It has come to my attention that the department of Residential Life at the University has been poorly run more than ever during the course of this year. It needs to have a severe overhaul of how the department is run and how the resident assistants are treated. The department has already had an excessive number of firings during the course of the semester. I have heard before the beginning of the semester the directors of the department claimed that they were not “fire happy” this year compared to previous years.

Obviously, this is not the case. I know for a fact that there has been a professional residential director, at least one senior resident assistant and at least 10 resident assistants who have been fired this year. Three of the said resident assistants were terminated before the first-year residents moved in on August 31. The reasons for terminating these people have been absurd. A senior resident assistant was fired because his staff plotted against him and “caught” him violating FERPA for having residents help him out with the mail. Two resident assistants were terminated because their co-resident assistant unnecessarily went out of the way to find alcohol in one of the resident assistant’s rooms just because there was a hunch that there was drinking in said room. A professional residential director was firing because some of the resident assistants claimed that said director was sexually harassing them.

It is obvious that some people in residential life are overstepping their boundaries, blatantly trying to have people terminated and do not consider the ramifications that pertain to a firing. The department does not allow the accused offenders to have a chance to tell their side of the story and terminates people without considering all of the information. The resident assistants do not go through the judicial process when facing a charge, therefore having fewer rights than a University student.

Termination from the position, for the most part, negatively affects those people live for the rest of their college career. Some must transfer to another college because they cannot afford the housing. It is detrimental to the residents because the emotions that they have to go through losing a friend and not having a resource, which is why residential life exists.

The department needs to get their heads out of the sand and see that there are major problems within the department. It needs to change immediately how business is conducted. There are assistant directors, resident directors and resident assistants who are playing favorites within the department and looking for reasons to terminate people. If the department does not stop what it is doing incorrectly, the administration must consider cleaning house at the top of the department and start from scratch.

Anonymous