<nt Director of the Office of Intercultural and International Life (OIIL) De’Angelo Washington announced January 5 that he would be leaving his position due to family responsibilities. Washington is the third Assistant Director of OIIL to resign in the past four years.
The high turnover has, as Joy Kluttz, the Director of OIIL, admitted on Monday afternoon, “slowed down our goals that we are trying to accomplish in the Office.” The last two Assistant Directors have only held the job for about a year and a half, and “it takes a while for them to get used to the job and get going, so it slows us down.” The high turnover has been due to a series of bad luck. The last two Assistant Directors have left because of family responsibilities and personal reasons.
Indeed, Kluttz noted Washington’s departure does not mean he hindered the development of OIIL during his time at Carleton. “He’ s a really good listener” remarked Kluttz, “he always has an open office, and the students can go in and talk to him about whatever.”
The position of Assistant Director of OIIL is generally “hard to explain,” according to Kluttz. The main job assigned to the Assistant Director is to provide a welcoming environment by planning programs throughout campus. The Assistant Director works closely with the Intercultural Peer Leader Program and participates on committees in order to better understand the various issues on campus. However, Kluttz says “it changes with whomever has the job.” The job can, to a certain extent, be molded by the Assistant Director and taken in the direction that he/she envisions.
The process for hiring a new Assistant Director for OIIL will begin after the “Tuesday group,” composed of President Steve Poskanzer and other campus administrators, approves the position. This is a regular procedure for hiring all Carleton staff. Once approved, OIIL will begin the application and interviewing process. The practice may be long and tedious, but it ensures that the new Assistant Director, with a vision for improvement, will help develop the Department, as well as hopefully ending the streak of high turnover for the position.
In the meantime, the workers at OIIL are maintaining their workload as well as distributing various tasks among them that were originally assigned to the Assistant Director. “The students have been really supportive and have asked how can we help,” which has been a huge asset, says Kluttz. They hope to hire a new Assistant Director by the beginning of Fall Term in 2011. Regardless, Kluttz believes that “with the strength of everyone in the office, we’ll get done what needs to be done.”