The Department of Residential Life will eliminate the desk supervisor position after the spring 2016 semester per area administrative support staff request, area coordinator Heidi Shearer wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon.

Citing low interest and poor retention rates, the department will reallocate most desk supervisor duties to area administrative support staff. The department will also create a senior desk attendant position to take on desk supervisor roles.

“It has been very challenging to recruit and select enough student leaders interested in the DS position for several years, often leaving vacancies in the position each fall semester or in the spring semester,” Shearer wrote. “The return rate for DS staff members from year to the next is very low and compounds the challenges of recruitment of candidates that meet required qualifications each year.”

Unlike desk supervisors, senior desk attendants will not have to live in the hall where their desk is located, and the area administrative staff will oversee them directly. They will be paid at a higher rate than desk attendants.

The new format seeks to fix consistent inability of desk supervisors to complete portions of their job autonomously, “requiring AAS assistance and many times the AAS working directly to address or problem solve the issue at the desk or mailroom,” according to the email.

Applications for the new senior desk attendant position for fall 2016 will go online mid-February.