RAs Face Stricter Policies

Rumblings of discontented residential advisers have surfaced over a policy change that will take effect this fall with stricter guidelines for the responsibilities of RAs while on duty.

Starting next term, RAs on duty will have to stay within a 10-minute walk from campus during their assigned day on weekends. They will also have to maintain constant cell phone access, which makes the subway off-limits. A third change will require on duty RAs to rotate daily rather than weekly.

Under the current policy, one RA is on duty every night from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m., during which time he or she must remain in his or her dorm.

The two chief complaints among RAs are that they may have off-campus obligations on weekends, and that the administration didn’t consult RAs when conceiving of the changes.

“Whether or not you agree with the policy—and there are good arguments on both sides—there was no communication,” said one RA, who requested anonymity because RAs must check with supervisors before talking to the media. “You need input from all sides, and this just came from on high.”

“I try to be very inclusive in my leadership style,” said Cristen Scully-Kromm, director of residential programs. “But sometimes we make decisions as department heads because we think this is going to move us in a new direction.”

Regarding scheduling conflicts, Kevin Shollenberger, associate dean of student affairs, pointed out that each RA would only have one or two weekends on duty per semester.

“It’s a little hard for me to think about how that would be a major inconvenience,” Shollenberger said.

Krom added, “We hope that students would be able to talk to each other about covering for each other” if a conflict does crop up.

But one RA argued that if administrators have anticipated these difficulties with the new policy, “They must know it’s a big thing to ask of us.”

RAs also criticized the timing of the change, which Scully-Kromm announced in an e-mail to current RAs on Dec. 19—after new RA applications were due, and two days before renewal applications were due.

“Am I sorry, and did I apologize to the RAs who were frustrated? Yeah, I did,” Scully-Kromm said. But she added that RAs had until early February to decide whether to accept positions.

Administrators said they revised the policy to better respond to emergencies, such as “the ‘scramble’ we had after the shooting that took place outside of Radio Perfecto,” Scully-Kromm wrote in her Dec. 19 e-mail. The change also stemmed from instances in which students tried unsuccessfully to reach RAs.

“When things come up, it’s not always during that time of night between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.,” Shollenberger said.

Some RAs said that they believed the administration punished those who complained by assigning them to less coveted dorms.

“A number of RAs who were vocal about this issue received placements that were out of line with common practice,” one RA said, to which Scully-Kromm replied that other critical RAs received favorable housing.

“We are definitely not part of any retaliation,” Scully-Kromm said. But with limited housing, “There is no way for everyone to get exactly what they want.”

Two RAs, Kris Alspach and Chris Daniels, both CC ’09, are meeting with administrators for potential disciplinary action after they were quoted on Bwog last week.

Alspach and Daniels also drafted a letter of complaint that was accidentally sent to Darleny Cepin, associate director of residential programs, whom Alspach accused on Bwog of placing him in Wien as retaliation.

Despite the questions, Scully-Kromm said that she still believes that the reforms will make a positive impact next year. “I hope over time our work speaks for itself,” Scully-Kromm said.

Still, one RA said Scully-Kromm “has her idea of what’s good for us, but I think she’s out of touch.”

lien.hoang@columbiaspectator.com