Thursday, October 16, 1997
Surrogate Parents
From Seinfeld to
ice-breakers, the duties of a resident assistant involve more
than mere discipline.
Zuhairah Scott’s living room is packed. Students sprawl across
the floor, squeeze tightly onto couches, and sit in chairs behind
the first row. When Jerry Seinfeld’s face fills the screen, a loud
"shhhhhhhhh" quiets the conversation, and eyes turn intently to the
television in the center of the room. Suddenly, Scott’s laughter is
even louder than the blaring television set.
As an Residential Assistant (RA), hosting events like Thursday
night "Must See TV" is all a part of the job. But Scott, who is
starting her second year as an RA at Saxon, says that her friends
never believed she would end up with this position.
Scott’s first encounter with an RA while living at Sproul Hall
her freshman year was not exactly inspirational. "I did not like my
RA when I was a freshman. My neighbors would always blast their
music and he never did anything, but whenever we played music a
little too loud, he would come over and regulate," said Scott, a
third-year political science student with a business administration
specialization.
"But I’m glad that I had that experience. It helps me understand
where students may be coming from, now that I’m an RA," she
said.
Scott also recalled her shyness when it came to attending
activities sponsored by her floor in Sproul Hall three years ago as
a freshman. "Me and my roommates would turn down the lights so they
wouldn’t know we were home," she said with a smile.
It is these experiences that give Scott what she calls "more
realistic" expectations as an RA this year. Last year, as a
first-time RA, Scott said that she expected much more student
interest in programs and was a little disheartened when
disappointing numbers showed up at her activities.
"But this year, we have the bomb building," she said, noting
that Saxon K Building is capable of putting on more programs than
she had expected.
According to Scott, programs are more difficult to run without
the help of Program Assistants such as the ones assigned to each
floor of the residence halls. "We take that burden by delegating to
residents and building bigger (government) cabinets," she said.
Scott, who holds an office in the African Student Union and also
works on campus, said that her actual time spent fulfilling RA
duties is greater than the Office of Residential Life’s
time-commitment estimates.
"They say it’s only a 20-hour a week job," she said. "That’s
B.S. I’m on-call 24-7."
Other RAs agree that although the time commitment is
exceptional, that is only one of many challenges that come with the
job.
"Second-year (students) want to push the limits a lot," said
Paul Wang, RA to Saxon’s E-Building. Wang, a second-year student
himself, finds the disciplinary aspect of his duty to be the most
difficult.
"Returning students know about the ins and outs of residential
life because they’ve done it before. They think they can get away
with things they know aren’t cool."
But disciplining students is only part of the picture for RAs,
whose day runners are filled even without the numerous meetings and
functions they must attend each week.
Wang for example, teaches Step Reebok and Spin Reebok classes at
the Wooden Center, tutors high school students on the weekends, and
is involved in a student research project. He never cracks a book
before midnight, and when he gets sick, there’s no time to rest. So
he learned this past weekend.
When Wang’s head cold got more serious than a few sniffles last
week, he tried to take some time off, cancelling classes and
skipping his research project. But Saxon meetings take priority
over health. Sunday night, Wang met with a group of suitemates to
work out their rules for the year.
"I totally thought that the suitemate interaction sessions would
be a time-consuming inconvenience," he said, adding "boring" and
"long" to the list of anticipated adjectives. "But it turned out
that I was able to learn about so many people. It’s really been a
noteworthy part of being an RA."
These interaction times, which last about an hour, are
beneficial to the suitemates as well. Although the mission is a
serious one – laying down agreed rules to abide by for the year
together – the girls of E13 had a fun time doing it.
"It’s true. She talks in her sleep. We’ve had two conversations
so far," said Jennifer Jorge, a second-year undeclared student,
revealing truths she’s discovered about her roommate.
According to Wang, suitemate interactions are the first time he
sits down with the students and attempts to learn something about
each of them. "We want to learn about not judging people," he told
students in every suite, sticking to a major theme throughout his
round of interactions. "We want to have an open year and an open
mind."
One of Wang’s biggest challenges is beating the physical
dynamics of the Saxon complex and bringing people together. "We’re
situated in the back of Saxon. I want to make our building a really
social atmosphere and that’s hard because of the physical
characteristics of the building," he said.
Wang learned this early on when he had to use a megaphone to
convince residents to leave the safety of their rooms during Open
Balcony Night.
"We have free cookies. I know you’re in there," Wang yelled, his
voice booming through the speaker.
Wang acknowledges that there are both advantages and
disadvantages to being an RA for a suite rather than for a
high-rise dormitory. In general, more first-year students live in
the high-rises, whereas older students occupy the suites.
"The first years are dealing with a sensory overload. They need
to learn about a new system and new people. By the second year,
you’re more well-versed, and students have the freedom to explore
the social part of school life," he said.
"But being an RA at any building is so cool because you have a
free ticket to go introduce yourself to anyone. It sounds corny,
but it really opens a lot of doors and people to you."
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
(above) Meetings are just one glorious part of second-year
student Paul Wang’s life as a Resident Assistant. Yes, he also
teaches an aerobics class. (below) (left) Zuhairah Scott conducts a
meeting in Saxon. This is her second year as an RA.
GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin
INGA DOROSZ
Zuhairah Scott conducts a meeting in Saxon. This is her second
year as an RA.