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Student Affairs and Campus Life Advisory Committee – October 1, 2026

Action Items

  • None

Minutes

Committee Members and Student Representatives Present

  • Mike Walsh – Vice President for Student Affairs (ex officio)
  • Antonia Delgado-Poust – Associate Professor, Modern Languages & Literatures, Chair
  • Sarah Morealli – Senior Lecturer, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Co-Secretary
  • Sidney Mullis – Assistant Professor, Department of Art, Co-Secretary
  • Emily Crosby – Assistant Professor, Department of Communication & Digital Studies
  • Desmond Villalba – Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Physics
  • Maya Schram – Conservation Biology, Student Representative
  • Addyson Murphey — Applied Economics and Sociology, Student Representative

Committee Members and Student Representatives Not Present

  • Melissa Jones – Dean of Students/Associate Vice President for Student Affairs (ex officio)

Guests Speakers

  • David Fleming—Dean of Residence Life and Student Housing/Vice President for Student Affairs

Committee Business

1.    Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 2:05pm.

2.    Background

At the Committee’s request, David Fleming provided a tour of two residence halls: Willard and Virginia. This tour provided the committee, particularly the faculty representatives, insight into student life and the challenges managed by Residence Life. David Fleming’s responsibilities include managing the residence hall and the on-campus living experience, meal-plan management, after-hours emergency care, and summer conferences.

UMW offers different styles of student housing: traditional/communal residence halls, suite-style living, apartments, and single rooms. Fleming estimates:

  • a maximum occupancy of 2100 available beds this year (note: there are typically more beds on campus, but some residence halls are under renovation)
  • 1,900 students residing on campus
  • 53-54% of the student population resides on campus
  • 83-84% of the first-year class lives on campus
  • The residence halls with the highest satisfaction rate traditional-style residences, not suites. This may be because the communal living-style encourages more student interaction and socializing.

The cost of living on campus depends on the student’s housing arrangement with suite-style rooms being less expensive that apartment housing. All on-campus housing requires enrollment in a meal plan; however, students with apartment-style housing can choose a meal plan with fewer meal swipes.

Residence life has a facilities liaison that helps facilitate maintenance and repairs. Students can use SchoolDude to submit work orders

Most on-campus students re-apply to live on campus the next year and Fleming finds that residence retention is linked to enrollment retention.  Last year, 84% of students who were eligible to live on campus the next year, re-applied. Since the pandemic, there has been an improvement in resident retention as students find that living on campus is convenient and often simpler than dealing with the off-campus housing/apartment market (off-campus apartments are expensive and supply is limited).

4.    Tours

Willard Hall

Willard was extensively renovated in 2019-2020; the building was taken down to the studs. The interior re-design included an open entry way, wide hallways, seminar rooms, study rooms, and a communal kitchen. Willard is a traditional-style residence hall where bathrooms are communal. The rooms in Willard are some of the largest on campus.

Virginia Hall

Virginia was renovated after Willard; 50% of the building remained intact. Since traditional-style living results in higher student satisfaction, the decision was made to re-design the Hall for communal living rather than maintaining the previously-existing suites. Virginia has European-style bathroom stalls that allow for increased privacy, a large parlor, a kitchen, and a resource room for RAs.

5.    Faculty’s Role

The faculty asked how the Committee could help Residence Life.  Fleming requests that faculty email him directly if any student approaches the faculty with a concern about their on-campus housing.  He and his staff will try to find a solution.

6.    Concerns from Students

The Weekly Ringer printed an article on September 18th in which students expressed concerns around room/apartment maintenance and unexpected roommate assignments.  Fleming stated that the situations present in the paper were misrepresented.

A student representative reported that some upper-level students believe first-year students receive priority during housing selection and would like Residence Life to give greater priority to upper-level students in the process.

7.    Future Plans

Residence Life intends to explore the following priorities:

  • housing first-years and sophomores together to improve sophomore retention
  • ensuring all residence halls are physical accessible. Ball Hall received accessible upgrades over the summer. Bushnell and Westmoreland are currently being renovated and they will be completely physically accessible.
  • working with facilities to find cost-effective solutions for residence halls with no central air conditioning (some residence halls only have in-window units).
  • Short-term housing opportunities for commuters

8.    Meeting Minutes

The minutes of the August 27th meeting were distributed electronically and approved by a majority of committee members before the October meeting.

9.    Conclusion

The meeting concluded at 3:15pm.

 

 

 

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