By Caleb Hensin
For 11 years, Andy Hillis has been the business operations supervisor for both the University of Minnesota’s Comstock and Mark G. Yudolf residence halls and a non-binary person supporting students at a critical time in their lives as they make the transition from home to college.
Now Hillis is moving on to assume another position at the University.
For the many students who move into those halls every year, Hillis, who uses they and them pronouns, has been a self-described “ first point of contact.” They have been a resource for those who have questions about a contract, need help filling out paperwork or navigating the move-out process. Hillis also hires and trains students and staff and schedules summer conferences.
Hillis has also been a strong advocate for Lavender House, a living learning community on the fourth and fifth floors of Comstock Hall specifically for LGBTQ-identifying first-year and second-year students.
“When I came into this role, I hadn’t supervised students before and I hadn’t done group training and payroll. That was a lot of new and for me, but I enjoyed getting to know students and help them develop and increase their skills and their confidence,” Hillis said.
Hillis also works with the building and facilities management teams to make sure the building runs smoothly. They also keep residents informed of any issues, handle assignment change requests, facilitate room moves and coordinate meetups with potential roommates.
Hillis said this particular aspect of their job was especially important when it came to Lavender House, where they said they make sure students find “a community that meets their needs.”
In Lavender House, which is partnered with the Gender and Sexuality Center for Queer and Trans Life (GSC), students have access to gender-neutral bathrooms and gender-open housing spaces.
Sadie Carillo, the residence director of Yudof Hall, who has worked directly with Hillis, calls the GSC “one of the best resources I point students to.”
Carillo echoed Hillis’ sentiments on gender-open housing, calling it “really helpful for a lot of students, especially in Yudof, where they can choose roommates of a different gender who they already have connections with, or in general help students find others who have similar experiences to them.“
Hillis said that gender-open housing especially created “more opportunity” for students of all genders to connect. “And not necessarily just for being queer,” they said, “but even people that just maybe don’t care about the gender of the person that they’re rooming with, or have a friend of a different gender.”
For this reason, Hillis said they played a role in getting gender-open housing rolling in the first place. They also worked to expand gender-neutral bathroom access.
Carillo said Hillis has been a valuable member of the residence hall leadership. “They were someone who really cared about the staff and their peers on a human being level,” Carillo said.
In the end, as Hillis leaves their position, the most rewarding part of the job remains clear to them.
“Of all the things, it’s the students,” Hillis said. “That’s been my favorite part, really.”