Joan Lee, a third-year College student and Meriwether Lewis fellow, has been named Senior Resident of the Lawn for the upcoming 2018-19 academic year. She has served as a Resident Advisor in Brown College for the last two years and is an intern at the Multicultural Student Center. She is also a member of the Asian Student Union and Minority Rights Coalition. Lee was chosen for the position Wednesday, about a month after regular Lawn room acceptances were released.
In an interview with The Cavalier Daily, Lee said she has focused on dialogue and diversity throughout her time at the University.
“I really dedicated my work at U.Va. to holding difficult conversations and learning how to create more inclusive communities,” Lee said. “Through that, I’ve really recognized the power of having diversified conversations and having difficult dialogues, and the ability for those students to create their own communities and safe havens on Grounds.”
The Lawn community is made up of not only students living in Lawn rooms but also graduate students living on the Range, faculty residents of the Pavilions and the larger University and Charlottesville community. The Senior Resident of the Lawn is tasked with creating an environment that “facilitates the physical well being of students and emphasizes opportunities for personal and intellectual growth, self-governance, social and cultural programming, independence and informal interaction and collaboration with faculty members,” according to the Office of the Dean of Students website.
This year, the Senior Resident application was open to any Resident Advisors who were accepted to live on the Lawn. Lee will be taking over the position of Senior Resident from fourth-year Batten student Malcolm Stewart.
Lee said she looks forward to working with students and reflecting on the University’s history.
“I pursued the Lawn application because I wanted to give a voice to the different communities that I’m apart of and try to initiate that on the Lawn,” Lee said. “I questioned why should I just stop there — why don’t I try to pursue my initiatives towards greater inclusivity and multiculturalism at possibly the heart of the University, which is through the Lawn.”
Living on the Lawn is considered a great honor based on a highly competitive application process. The Lawn rooms were the original dorms for the University, where Thomas Jefferson envisioned students and faculty would live and learn. Lee will be leading a community of 53 other distinguished fourth-years next semester.
“I’ve always been a collaborator so I just want to meet the whole Lawn community and figure out what they want to do and hopefully support their initiatives as much as possible,” Lee said.
Lee also said she is looking forward to taking on the position during continued celebrations of the University’s Bicentennial.
“I’m lucky enough to be in the Bicentennial class, and I think next year working with the entire Lawn community and outside the greater U.Va. community, I have a lot of opportunity to be critical and reflect on U.Va.’s past, but also a large opportunity to then create a platform,” Lee said. “Where are we going to go from here? What strides have we made since then? I’m really excited to have everyone contribute to that and to be involved.”
According to Lee, her role as a Resident Advisor has played an important role in helping her prepare for the new position. She hopes to continue bringing diverse communities at the University together through new conversations and initiatives.
“There [are] so many bright and ambitious people wanting to contribute back to the U.Va. community,” Lee said. “Using the tools that I’ve learned to have diligence and perseverance and mostly being patient, understanding, [and] empathetic, I think my experience in multiculturalism which is inherently sometimes contentious will really help me to kind of trailblaze new paths.”
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