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Editorial

RA program in need of reform

Drastic changes to the pay for Resident Assistants before fall break highlight the pressing need to reevaluate the responsibilities of the critical ResLife position.

With fall break becoming nothing more than a fading memory for many students, it proved to be a difficult experience for many RAs on campus. RAs are required to work either fall or spring break on campus to enhance security and provide a physical presence in dorms.

This year, ResLife instituted a policy of shutting down all of the dining halls during break in order to help shore up the budget situation. Since then, no dining alternative has been proposed or taken into consideration for students or RAs who stay on campus. Therefore, RAs, who are required to live in their shuttered dorms and attend to duties during fall break, were no longer given the option of eating in campus dining halls.

The College defends the cuts as necessary in light of the tight budget. Keeping that in mind, however, there are numerous other changes have been made this year that have increased RAs’ responsibilities while limiting their training and compensation.

As part of the changes, RAs were handed a 30 percent pay cut for working during fall break, receiving a stipend of $34 rather than $50. With the dining halls closed for eight days and remembering that these earnings are already part of their yearly stipend, the College and ResLife made a unreasonably difficult situation for many RAs.

Other cuts to RA training are also bothering. The RA Skills ExCo, a longtime prerequsite of the RA position, will be cut next semester. Given the constant need to provide RAs with training and workshops throughout the year, doing away with a program devoted toward training potential RAs could have disasterous, if unintended, consequences.

Also in the way of cuts, ResLife has changed the way RAs conduct their dormitory rounds this year as well. Pairs of RAs walk through their dorm cluster – comprised of two residence halls – to ensure that everything and everyone is safe. This is a serious change from last year, in which one RA stayed in their room while the other RA performed the rounds. The new policy forces RAs to be away from their hallfor longer periods of time, making it harder to respond to student emergencies.

One positive aspect to come out of the changes is the compensation for Winter Term. Winter Term duty is now considered an optional working period. RAs receive extra pay for being on duty and ResLife will cover the cost of their meals. That said, though RAs may recieve a higher wage from Winter Term, costs for room and board will continue to increase if the College’s financial situation does not improve. The extra money that RAs earn from Winter Term will then be subsumed by the increased costs of housing and dining.

RAs provide an invaluable and essential resource to students, and are the College’s first resort to providing for students’ mental and physical well-being. They arrive on campus before students to train, during which time they are given a breakdown of all the ResLife rules and regulations. Once school starts, they conduct regular rounds of duty every week of the semester within their own cluster of buildings. RAs must fashion programs on a monthly basis that aim to foster an intimate community within their resident hall or inform their residents of the resources available on campus.

RAs are vital to the maintenance of a healthy community within the residential halls. With such an important role in place, the College and ResLife need to consider their welfare and training with a renewed seriousness and foresight.

Editorials are the responsibility of the Review editorial board—the Editor in Chief and Commentary Editor—and do not necessarily reflect the view of the staff of the Review.