My Rejected Letter to the Editor for SU's Crusader
The letter to the editor last week (3/27/09) inspired me to come forward as a fellow current Resident Assistant and give more evidence as to why the Office of Residence Life is unethical and wrong in so many ways.
First off, I must agree that Residence Life, known as ResLife from here on out, treats its undergraduate employees like indentured servants instead of normal free people. We are not paid and are always under that perfection microscope from professional staff who side with drunk, destructive ruffians over people they deemed worthy of managing their sacred halls. To an outsider this office looks like they treat their underclassmen employees well by hosting one lunch a semester. However, this is clearly to save face. If an RA or HR refuses to attend these “Thank-You” dinners, which are always scheduled during finals week, then they are in trouble with the professional staff. These quaint lunches are a kind idea however the ultimatum tied to them is way to high to pay.
A second reason I feel that this office is wrong deals with what I witnessed during the HR/RA selection process. To those of you who are unaware, professional staff members choose HR candidates from their submitted applications. Some get the job, some don’t. However, one candidate, who did not get the job, felt he was cheated out of a position. This candidate had his mommy (honest to goodness, his mommy was involved) make a case against the entire school over the issue. I won’t go into about how childish it is to have your mommy fight your battles when you are in college. However, instead of ResLife defending themselves when they were clearly in the right, they decided to build this soon to be HR his own HR apartment in Smith Hall and divide the staff up between the two HRs managing them. Witnessing this makes me realize how fast this organization I am apart of is going downhill fast.
In closing I want to support the writer of last week’s letter and want to let him/her know that he/she is not alone in his/her views. I also hope ResLife reflects internally as to who they choose as RAs as well as who manages those RAs/HRs.
*(4/20/09) Edit*
So looking over this article/entry, I am glad it got rejected. In all honesty much of what is discussed above is based on he said/she said incidents. Only a fraction of it is what I personally witnessed. Reading it now, it just seems like a lot of unnecessary whining. For the most part, the pro staff does a decent job.
First off, I must agree that Residence Life, known as ResLife from here on out, treats its undergraduate employees like indentured servants instead of normal free people. We are not paid and are always under that perfection microscope from professional staff who side with drunk, destructive ruffians over people they deemed worthy of managing their sacred halls. To an outsider this office looks like they treat their underclassmen employees well by hosting one lunch a semester. However, this is clearly to save face. If an RA or HR refuses to attend these “Thank-You” dinners, which are always scheduled during finals week, then they are in trouble with the professional staff. These quaint lunches are a kind idea however the ultimatum tied to them is way to high to pay.
A second reason I feel that this office is wrong deals with what I witnessed during the HR/RA selection process. To those of you who are unaware, professional staff members choose HR candidates from their submitted applications. Some get the job, some don’t. However, one candidate, who did not get the job, felt he was cheated out of a position. This candidate had his mommy (honest to goodness, his mommy was involved) make a case against the entire school over the issue. I won’t go into about how childish it is to have your mommy fight your battles when you are in college. However, instead of ResLife defending themselves when they were clearly in the right, they decided to build this soon to be HR his own HR apartment in Smith Hall and divide the staff up between the two HRs managing them. Witnessing this makes me realize how fast this organization I am apart of is going downhill fast.
In closing I want to support the writer of last week’s letter and want to let him/her know that he/she is not alone in his/her views. I also hope ResLife reflects internally as to who they choose as RAs as well as who manages those RAs/HRs.
*(4/20/09) Edit*
So looking over this article/entry, I am glad it got rejected. In all honesty much of what is discussed above is based on he said/she said incidents. Only a fraction of it is what I personally witnessed. Reading it now, it just seems like a lot of unnecessary whining. For the most part, the pro staff does a decent job.