by Zoe Steenwyk

When Vic Lindsay and his wife caught wind of a university being built from scratch in Abu Dhabi (a primary city in the United Arab Emirates), they were more than intrigued.  Within a few months they packed up and moved all of their stuff – including Vic’s extensive collection of Marvel figurines – overseas and began to help with the project.

Vic worked as Events Coordinator at New York University – Abu Dhabi.  He was in charge of programming for the first class of students throughout their initial orientation week and other events.  Then he became Manager of Global Education Operations, “…which is a fancy way of saying I was the effective travel agent for our students.”, Vic explained from his current, Marvel-themed office at Sweet Briar College (Lindsay).  After becoming Assistant Director of Student Activities in Abu Dhabi, he advised student clubs and organizations.  Over his ten years at NYU – Abu Dhabi, Vic built the student population from merely 150 students from 70 countries to a shocking 1,200 students from 120 countries. With this growth, Vic began feeling out of touch with the students.  He started looking for a smaller, liberal arts school to build, reminiscent of his own college experience at Davidson University in North Carolina.

Upon hearing about an opening at Sweet Briar College, Vic and his family moved his precious figurines, yet again, to rural Virginia where he is currently employed as the Director of Student Life.  “I chose to move my family – across oceans and continents – because I believed in Sweet Briar College and its mission.  Because I saw something special.”, Vic explained, gazing out the window across Sweet Briar’s vast campus (Lindsay).  Vic explained that he did not feel this connection at any other school and the potential of Sweet Briar College made it a unique opportunity.  Sweet Briar was the only school that felt special to him.

As the new Director of Student Life for Sweet Briar College, Vic Lindsay’s job entails overseeing residence life: clubs and organizations, residential hall maintenance, housing assignments, roommate mitigation, and student population growth.  He handles all problems that arise from the residential part of students’ lives.  Vic elaborated that, “The other parts of my job are just doing regular, every-day interactions with students that are having difficulty with different things, whether those are adjustment issues or conduct issues” (Lindsay).  He also handles updating the student handbook and the constitution, as well as other policy-related forms.

Vic is currently looking at how he can make life easier for students.  As the Director said, “I want to find out how we can leverage these tools we have, or these tools we can attain, to help make people’s lives easier” (Lindsay).  He is trying to transfer as many paper forms as possible to an online platform.  Digitizing these forms would make communication between administration and students much easier and allow all student-run clubs and organizations to upload their information much faster.  Student participation will be tracked through this platform, so that involved students can be recognized for their participation.  He is also implementing more online education modules on Title IX, safety drills, and substance abuse to shorten the amount of lecture time for students during orientation.  Vic would rather spend his time talking to students about the sexist designs of female super-hero figurines.

In Abu Dhabi, Vic loved that he was able to know all of the students by name until the school grew above 500 students.  In his quest to help revitalize Sweet Briar College, one of his biggest questions is how students will react to an increased student population over the next few years.  He is hunting to discover what student life can build to help compliment the new core curriculum focus – women’s leadership.  Bringing in more intercultural education, personal development, and community focus are just some of the things that he has already identified as a starting point.

Vic wants to know more about “what makes Sweet Briar, Sweet Briar” (Lindsay). Tap clubs and traditions seem to be a common answer, but this dedicated Director is trying to dig deeper and find the common cultural value or guiding influence that Sweet Briar students have. Even if that means bonding over the negatives, that gives him an idea of how student life can take away those negatives. One example Vic used is the honor code. He feels that instead of students thinking about it as a code of conduct, it is all about reporting people and pettiness.  Over the next year he plans to learn more about where that attitude comes from and how he can improve the programming so that incoming students learn the importance of the Sweet Briar Honor Code.

With all of the changes regarding curriculum, term length, and tuition, Vic truly believes that the freshman class (Class of 2022) has been handed an opportunity to identify how they want Sweet Briar College to be known.  “They have the opportunity to create a new legacy, built on the best parts of the old Sweet Briar legacy and making changes where there can be improvements.”, he said (Lindsay).  By learning what made the current freshman class come to Sweet Briar College, he hopes to help them develop their own personal brand for themselves and their college.

 

Works Cited

Lindsay, Vic. Personal Interview. 16 October 2018.