Courtesy of LC
Earlier this month, Lewis & Clark laid off Kaiti Lemon from her position as the advisor to student athletes in the sweep of dismissals from the school’s most recent round of budget cuts. Her position was one of 14 that the administration eliminated this spring. To students and staff, her contributions over nearly 20 years with the college were significant. Flyers were distributed around campus late last month petitioning students to reach out to the administration to let them know about the cruciality of Lemon and her position.
“Kaiti welcomed me here as a student with full arms,” student-athlete Jayven Jones ’27 said, when asked about his experience working with Lemon.
Since he began as an LC student and member of the basketball team, Jones described how Lemon has supported him.
“She told me that if I had anything, like any questions, to always come to her and not hesitate. She was there for me, and I told her we’d be like best friends, and that is exactly what it felt like,” Jones said.
Jones explained how Lemon previously supported him in his searches for scholarships, clubs and organizations, and helped him to organize and keep up with deadlines to succeed as both an athlete and student at LC.
“She provided every scholarship externally that I’d be able to apply for just to make Lewis & Clark a little bit more affordable for me and my family. She also connected me to different people that would help me get into certain groups and clubs that I wanted to connect with, because I didn’t want to just be an athlete and that was it,” Jones said. “I wanted to be in touch with everybody at LC and have a chance to meet them, so she recommended some groups. She told me who to talk to and introduce myself to and how to have meaningful relationships with my professors — and this was all within just six months of knowing her.”
As the college’s athletic advisor, Lemon’s close connection with student-athletes is reflected in the grief students and staff are experiencing throughout the athletics department at the loss of her role on campus.
In an email correspondence with The Mossy Log, Director of Physical Education & Athletics Mark Pietrock stated that he’s heard concern from both student-athletes and coaches at the loss of Lemon’s position.
“Many had worked successfully with Kaiti in supporting their academic needs,” Pietrock wrote.
Pietrock shared more about how the athletics department would work to support student athletes with the loss of Kaiti.
“The department is working with the advising department and the dean to put strategies in place that will support our student-athletes’ current and future academic needs. This includes additional assistance from both coaching and administrative staff as well as other members of the advising department,” he wrote
When asked how, as a student-athlete, Jones would like to be supported now and in the future, he responded with concern.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. I think it’s hard to support us without there being a person for us to go to,” Jones said. “Right now, if we have questions, who can we go to to ask those questions? With Kaiti, we knew that’s where you start.”
Lemon’s termination has created an empty space within the athletics department that has yet to be adequately filled.
“With the lack of her, we don’t know where to go. It’s become this big puzzle piece picture, trying to figure out ‘okay, who can I talk to? Who’s gonna come in?” Jones continued, “I just really wonder who’s going to step into that role? How are we going to build that rapport with someone and trust them in the way that we did with Kaiti?”
Jones expressed weariness at the decision and hoped that Lemon’s termination along with the other layoffs would pay off as hoped.
“I pray it’s worth it. I pray it’s worth it for everyone who’s affected, not just Kaiti Lemon, I just really hope that it’s not in vain. I hope that if we’re gonna lose somebody who has so much impact here on this campus, and who’s been here as many years as she has, I’m hoping that they’re able to then multiply that,” Jones said, addressing the administration’s attempt to bounce back from the financial deficit. “If they’re not able to multiply, then…there will be a certain emptiness that the campus is left with and that’s what I’m hoping does not happen.”
Like the other positions that were terminated in this recent batch of layoffs, the loss of Kaiti Lemon has had an almost immediate effect on the athletics department. Although overlooked by administration, Lemon, and the support she has provided to students these past twenty years has been a vital aspect of student-athlete success. Administration must work harder to fill the void that has been left upon her absence.
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