University of Maryland student affairs department leaders discussed recent federal policy impacts on their respective departments and micromobility issues at the Residence Hall Association’s semesterly town hall Tuesday.
President Donald Trump’s executive orders and actions could impact staffing and grants across departments, directors told RHA senators.
“We continue to feel the stress of … uncertain times,” resident life director Dennis Passarella-George said. “We are, across our campus, navigating financial uncertainty at multiple levels.”
This university could face staffing challenges with Haitian employees in particular, according to John Blackwood, Residential Facilities interim director.
Blackwood and Dining Services director Christopher Moore said about 10 percent of this university’s Dining Services and Residential Facilities employees are Haitian and working under Temporary Protected Status — a program allowing eligible nationals from select countries identified by the Department of Homeland Security who cannot currently safely return to their designated country to temporarily remain in the U.S.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a notice on Feb. 24 that reduced Haiti’s designation period for Temporary Protected Status in the U.S. from 18 months to 12 months.
The Haiti Temporary Protected Status period will expire on Aug. 3, 2025, instead of Feb. 3 2026, which it had previously been extended to under the Biden administration, according to the notice.
The shortening of the designation period could impact Residential Facilities and Dining Services staffing for the summer and fall 2025 terms, Blackwood said.
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Recent executive orders related to federal spending have hindered this university’s acquisition of 35 new electric buses, transportation services executive director David Allen said.
An executive order issued by Trump on Jan. 20 restricting federal diversity, equity and inclusion policy included a subsection specifically terminating “equity-related grants or contracts.”
This university received a nearly $40 million grant through the Federal Transit Administration for electric bus construction and charging infrastructure that included a required diversity, equity and inclusion element, according to Allen. Now, the department is uncertain about how their grant is impacted by Trump’s order and whether they will receive the funding, Allen said.
“We are still hoping that we will be able to have these buses,” Allen said. “Maybe not as soon as we thought, but perhaps down the road.”
Resident Life’s sustainability programs department is worried about losing a $5 million federal grant for addressing food insecurity from the National Science Foundation, according to Resident Life’s sustainability program manager Lisa Alexander. Alexander said the grant funds staffing for Terp to Terp, a campus store that recirculates donations from students, according to the program’s brochure.
Although the grant has not yet been rescinded, Alexander is concerned about potentially having to secure other funding to finance sustainability operations, she said.
Students at the town hall also expressed concerns about electric scooters haphazardly discarded on sidewalks and the need for more scooter traffic regulation around campus.
More enforcement by the University of Maryland Police is a likely solution to scooter traffic problems, Allen said.
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But the time that the UMPD spends patrolling scooter traffic is an extra cost for this university, Allen said. Instituting registration fees for students using electric scooters on campus could offset the cost of more police enforcement, he added.
Students are encouraged to report scattered scooters through the University of Maryland app, Allen said.
RHA senators also raised the problem of frequent jamming in newly installed paper towel and toilet paper dispensers in dorm bathrooms. Residential Facilities’ goal with the new dispenser installations was to lessen housekeeping staff members’ workloads, Blackwood said. He discussed potentially adding explanatory signage to the dispensers to ease jamming issues.
Upcoming RHA legislation and committee initiatives will likely reflect micromobility and dorm facilities issues that were communicated at the town hall meeting, RHA vice president Michelle Ameyaw told The Diamondback.
Ameyaw said she believes student affairs departments will continue to act with students’ best interests in mind even in the face of new federal restrictions. Open discussion with the departments about how they are going to move forward to ease student concerns will be crucial in developing future RHA legislation, she explained.
“The people working in their departments really care about residents,” she said. “They always have an open door for anyone who has complaints.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated that Lisa Alexander was this university’s sustainability program manager. She is Resident Life’s sustainability program manager. It also misstated that this university’s sustainability department was worried about losing a $5 million federal grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant is for Resident Life’s sustainability programs department. This story has been updated.
