Dorm Heads and Administration Plan Institution’s Risk Management

Chief Financial Officer David Hanson, Dean of Students Melissa Mischke and Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove hosted a meeting with dorm heads to discuss Exeter’s approaches to Institutional Risk Management (IRM), last Monday, Jan. 11. The meeting has since inspired discussion amongst faculty and students about the looming task of risk mitigation both in dorms and on campus.Risks at the institutional level are very broad, encompassing anything that prevents the Academy from completing its mission as an educational establishment. However, this broader concept of risk can be subdivided into two categories: institutional risk—liability—and individual risk—safety. According to Hanson, these types of risk can take many forms on the Exeter campus.“As a large and complex organization, which has over one thousand students and faculty in one community, we face a number of risks, from financial risks to student-related risks,” Hanson said.

“When you have a large group of people in small community there is always a potential for risk.”

The goal of IRM is to mitigate these risks as much as possible through school intervention. Currently, the Academy is taking many steps to reduce the immediate danger of several individual and institutional risks, the most prominent of which being fire hazards. As Wentworth dorm affiliate and physical education instructor Don Mills said, “fire safety is a big concern for all boarding schools.” However, through the institution of administrative policy, the installment of fire suppression devices and the constant practices that faculty and students indulge in daily, Mills said, the Academy has been able to successfully mitigate most of the risks and concerns surrounding fires.Exeter’s administration understands that most of the risk, both institutional and individual, lies within the dorm environment, an area that is partially out of administrative control. Chair of the Health department Carol Cahalane said, “I think that there is always something to be thinking about when creating and maintaining safe living environments like a dorm. Risk is inherent in the management of any living space, particularly one that serves many young people.”As a result, Hanson as well as other members of the administration saw a necessity in talking to dorm faculty about risk mitigation for the well-being of students. Hanson led the initiative, organizing the first IRM meeting in the scheme of a larger, long term project on safety with dorm heads.During the meeting, Hanson said he worked to “identify the ‘owners’ of risks, to develop mitigation plans and to ensure that we are aligning resources to our greatest priority needs.” He also reinforced the current beneficial approaches of risk management that have already been adapted to dorm life at Exeter. Chair of the Health Department Michelle Soucy said that the administration was told “to keep doing what we already do—as a faculty we do a good job of taking care of the students in our dorms.”Many students also agree that risk is naturally involved in dorm life and must be addressed. Lower Anzi Dibenedetto said, “risk is inevitable in Exeter’s dorms. When you have a large group of people in small community there is always a potential for risk.”Other students, however, although they agreed that risk was inevitable on the Exeter campus, argued that the implication of risk in dorms was exaggerated, and that its impact should not have called for a meeting of its own. Prep Samantha Resnick does not believe that living in a dorm should be considered “risky for students.”Many students agreed with Resnick’s sentiments, adding that it is unreasonable for the administration to further address risk management. Upper Caroline Davis questioned how the administration “plans to address these problems” without “completely interfering with our lives to avoid risk.”Most students agree, however, that this is a conversation to be continued not only among the administration and dorm faculty, but also with proctors who are currently unincorporated in the risk discussion. Senior and Cilley Hall proctor Will Rau said that, although faculty are valued in this conversation, it is critical to also include the proctors in the dialogue, as they are the direct bulwarks for student risk and are “often much better equipped to diagnose and deal with social turmoil in and outside of the dorm.”Hanson has already begun the process to further address risk management on campus, starting with the institution of an IRM team at Exeter. This team, established in May 2015, consists of multiple academy staff, including Chief of Planning and Facilities Roger Wakeman, Director of Human Resources Shanna Hines, Assistant Principal Ron Kim, Trustee Bill Rawson ’71, trustee Deidre O’Byrne ’84, Hanson and Controller at the Finance Office Marijka Beauchesne. The team will work together to address the risks inherent at Exeter and lead mitigation practices and projects for students and faculty alike.“The goal of [the IRM team] is to be simple and helpful and ultimately to create a culture that proactively considers risk and sees the benefit of anticipating, not reacting, to risks on campus. We already do a very good job to anticipate and manage risks on campus, but we are always looking for ways to improve,” Hanson said.Many of these changes in risk management, Soucy said, will not “be noticeable to students.” However, there are other issues, such as hoverboards and drones, “that may present danger to our community… [and] make good sense to have [visible] policy about.”Hanson explained that IRM is more than just a short term project. Instead, it is a continuous process that will “instill concepts of risk management in the campus culture, strategic planning and budgeting processes at the Academy.”Exeter is, overall, becoming increasingly concerned with the risks that are intrinsic to Exeter life. As a result, while keeping in mind the wants and needs of the Exeter community, the Academy hopes to institute changes in policy that will eradicate individual and institutional risk on the Exeter campus.Hanson said that as a school, it is Exeter’s first priority to “ensure that we have processes in place to best serve our students, faculty and staff and mitigate risks wherever possible.” Contributions from Christine Baker