During typical on-duty rounds, a resident assistant receives a
noise complaint about loud music coming from a resident’s
rooms.
When the RA knocks on the door to speak to the residents, he
notices bottles of alcohol sitting on a desk and confronts the
students, gathering their BruinCards and documenting the situation
to be reviewed by the Resident Director.
This was a training scenario for next year’s RAs, who are
finishing up this quarter’s training sessions this week. But
the future student leaders said they don’t want to become RAs
just to bust students.
Many students want to be RAs because of the experience, the
desire to provide the same great residence hall experience to new
residents, and the free room and board.
Although individuals’ reasons may be different for wanting
the position, every year hundreds of students apply to become
resident assistants in the residential halls and suites on
campus.
Some are excited about starting their new job as an RA, while
others are more excited about the benefits that come with being an
RA.
“I’ll be honest. It’s for the free room and
board,” said Jason Weinstein, a second-year student and RA
for Sproul 7 North next year.
But some of the new RAs have a few concerns about their new
positions.
“(Confrontation) is a really big fear that first-year RAs
are concerned about,” said Susan Ma, a second-year student
and RA-in-training.
“But I’m really excited about getting to know my
residents. I just think it would be really cool to meet people who
are your peers and be their mentor,” Ma said.
Swartz said she thinks it is the sense of satisfaction that
encourages students to be actively involved with the Office of
Residential Life.
“I think that the primary driver is that students have a
really positive experience in the residence hall and want to
provide that experience to other students,” Swartz said.
RA applications were first made available online in late
November for students, and the deadline for submission was in the
beginning of January, said Susan Swartz, the assistant director of
human resources in ORL.
“We like to have it open over winter break to give
(applicants) time to work on it,” she said.
The majority of the application is composed of eight essay
questions that help provide the ORL staff with a better
understanding of each applicant’s philosophy, experiences and
leadership qualities, Swartz said.
This year, 255 students applied to be RAs ““ a number
comparable to previous years, she said.
Of the 255 applicants, 146 were ultimately hired to be RAs.
110 of the 146 were hired as first-time RAs, while the remaining
36 were hired to return to the position, Swartz said.
Applications are screened anonymously and are given a score, and
ORL staff determine how many candidates need to be interviewed to
ensure there is a large enough pool to choose from.
Then individual interviews are scheduled, followed by group
interviews to show how well candidates interact with others, since
interpersonal relations is a large part of working for ORL, Swartz
said.
After the interview process is completed, offers for the RA
position are sent out in late February or early March, depending on
how long it takes to reach decisions.
Swartz said that since students are also applying for other jobs
and to study abroad at the same time that they apply for the RA
position, many will change their mind and decline the job
offer.
Starting in the second week of the spring quarter, RA classes
began as the first step towards training the new RAs.
Returning RAs are not required to attend the classes because
they already went to them the previous year.
From weeks two through eight, RAs-in-training are required to
attend a two-hour class once a week during which they learn about
different aspects of their job, various regulations, and how to
approach many types of situations through role playing and group
discussion.
The topic of the class one week was confrontation policy and
mediation, and the entire session was spent reviewing on-campus
housing regulations and discussing conduct procedures and
techniques for confronting a resident.
Instructors and RAs would role-play different scenarios and then
discuss the approaches used or those that should have been used and
why.
This week, a panel of current RAs came for a question-and-answer
session to give the new RAs an opportunity to ask any questions or
address any concerns they may have.
In addition to attending the mandatory classes, RAs-in-training
must complete a list of tasks which vary from attending a house
meeting to shadowing a current RA when they go on their rounds to
completing reflections on various topics at the end of every class,
said Dayna Baker, the resident director for DeNeve’s
Evergreen and Fir buildings and a class coordinator.
Although spring classes may be over, RAs continue their training
in the fall and throughout the year.
Two weeks before the residential halls open for residents to
move in, all of the RAs, student leaders and other ORL staff come
back to prepare their floor or house and organize programs, as well
as to get additional training through a more hands-on experience in
what has been termed “fall training,” Swartz said.
“We give them an opportunity to gain or practice skills
such as counseling, policy enforcement, how to put on a program,
how to respond to fire alarms, etc.,” Swartz said.
During fall training, RAs get to work closely with veteran RAs,
supervisors, university police and others as they run through
procedures and prepare for the coming year.
“It’s an incredible leadership opportunity,”
Baker said.