College presidents around the country are gearing up to welcome their students to campus in innovative ways this fall. For many institutional leaders, opportunities to engage with students have increasingly become a priority to improve customer service for students and their families.
On Tuesday, Morehouse College president Dr. David A. Thomas moved into Graves Hall – the oldest residence hall on campus at the all-male historically Black college in Atlanta – as a way to get to know the incoming men of Morehouse and to hear about their concerns. Thomas’ two-day, living accommodations marks his first Move-In Day as president because he assumed the role in early January.
“I’d like for [students] to see it as a sign that I’m very serious about putting at the center of everything we do, our student experience. I hope they get out of it that I don’t want to be seen as a president who is never ever seen, heard or touched,” Thomas said in an email interview with Diverse. “But to be quite frank, I thought much more about what I’ll get out of it – to get a real sense of what our student experience is like.”
Thomas added that living in the dorm will give him a sense of how well Morehouse leaders are serving their students as the institution recently made changes in management of facilities to improve the student experience.
“So I’ll get to live that experience, walk these halls and talk to these students,” he said. So far, he added, “It’s great. It’s kind of exciting actually.”
Thomas has acknowledged that he wanted to attend Morehouse when he graduated from his Kansas City, Missouri high school nearly 40 years ago. He could not afford the tuition and instead, attended Yale University.
Now as a “first-year” student, he has a chance to serve the incoming men of Morehouse through placing himself in their shoes — and residence hall.
