As word of the resignation of Randy Alexander spread, accounts of his tenure at the university were varied.

Administrators spoke of a hard-working man who’d taken the challenge of bringing living at Iowa State into its next phase and succeeded.

Students, however, recalled difficulty in dealing with the administrator throughout the tumultuous changes which took place throughout his tenure.

Alexander, director of the department of residence, offered his formal resignation Thursday, and intends to vacate his post in July.

Alexander, the head of the Department of Residence since August 1998, resigned to pursue other employment opportunities, including the continuation of his work as a consultant for university residence programs, according to an ISU press release.

Todd Holcomb, associate vice president for student affairs, will assume Alexander’s duties while a committee is appointed to search for a full-time replacement.

Holcomb, who is relatively new to Iowa State, said he was happy to serve as the director of the department of residence, albeit temporarily.

“I see this as an exciting opportunity to engage with students and staff in a positive experience,” Holcomb said of his new charge. “I hope students and staff will see me as a open-minded and fair person.”

Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs, spoke glowingly about Alexander’s record with the college, outlining the improvements Alexander had made to the university in his tenure.

“If you look at what the DOR has done as far as accomplishments, they’re great,” he said. “We’re in much better shape today than we were six or seven years ago.”

Alexander presided over a time of great upheaval in Iowa State’s Department of Residence and served as one of the main forces behind implementing the 1998 Master Plan, developed for the residence department by three consulting firms. The Master Plan, combined with declines in enrollment, the resulting deficits and changes in ISU housing options, resulted in a fair number of changes to the persona of ISU student housing.

Among these were several abrupt hall closings, like those of Helser Hall, Barton Hall and Knapp Hall during the past academic year and the spread of the “Fresh Start” program, which is intended to academically help incoming freshmen. Although these changes have borne positive results — saving the self-funded DOR more than $2 million in a time of low-enrollment deficits and increasing the overall GPA and retention of freshmen in the residence hall system — Alexander’s work is not without its critics.

Eric Peters, former president of the Inter-Residence Hall Association, said that many students regarded Alexander warily.

“He was better last year than in the past, and he listened to us more, but there was still a disconnect between the administration and the students,” Peters said. “Other people would say he has his own agenda. The majority of people would say he doesn’t respect students, or their input.”

Drew Larson, IRHA president, said when he’d worked with Alexander as treasurer of the Union Drive Association student government last year, he said he’d gotten the feeling that meetings with the administrator were little more than courtesy visits.

“There was that old tone of ‘the decision has already been made, but as a formality we’re going to have you rubber-stamp it,'” Larson said. “I feel like the policies were made to make the school look good to parents. The problem is, parents don’t live here.”

Larson, who said he felt respect for a man who had “a good heart,” said many of the DOR’s latest decisions had been made contrary to student wishes, which he feels was the result of a lack of communication. He spoke of the DOR’s movement away from dormitory-style living into more luxurious — and more expensive — single rooms.

“They’ve set themselves up to force people off campus,” he said.

The 1998 Master Plan has nearly run its course, Holcomb said, and soon the time will come to begin planning the future of residence life at Iowa State. One of Holcomb’s own projects, which he plans to pursue in the interim, will be the construction of a University Family Housing Community Center.

“I think that what has to happen is that we have to go back and talk to students,” he said of the department’s future plans. “And when a permanent director comes on, he or she needs to work with students and staff to prepare a vision for the future. My role is to help prepare for that to happen.”

The search for a new director will begin next month, Hill said.