Congratulations on your new job as Director of Student Life. We’re glad you’ve come to join us and want to make sure that you feel at home. We’d like to ease the transition into your new place of work, and, to that end, offer you the knowledge that we have acquired in our short times here.Your role at the University is more significant to students than other administrators’-really, by title, you’re involved in directing our lives. You’re charged with overseeing our activities, our organizations and the rules that govern us. Your role at the University is unique: You serve as an administrator, but also, in performing your job, as a teacher of students about their behavior, that which students should and should not do. More, in order to understand student life, you must also become a student. Members of all of these groups will feel connected with you and, we’re sure, be more than gracious in offering you advice. Remember, as anyone coming to the University should: Keep your mind open. The University offers a spectrum of knowledge to all who come here. Avoid letting preconceptions limit your vision of this spectrum-don’t judge University life until you get to know it.Moreover, actively pursue the knowledge available here. Get involved, particularly in these student activities that you oversee. In doing so, you will know the impact of your work, but also, you will make yourself available to the student body that you serve.You may notice, in participating-more than just observing-in these activities, that student life is different than other life. Students do not necessarily do business during business hours. We work later in the day. We also might hold each other to different standards of etiquette.For one, we live by ideals; we expect from each other these ideals; we barter in these ideals, exchanging them as common currency in the classroom, student leadership and late-night, beer-fueled conversations.This is important: Do not let cynicism cloud your mind. Be young. Be new-now is your opportunity to do so.Good luck. And welcome to SLU.