Upon arriving at Lafayette College as the new dean of students, Walter Snipes was most surprised by the college’s large hills.
“I’m from North Carolina, so we have hills, but that is a hill,” Snipes emphasized, pointing out his office window in Feather House to the panoramic view of the College Avenue hill.
Snipes began as the dean of students on Oct. 7, filling a nine-month vacancy.
Originally, his intended career path was to be a lawyer for churches and nonprofits.
“It’s around 2011 when I realized that everything I was learning I was planning for student affairs, higher education,” Snipes said. He then served in various student life roles at Davidson University and Emory University.
Most recently, Snipes worked as the director of residence life at Davidson. According to an Oct. 2 article in The Davidsonian, Snipes was most praised by colleagues for his professionalism and passion for advocacy. He also added elevators to residence halls to help with accessibility needs, according to the article. The Davidson College Student Life office could not be reached for comment.
“It’s allowing me to step back a little bit further and have higher perspective to figure out how to be effective and how we can all help,” Snipes said of transitioning to a dean of students role.
At Lafayette, the dean of students manages the Offices of Residence Life, Educational Equity, Advocacy & Prevention, Student Involvement, Restorative Practices and Student Conduct and Case Management.
Snipes arrives in the role following important divisional changes in Student Life, including a new code of conduct policy, which will focus on restorative practices.
“You come to college to learn,” he said of the new conduct changes. “We’re not a court of law, we’re institutional education. So that’s the difference between guilty and innocent, versus responsible, not responsible. The idea behind it is ‘how can we as a community continue to learn and grow?’”
He also declined to comment on how he would approach his role accounting for the college’s recently-settled Title IX investigation by the Department of Education.
“The dean of students is here to really ensure that the student experience is successful,” he said.
Snipes also wants to be personable with students. As one of his new hobbies, Snipes spoke of “liking to walk around campus,” which he described as beautiful. It was a major reason why Snipes applied for the job, he said.
Beyond the Division of Student Life office, Snipes’ favorite movies are “The Replacements” (2000), “Ready Player One” (2018) and “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994). He’s also a fan of 90s music. Snipes is an alumnus of a fraternity — Alpha Phi Alpha at Emory University — and called himself a drum aficionado and foodie.
“He is a partner in the education mission of the college,” said religious studies professor and department head Brett Hendrickson of Snipes in an August interview.
Sarah Moschenross, the vice president of Student Life, wrote in an August email that Snipes “generated excitement among those who participated in the interview process around his ideas for co-creating the best student co-curricular experience possible.”
“He brings many years of experience to the role as well as a firm understanding of the elite liberal arts college environment,” she continued.
Snipes said he would tell his younger self to “have fun and value who you engage with,” as part of wanting to engage with students in his new role.
“You will see me saying ‘hey,’” he said.
