Enough room for the whole library: Assistant Master habitats

Most underclassmen have wondered about the comparatively old-looking students hanging around the dorms and dining halls of their residential colleges. If they aren't hormonally advanced sophomores or fellows of the college, they're probably assistant masters.

Each residential college has two assistant masters. Graduate students who eat, work and sometimes live among the undergraduates, their job includes "being around and accessible," according to Butler College Assistant Master Rob Sobak GS.

While many of the assistant masters live in dorms, their well-furnished suites bear little resemblance to the typical dorm room and are a big step-up from even the largest graduate student single apartments.

"As far as grad student life goes, I have the best setup," Wilson College Assistant Master Elliot Ratzman GS said. "I have choice real estate."

Ratzman's suite in 1937 Hall includes a spacious living room, two bedrooms, a study, a bathroom and a small kitchen, an arrangement similar to those of other assistant masters. Unlike the undergraduate rooms surrounding them, the assistant masters' suites include air-conditioning and are exempt from certain fire safety policies, meaning that assistant masters are free to light candles and use microwaves and other appliances forbidden to undergraduates.

The assistant masters' reflections on living among undergraduates are overwhelmingly positive — they enjoy the relaxed, informal relationships they have with the freshmen and sophomores in their colleges and have few complaints about dining hall food or loud parties. The one time blaring music bothered Ratzman, he took the liberty of knocking on his neighbors' door and offering them a CD more to his liking.

"Being around grad students is like an energy drain, and being around undergrads is the opposite," Ratzman said. "It keeps me young."

Many of the assistant masters use their suites in the dorms as a means of interacting with students by inviting them to come over for meals and discussions.

"It's nice to have undergraduates come around here and see that there's no TV and lots of books," Ratzman said. "It gives permission to engage in talking."

Many of the assistant masters have gotten knocks on their doors from curious students wanting to see their suites. Sobak has even encountered confused freshmen who thought the door to his apartment was an entryway in 1922 Hall.

Living among undergraduates makes interaction with them inevitable, even if the assistant masters don't seek it. The wide view of the Mathey courtyard from Assistant Master Kathryn Lachman's kitchen window allows her to observe students even as she washes dishes in her suite in the tower of Blair Hall.

The main job of the assistant masters is to oversee the college council, RAs and MAAs and address student problems through these intermediaries. They also do some college programming and managerial work.

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"There's a little more time involved than I'd expected, but the time has been spent doing fun, interesting things, not responding to crises," Sobak said.

While the job, for the most part, "is not exactly breaking rocks," according to Ratzman, the assistant masters have been selected from a competitive pool. This year, around 30 graduate students applied for two available assistant master positions. Although assistant masters receive a stipend, graduate students who would otherwise be funded by their departments take a pay cut when they accept the job.

Residential college life and the resources available to underclassmen surprised many of the assistant masters.

"Grad students have no idea what kind of services are here for undergrads because ours are pretty shoddy," Ratzman said. "We get one lousy study break, and we think we're privileged — you guys get them once a week!"

Lachman is most impressed by the upperclassmen RAs and MAAs who offer their time to give guidance to freshmen and sophomores.

"I've never seen a system so supportive of students and aware of what's going on with them," Lachman said.

The future of the assistant master position may not be secure: Discussions concerning the four-year residential college system, beginning in three colleges in 2006, have raised the idea of eliminating the assistant master position and allowing more graduate students to live in the colleges instead.

Administrators are looking for a way to increase contact between the undergraduate and graduate students.

"There's a strange divide [between graduate and undergraduate students] that isn't present at most other universities," Sobak said. "It would be nice to eliminate that."