The Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) is promising to investigate and solve communication issues raised by many of its staff members.
The University administration's response alleviated some concerns, but students say that continual input would be necessary to permanently improve the situation.
Residential Assistants (RAs) were increasingly vocal during the spring semester, complaining that the ORLL was unresponsive and ignored the concerns of staff members.
The administration responded with two opinion pieces: one penned by Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, and the other signed by 13 officials in the Office of Student Affairs. Both defended the policies of the ORLL and ORLL Director Yolanda King's management.
Even though they defended the actions of the ORLL, the Dean of Students Office organized a private forum for the RAs to discuss concerns with the office.
Each duty team, which represents between one and three residence halls, nominated two RAs to attend the May 3 forum. Reitman said the number was limited to ensure a meaningful discussion.
Reitman said there were "no outrageous requests" at the forum. He said students addressed issues of communications between RAs and central staff in the ORLL.
King said in an e-mail interview that the forum went "very well."
"Staff were able to share their concerns and identify issues that need to be addressed," she said.
RAs challenged the role that Resident Directors (RDs), play in communication between the central office and themselves. Students complained earlier that RDs were not sharing information, a situation Reitman said the ORLL would work on.
King said the ORLL "left with a list of recommendations that will be incorporated into the department as appropriate."
Senior Paige Davis, a Carpenter House RA who was not at the forum, said that since the event was held the atmosphere in her duty team has improved.
"Everyone said it went really well," she said. "For the RAs that are returning I feel like they feel better going into the next year; they are a lot more positive about ResLife."
Retiman also said the meeting was productive. "There was a general feeling at the meeting of 'we can make this work,'" he said.
Although the forum was a step in the right direction, it did not alleviate the concerns of every RA. Students still hold some reservations toward King, to whom many pointed as the source of the problems in the office.
"I'm sick of Yolanda - that's the huge point," Davis said. "I don't think people hate ResLife as a whole, just her."
Another RA, who asked to remain anonymous, was worried the event would not bring lasting change. "Will anything actually change or was [the forum] just done to pacify RAs at the end of the year? These are questions a lot of RAs have and I think will only contribute next year to apathy among those of us returning next year," the RA said.
The RA said the ORLL had not provided promised checklists for student move-out procedure. The RA also claimed meal plans and fob access to dormitories were not always available during the first part of Senior Week.
"All of these are just new examples of the lack of communication and follow through from the central office," the RA said.
King did not respond to the complaints but said "all RAs are expected to remain on campus until the day after graduation. The RAs are also provided with a meal plan and this year we increased the number of meals during Senior Week."
Not all the demands of the students will be met, however. All alcohol violations in the dormitories will require mandatory write-ups. During the 2002-03 academic year, the ORLL gave RAs discretion over whether to document a first event.
The policy changed again this year, although the first write-up no longer carries the punishment of disciplinary Probation I.
The decision prompted outcry from students. Senior Pritesh Gandhi, who recently resigned as an RA, said "any time you have a policy that requires mandatory documentation, you are unable to gain the trust of residents."
Reitman said that there is an unavoidable part of the position that is disciplinary, and that RAs have to document students who break University policy. He said the University was committed to what he called the "one free bite policy."
Reitman said discretion was removed because it was no longer necessary because students were not punished upon the first incident.
"Some RAs don't like that policy, but as long as the first incident does not result in discipline, it makes sense to have a policy of consistency," he said.
All incidents are now documented, ensuring that a second violation will result in a referral to the Dean of Students Office's judicial affairs officer.
One of the reasons Reitman gave for the ORLL's communication issues and problems was a lack of the full staff at the office.
"This year coming up, starting with a full office staff, will be a test to see if we have been effective" in correcting these problems, he said.
Former Assistant Director for Experiential Learning Dean Gendron said, however, that the office had frequently been without staff in the past 10 years, but had continued to function.
He criticized the Dean of Students Office for not being able to provide students with a written version of a revised alcohol policy in time for last August's staff training.
"It's a scapegoat rationale that the policy's timely completion failed because there was a lot of turnover at an inappropriate time. Certainly between ResLife and the [Dean of Students] Office what you have is a failure to plan with enough time to write sound policy," Gendron said.
King denied these allegations in her e-mail, and said RAs were given information on how to deal with alcohol. She added that "the ORLL will continue to more effectively train and educate the residential staff in regards to the University alcohol policy."
Some RAs who did not agree or were unclear about the policy have been ignoring the mandatory write-ups and continuing to use discretion on whether to document incidents.
The administration said the forum earlier this month was not a one-time event, but the beginning of a new effort to include students.
"Yolanda and I are very committed to it," Reitman said.
Students will be involved in the training of the new class of RAs during two weeks in August, Reitman said. There will also be private meetings with groups of RAs to discuss policies throughout the year, similar to the forum.
"The ORLL will continue to provide several avenues in which staff members can engage in dialogue within the department about any issues or concerns that they might have throughout the year," King said in the e-mail.
Both students and staff seemed confident, at least tentatively, that the upcoming year would progress better than this one.
"I walked out of that session feeling pretty good with our ability to start a new year on a positive note," Reitman said.
