Resident Assistants: Duty, diligence, demands. Each residence hall is staffed by upwards of twelve undergraduate student employees responsible for encouraging community and cultivating a safe and inclusive environment. These positions require immense time and effort as well as responsibility and dedication by individuals. These guardians of the desk, givers of advice and generators of dialogue are voicing a collective criticism. Never could you find a more grateful group, it is instead our institution’s demonstration of gratitude for their invaluable work that is being contested.
The time commitment for these positions is immense, requiring the attendance of meetings, distributing mail, creating bulletin boards, mediating roommate disagreements, fulfilling desk shifts, planning socials, running programs, walking rounds, managing incidents and beyond. The general requirements of an RA, as expressed by several that were interviewed, have an overall intention of community building and inclusivity, as is the case among most of DU’s departments and institutionally-managed programs. However, the job is performed through mundane tasks and unappreciated efforts that nevertheless occupy significant periods of time.
On top of this, these master paper cutters, food giver outers, flyer hangers and door decorators are currently required to perform six unpaid hours of desk assistance. Housing and Residential Education (HRE) reorganized its budget and, from past years, increased this requirement by two hours beginning during the 2013-14 academic year. This has not yet even been reflected by their website, which still states a four- hour requirement. Four of the five Nelson RAs that were interviewed for this article communicated frustration towards this aspect of the position. Despite Desk Assistant being an isolated occupation that can be separately applied for and fulfilled outside of residence assistance, it is tacked on to the laundry list of obligations for RAs.
RAs receive free room and board, which includes an unlimited meal plan; however due to time or institutional constraints, they often cannot hold other jobs that allow the generation of personal and necessary funds. Additionally, as a result of becoming an RA, some students lose their ability to participate in the work-study program. An immensely more positive organization of the front desks would be if they were maintained as entirely isolated occupations and were included within work-study. This would enable students to voluntarily access more paid work while not requiring the allocation of more funds by HRE.
The RAs are the empathetic disciplinarians that ensure the survival and success of their residents. They are not to be pitied, despite their frequent solitude and unfortunate schedules, as they themselves report immense satisfaction with this position. Each and every RA that was interviewed expressed immense appreciation for the overall experience, specifically highlighting positive relationships among both their fellow RAs and the professional staff. Alexandra Kotis, a senior finishing her third year as an RA, stated, “I am fortunate enough to be working on a staff that makes a magnificent team.”
Through this network, these students are given the opportunity to develop skills, friendships and work experience. Without denying there are countless other frustrations, such as lack of resident engagement, the unpaid hours seems the most significant “injustice” against our dorm worker bees. Is it not inherently wrong to deny diligent and dedicated young college students a paycheck for time and effort devoted to the institution? For the Resident Assistants, our Real Allies, the Relentless Artisans, the Respectful Authoritarians and the Receptive Advisors, these Roaming Angels of dorm-hood deserve compensation for regular attendance to duties.
Let’s follow a more Right Approach and develop Realistic Alterations to provide Resident Assistants with a Respectable “Allowance.”
