first things we do is we we think about how students are prepared for living in college, right? So communicating with them, sharing with them the opportunities that exist. And when they are thinking about picking a room, sharing information about the different residence halls, what each residence hall includes, the location, the types of rooms that are available for them. For a first year student who is entering NYU, they have the ability to list a series of preferences. So they will tell us, you know, six buildings that they want to live in and then, we will take that and they are--from these preferences—with other criteria—for example, are they a student who has expressed interest in low cost housing? Do they want to live in one of the special living groups? So a themed engagement community that will link them with other students who share an interest and a faculty affiliate. So considering those preferences as well, they'll be randomly assigned to one of the residence halls, and that will be their first year room assignment. And if they stay on campus—so they remain living on campus in their sophomore, junior, and senior years—they are able to pick the people that they live with and they also pick their actual room. During the application period, they will go into our system and it's like picking a seat on the airline—they identify the room that they want to live in for the next year.

 

Karen Ortman [00:05:52] So can incoming freshmen pick a roommate?

 

Kate Baier [00:05:55] Incoming freshmen do not pick a roommate.

 

Karen Ortman [00:05:57] Ok so what kind of services—if you could describe—that are provided to incoming freshmen who are away from home for the first time?

 

Kate Baier [00:06:09] Sure. So I mentioned earlier that the first part is about preparing students and giving them the information that they need to be knowledgeable about what it's like to come to NYU, come to New York City for potentially the first time. And so we do a first year student webinar, so that shares information about the residence halls, what students are going to experience on move in day because it's very unique, right? Unique here, it’s unique to students. They—a student will never experience Oftentimes our first year moving into a residence hall and their family oftentimes will—even if they've had older children—many times have not moved a student into a New York City residence hall, so it's very specific.

 

Kate Baier [00:06:56] And we give them guidance on making that as successful as possible during this webinar. We also talk about the staff, the resources that are available, their building, and a little bit about how to how to set your roommate relationship off on the right start, and things that you should be thinking about bringing and not bringing as you're preparing to move in to the residence halls. And then, we have a series of communications over the course of the summer that will introduce the R.A., talk about community aspects of the building—so how government leadership opportunities that exist for students, talk about the staff. So in every building there's a residence hall director that oversees the residents home, or residence hall assistant director who supervises the staff and advises the hall government, a residence hall resource manager who oversees the operation of the residence hall, and the residence hall resource center. And the resource center is like a front desk reception area where students will get mail, packages, toilet paper, garbage bags, those sorts of things. Then once students arrive, we're really thinking about transition. So all first year students will live in buildings that are designed for the first year students. The first year students live together and then first year students participate in the first year residential experience—which is a series of programs and how we do things to help students transition successfully to NYU and really set a foundation that's going to serve as a springboard for the remainder of the time here. So there is a lot of staff support, specific programming that happens to help students know what it's gonna be like in their first day of class. We have faculty members who talk about how the college classroom may be different from the high school classroom, and what are some things that college students can do to be very successful in their first year of college, and why should they go to office hours, and how are they going to get to classes the first day, and what are some things that they should bring. So we do things to help the students not feel intimidated in their first days of class, but also feel like they are knowing people that they're living with and they're beginning to establish a social group—a network of people that they can rely on and feel that they're connected to, but also know who their staff resources are, and their R.A., and their hall staff.

 

Karen Ortman [00:09:22] So how much time in advance of the beginning of the semester do all of these programs and information sessions occur?

 

Kate Baier [00:09:29] So the webinar is offered soon after students receive their housing assignment—so very late July, early August. And then a series of emails will happen after that as students are approaching Welcome Week.

 

Karen Ortman [00:09:48] In what ways does your staff address the significant number of international students that we have here at NYU, again, who oftentimes—I have met students who have been to New York City for the first time when they arrive for school. So what sort of resources are in place for that population?

 

Kate Baier [00:10:12] The R.A.s are well trained to recognize and respond to miscommunications or activities and behaviors that might cause tension in a room. The reality is when students are coming from different places and then they have never lived with each other—oftentimes students have never lived in a bedroom with anyone—there's going to be miscommunications. And students are going to have to learn how to assert their own needs and rights but also be respectful of another person's similar needs and rights and how they do things. And so the R.A.s will help students work through residential living agreements and they're able to state, “I go to bed at this time,” “These are the sorts of things that I’m open to sharing,” “These are the things that I do not want to share.”

 

Kate Baier [00:11:03] And I think this especially helps international students, who may not be best equipped perhaps, to have those conversations when they first get here. Like all of our students, right? Like all students might be timid in having those conversations or might not be timid and might be very assertive. And that's also sometimes not the best way to approach the conversation.

 

Karen Ortman [00:11:32] The agreement that you spoke of, what's that called?

 

Kate Baier [00:11:34] It's the residential living agreement.

 

Karen Ortman [00:11:36] And every resident of every room…

 

Kate Baier [00:11:40] All first year students complete it. It's a technology tool. So students are able to complete that online and they have a discussion with their roommates about it and if it's necessary, the R.A. can also help them facilitate those conversations. Or if they agree to something and it turns out four weeks later that it’s not working, the R.A. can help them reconsider what sorts of expectations they have in their room and—

 

Karen Ortman [00:12:14] For the benefit of the listener who might not know, what is an R.A.?

 

Kate Baier [00:12:18] Oh that's an excellent question. R.A. stands for a resident assistant and an R.A. is a student leader. They are a junior or senior and there is one R.A. per floor and they serve as a resource. They coordinate events and they are a peer support to students, especially first year students. Oftentimes they're the first person that they're going to for assistance. Or if they have a question, they'll be there on move in day. And really in the beginning couple of weeks, they are just there to help students acclimate to living in the residence halls, introduce them to other people and begin to help students feel like they have a home here in New York City.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:13:01] Sounds great. What are some of the resources that help students, regardless of their year of study, manage the stress associated with the academic rigor of being an NYU student?

 

Kate Baier [00:13:13] We have a very close relationship with Wellness. We work in partnership with them oftentimes. If there is a student that comes to their attention—because our students are all living in the residence halls and we have eyes on the students—

 

Kate Baier [00:13:29] They can oftentimes call us and say, “Listen, we received this report about a student or this this concern was made evident to us and so could someone just talk to the students to see how they're doing or are they feeling like they're connected?  Are they seeming like they're getting enough sleep and taking care of themselves? Do they need support?” And so we'll do those very informal sort of just put eyes on the student, connect with the student, reach out to the student, and we also, if the concern is more urgent, we'll also talk to the student and facilitate a conversation between the student and the counselor. So a member of our staff will visit with the student and have them speak to a counselor over the phone and then step out and they can take it from there. So I think that we offer pretty comprehensive support to students beyond working in partnership with wellness. Because our R.A.s are getting to know each student and because they're living in community with others, there's a sense of neighborhoodly connection and you notice when your neighbor is not doing well. If you noticed your roommate is sleeping all the time or not sleeping at all, or they're drinking a lot and they're making choices that are different for them and becoming difficult to manage. Because of the proximity of everyone being in there, there's a lot of resources for someone to step in and say, you know, “Your roommate mentioned that you haven't been sleeping very well and so I'm wondering, do you want to talk to someone about that?” While I think that students might think about our student policies for living in the residence halls—especially around alcohol—as rules that they have to follow, they're also there because if we've noticed that a student is coming back intoxicated, you know, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, it's an opportunity for us to have a conversation about the choices that are being made and to help connect students to resources that are there to help them make more success-oriented choices.

 

Kate Baier [00:15:58] And not to be judgmental about, you know, you're making this choice and we disagree with this choice. But you're making this choice and we're wondering if that choice is working for you. And do we need resources to help you examine what's happening so that you can make choices that better position you for success here? Because it is an academically rigorous place, right? It's not an easy place sometimes for a lot of different reasons, right? There are high expectations from an academic standpoint and also New York City can sometimes be an isolating place and so I think that the opportunity to live in the residence halls and have that availability of people who are really there to help you be the best possible student you can be is a wonderful benefit of living in a residence hall community.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:16:48] Do you ever communicate with parents regarding issues concerning their student.

 

Kate Baier [00:16:52] So yes. But we're guided by federal policy that exists to protect student privacy. And so oftentimes we don't outreach to students, except for a few critical instances.

 

Kate Baier [00:17:10] If there's a concern about a serious health and safety issue, then we may reach out to the parent. For example, if a student has been hospitalized, we will contact a parent just so that they're aware that the student is in the hospital and we will provide information about what hospital. We don't say why. We will just share that information and can say—I've made many of these phone calls and I basically just say, “The student is safe. But the student has been hospitalized. I don't know a lot of details about why that is. But here's the information and you can contact the hospital directly and talk to them about next steps.” Oftentimes it's not us outreaching to parents, but parents outreaching to us about a concern and so we first always encourage the parents that we're going to get the best outcomes if we talk to the student directly. And so, we want to reach out to the student and then we talk to parents about, generally, how we will respond to an incident that they're describing and give them our practice, and our typical policy if they're describing something that's policy driven. And then we also share with them the information about how we approach situations so that they are also receiving information to us which may be the same or possibly very different than they are hearing from the student. But again, really if there is a concern that's happening, the best way to handle it is to have us to communicate directly with the student.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:18:39] Definitely.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:18:42] Many students have difficulty affording the high cost of tuition at many colleges and universities. At NYU, do students have the option of choosing a residence hall that is lower in cost so that their overall tuition can be reduced?

 

Kate Baier [00:18:56] Yes. So when students are preferencing their buildings, they have access to the rates to every space they are looking at. And for the most part, our rates are accommodation specific. So they're not going to be based on a specific building or location. For example, all shared rooms in buildings with air conditioning, without a kitchen will have the same price point.

 

Kate Baier [00:19:21] Student can choose to live in preference buildings, but we will also ask them when we're assigning, if they're interested in low cost housing. So a low cost housing is oftentimes a triple but it comes at a lower price point than a standard two-person bedroom in a shared apartment or a single. The other question that we often get is, “Do you offer singles?” And I will say that we offer very few singles. Our portfolio of singles is about three to five percent of our total inventory, so it's very rare for students to have a single.

 

Karen Ortman [00:20:01] Can you speak to the commuting student and how your office responds to that population? Are the resources different than what's offered to a residential student as opposed to the commuter?

 

Kate Baier [00:20:18] Yeah. So a lot of what I've discussed is our resources that are available to all NYU students. So the wellness exchange is available to all NYU students. I talked a little bit about welcome week and that week where students are learning about NYU. That also, obviously, is available to all NYU students.

 

[00:20:40] NYU connect -the communication link between faculty advisors and other people in student’s networks. That's for all NYU students. And so a lot of what I've discussed is available for all students. Of course commuters. They don't have the proximity of living with other students. And so, this question about vulnerable students, there might not be another student or staff member there who's able to identify possibly a concern with this student. But many times are living with roommates and family members who can serve that function and say my student is doing very well. And if it's a family member they've known them forever. So, they certainly know what to look for, specific signals that a student might be struggling. I think the main difference is that a commuter student is probably more connected to the Center for Student Life. So they have an office that's dedicated to commuter students, creating a vibrant and my new life for community students, the sorts of events and her programs and opportunities and resources that we offer in residence.

 

Karen Ortman [00:21:51] So does that serve as like a student center, almost?

 

Kate Baier [00:21:56] Yes, so the Center for Student Life. They managed club life and there are hundreds and hundreds of NYU all square clubs. They have specific offices for international students, commuter student,s graduate students, and veterans. I may be misspeaking but I'm fairly positive of that and they really serve as a resource hub for all students but in absence of having the network support that we provide and residents they serve that function for commuting students.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:22:31] What are some of the resources available for students who are on a budget and living in New York City?

 

Kate Baier [00:22:37] So most of the events that we coordinate in the residence halls are free to the students in the community. So, the Hall Council plans programs and outings in the city, and RAs will do the same either going out having dinner in, the faculty fellows in residence will do the same thing. Have students over for a lot of things, a lot of our faculty fellows do a Sunday brunch and so two hundred students will go and they'll have pancakes with a faculty member on a Sunday. So those are all free for students which I think it's a fantastic opportunity for students. My wife actually went to school here and talks about going to see shows and museums at no cost for her which is important right. The opportunity to explore New York City and take advantage of city life. But recognizing that that's often difficult on a student budget. So those sorts of programs are available in the residence halls and they're free. Some might have a small copay but we would never want a small copay to prevent a student from taking advantage of that opportunity. So, we use the terminology of your cash flow is low. Let us know. So, if the copay is out of reach for whatever reason for you just mention that to the staff member who is coordinating the event and will waive it no questions. We want students to be able to take advantage of what we offer.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:24:12] How do students that are not living in the residence hall find out about these events.

 

Kate Baier [00:24:16] Well so the events, some of the events, I'm talking about here are specific to the residence hall. So an R.A. will plan something and it’ll be for their floor. But the Center for Student Life - They have similar programming. Our clubs will do this sort of programming or the academic departments will do this sort of program. So, if I were approaching this and I were a NYU student, I know that our residence hall students learn about these things because we do weekly newsletters so they'll get an email blast from the hall staff and sometimes a separate one from the faculty. A lot of the different offices do the same thing like spiritual life has an email list an email newsletter that goes out the Center for Multicultural Education programs has the same international students and I know because I receive them all. I'm on these lists and so if there's something that's specifically interesting to you whether you're a residential student or a student who does not live in the residence halls you can get on those lists as well and learn what's happening. There are also events at Skirball, and if you get on the Skirball list, they will share information about this kind of tickets for NYU students and occasionally have absolutely free tickets as well as some Broadway shows.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:25:29] Yeah. Is there any additional information that you'd like to share with our listeners regarding your office today?

 

Kate Baier [00:25:35] I would just close with my part saying that there are just a lot of resources that are available on the building and it's all right there. And so if a student has a question. Usually the best place to start is with their R.A. but any member of the staff the residence hall director or the residence hall assistant director or the resource manager.

 

Karen Ortman [00:25:59] And where would you direct the commuting student who doesn't have an RA?

 

Kate Baier [00:26:03] I would direct the commuting student to the Center for Student Life. They in many ways serve as the hub for commuter students if they have a question to just call them. They don't use this as much anymore but there is a line used to be able to ask us and they can provide the similar sorts of resources to students. And really like all those staff members will point students in the right direction either directly answer the question but oftentimes point them in the right direction to get the resource that's most relevant or important for them. But it's just a question of asking for the assistance, which I know is sometimes difficult, but very rarely do students have to find the answer themselves. They can also just ask.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:26:43] That's great. Thank you and thank you to our guest Kate and to all of our listeners for joining us for today's episode of you matter.

 

Karen Ortman [00:26:52] Yes thank you to my colleague and friend Kate. Thanks for being here. If any information presented today was triggering or disturbing. Please feel free to contact the wellness exchange at 212 443 9999. You can also get in touch with NYU’s Department of Public Safety and their victim services unit by calling 212 998 2222.

 

Sabah Fatima [00:27:22] For more podcasts like these you could find this by searching for you matter on Apple podcasts or Google Play.