Mandeville for Man of the Year

I don't have any other colleges to compare it to, but it seems to me that most Whitworth students really like their faculty. However, there are a few faculty members that for some reason inspire fanatic followings. These are the professors that you can't mention in a conversation without hearing someone tell you how much they love them, or how they've changed their lives. One of the reasons I know this so well is that I am one. Really, you can just call me a Marc Hafso fanboy. But the purpose of this post is to talk about someone who you wouldn't necessarily link with fanatic followings and huge class waitlists. Everyone likes Marc Hafso. And Dale Soden. And Rick Horner. And Bill Robinson. And the whole Theology department. They've done great things and have been amazing role models for students, but I want to talk about someone else - the associate dean of students.

You'll only really have reason to hang out with Dick Mandeville for two reasons; either you're an RA, or you are in some serious trouble. I never got to experience the latter first-hand, but the one time I wrote up some students as an RA I got a pretty good insight into his process. While I've never sat down to coffee with him, or shared a particularly personal conversation, he has made a huge impression on me.

I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty certain that he's the supreme law at Whitworth when it comes to student discipline. That can't be a fun job. In fact, this is just about the only position in higher education where the students will hate you for doing your job well. But here's a strange thing - they don't. I haven't had a lot of conversations about Dr. Mandeville, but I can't recall even one where a (rationally thinking) student who had gotten into trouble was angry at him. And here's why: the man has a great sense of justice. His punishments fit the crime. He has the ability to understand all facets of a wrongdoing, and then craft a punishment that restitutes and redeems. How amazing would it be to be known as a person with a great sense of justice?

Not only that, but he communicates well. Let's be honest, no matter how good a punishment is, the offending party will never appreciate it or understand it unless you can communicate the reasoning for it. The two boys that I wrote up came back to me after their punishment and told me they thought they had been treated very fairly. What college males say that after they've had their booze taken away? Can you imagine how much more effective we would be if we communicated that well?

One of the more creative Mandeville punishments? Cleaning every seat in this building.

Let's move on to the more positive side of Dr. Mandeville's work. When I was an RA, he was the point person for all the RA's on campus. That's a big job, and I didn't have a lot of issues so I didn't see him much, but I spent a week during training hanging on his every word. He's lived through a lot of life, and he told us a lot of stories. While I don't remember most of them, I do remember that they were amazing. He lives his life as a storyteller. I might even say it's his profession. From his stories I remember getting a better picture of what it means to be a man, what it means to love your wife, and what it means to care about the students. The fact that he communicates these amazing truths through storytelling is really something.

The man is wise. When people asked me advice about Whitworth I usually gave them one of two answers: Take Ron Pyle's Interpersonal Communication, and Listen to Every Word That Comes Out of Dick Mandeville's Mouth. He doesn't waste words, he just speaks truth.

I also love that he works small scale. He's not trying to shout his message to the entire Whitworth community, he's just sharing it with the people who care to listen. He doesn't max himself out with one-on-one meetings with students (this I infer from the fact that I rarely saw him eating meals with students - a fairly reliable predictor at Whitworth), but he'll talk to you if you track him down.

There's only so much you can say about a person you've had limited contact with, so I won't say much more. I already hope I'm not projecting attributes on to him that aren't really there. The man is amazing, but he's nowhere near perfect. He's just the kind of man I want to be.