page 4 — THE DECREE — DECEMBER 9,1996
RAs face increasingly touglier time
By SUNNI DeNICOLA
Being a resident aide on a col
lege campus used to mean acting
as a big brother or sister to
younger students.
Duties included refereeing dis
agreements over loud music,
hand-holding homesick freshmen,
and reprimanding such drunken
mischief as cherry bombs
launched down a commode.
Today, with increasing social
problems and violence on cam
puses, RAs are dealing with prob
lems such as drug abuse, rape,
and in rare cases, murder. Earlier
this fall. Jay Severson was just
doing his job as an RA at Purdue
University when he was shot to
death. He reported Reshan Jarrod
Eskew to university police for
cocaine possession. Eskew shot
Severson and then committed sui
cide. This incident, while ex
treme, has shaken up many RAs
and has them questioning whether
the job is worth the free room
and board.
“Quite honestly .. it scared the
shit out of me,” says Kelly
Messick, a resident director, who
supervises RAs at the University
of Oregon. “I look at my staff
and think, they are there 24 hours
a day, and we ask them to be part
of their students’ lives, but there
is so much uncertainty about what
could happen from day to day.”
Violence on campuses is in
creasing. A national study by the
Chronicle of Higher Education
found a 26.3 percent increase in
homicide in 1994, the largest in
crease for any crime on campus.
Often, it is the RA who deals with
the underlying emotional prob
lems that may lead to these homi
cides, or the trauma of their after-
math on fellow students.
“Housing operations all over
the country are asking under
graduates to be on the ‘front lines’
of students’ lives and the issues
that we are asking them to face
are enormous,” says D.J. Morales,
director of residential life at the
University or Oregon.
“I think that in a lot of ways
the RA position has become more
counselor and mediator because
of the complex issues that are
coming in,” explains Messick.
“RAs are not just going to plan
programs and go out for pizza.
We are asking them to deal with
more substantial issues as well.”
This doesn’t mean RAs
haven’t had to face tough prob
lems in the past. While the days
of monitoring midnight curfews
in women’s dorms may be a thing
of the past at most colleges, cer
tainly drugs, alcohol, and sex are
not new issues, particularly when
you think of the 1960s.
“Back then alcohol was more
acceptable, we were riding the lib
eral ‘60s.’ Now the legal drink
ing age is 21, back then it was
18,” says Loma Hirae, director of
campus life at the United States
International University in San
Diego.
“I think the issues of drug
abuse and alcohol experimenta
tion have been around for 30 plus
years, that’s nothing new,” says
Messick. “What we are seeing is
an increase in mental health is
sues. On this campus this year, I
don’t know if it’s a coincidence
or trend, we are dealing with folks
that may be on medication, or not
taking their medication, in which
case we may be dealing with be
havior that affects the commu
nity.
“This is a place that people
feel like they can send their stu
dent to, and we’ll take care of
them. It puts a burden on us be
cause we are not a mental health
treatment center. We are not
trained to monitor medication,”
Messick added.
Morales also emphasizes RAs
are not trained counselors. “They
need to work on being good lis
teners and great at referring folks
to the appropriate places.”
The breakdown of the tradi
tional family is one of the rea
sons Hirae feels there are more
students needing help. This also
has contributed to a change in
attitude towards authority.
“When I was an RA (in the
early ‘80s), I had an easier time
in terms of discipline. Students
today are not as respectful as stu
dents in past, probably because
of liberation and individuality,”
she said. “They have a disrespect
for authority.”
Still, real violence in the resi
dence halls is rare. More often,
RAs are called upon to use their
training in mediation to help stu
dents deal with disputes before
things get out of hand.
“I don’t think people are teach
ing coping sills anymore,”
Messick says with a hint of frus
tration. “I am doing a lot more
conflict resolution stuff and deal
ing with uncivil behavior, such
as people confronting each other
in a real hostile manner ... a lack
of politeness even, if you want to
be so quaint.
“Part of it is the litigious na
ture of our society — I want what
I want when I want it. it can be a
little hard to overcome when you
are building a community of 60-
plus residents and trying to work
together,” he added.
At the University of Virginia,
the administration and RAs are
responding to a surge in student-
life complaints from students and
their parents.
“Students apparently spend so
much time in front of computers
or interactive video games that
they lack social skills,” says Ida
Lee Wootten, a U.Va. spokesman.
She says that when “Johnny
plays his stereo too loudly in his
dorm room, it often doesn’t oc
cur to his neighbors to knock on
Johnny’s door and ask him po
litely to turn the music down.”
Instead, she says, students are
increasingly voicing anger and
frustration over such normal cam
pus experiences to the RAs.
This had led U. Va. to launch
student-orientation programs that
teach students how to cope with
one another, she said.
The threat of lawsuits also has
changed the way RAs are trained
to do their jobs. Since the RA
often is the first to respond to any
incident, they have to understand
the laws regarding issues such as
privacy, date rape, and more.
Most campuses now give RAs
extensive training so that they
fully understand their role and the
university’s vulnerability.
“RAsdefinitely have a better
understanding of legal issues, es
pecially liability, than we ever
did as undergraduates,” says Mo
rales.
But some speculate that the
problems RAs face are not new,
just more visible. Raechele Pope,
a Teachers College professor at
Columbia University and special
ist in educating student-life offi
cials, was an RA two decades ago.
She says even then she was
dealing with pretty serious issues,
but what has changed is the sheer
volume of work. She notes that
counseling centers used to have
to go in search of students need
ing help; now those centers have
long waiting lists from students
coming to them.
No matter what they face, most
RAs say they still like their job.
And Messick has no intention of
stopping her work any time soon.
“In spite of all the weirdness
that happens,” she said, “there’s
no better place I think to really
have an impact on student lives
that where they live.”
Dixie Conference All-Conference Men’s Soccer — 1996
First Team
Second Team
Forward
Paul smith
Methodist
Chris Petrini
N.C. Wesleyan
Bjorgvin Fridriksson
Methodist
Osar Gomez-Romero
Christopher Newport
Ian MacPherson
Christopher Newport
Jabari Richardson
Greensboro
James Galardo
Greensboro
Midfield
Dan Collins
Greensboro
Marc Lafley
Greensboro
Scott Kennell
N.C. Wesleyan
Karl McKenna
Methodist
Erik Lawton
Methodist
Carlton mack
Greensboro
Back
Derek Scroil
Greensboro
Dylan Hanlon
Methodist
Jim Pierce
Methodist
Sean Flynn
Christopher Newort
Mike Walters
Mehodist
Marc Weiss
Greensboro
Ron Silva
Shenandoah
Goalkeeper
Bryan Laraque
Greensboro
Hanidor Steingrimsson
Methodith
Player of the Year -
— Paul Smith, Methodist
Rookie of the Year — Oscar Gomez-Romero, Christopher Newport
Coach of the Year —
Steve Allison, Greensboro
Dixie Conference All-Conference Women’s Soccer — 1996
First Team
Second Team
Forward
Alyson Patrick
N.C. Wesleyan
Nicole Durand
Greensboro
Alexa Kapetanakas
N.C. Wesleyan
Susan Sautter
Ferrum
Casey Nuckols
Methodist
Trisha Clinton
Methodist
Midfield
Amy Coley
N.C. Wesleyan
Dena Danielewicz
Greensboro
Kathleen Greene
Methodist
Kim Olsen
N.C. Wesleyan
Candace Croal
Methodist
Betsy Jones
N.C. Wesleyan
AIvy Styles
Methodist
Back
Kelly Walters
N.C. Wesleyan
Shannon Sayre
Femim
Megan Sanderson
N.C. Wesleyan
Nancy Serianni
Greensboro
Gwen Gordon
N.C. Wesleyan
Meegan Kloosterman
Methodist
Kerry Jacobs
Shenandoah
Goalkeeper
Jennifer Maurer
Methodist
Jennifer Foreman
N-.C. Wesleyan
Player of the Year — Alyson Patrick, N.C. Wesleyan
Rookie of the Year — Alexa Kapetanakas, N.C. Wesleyan
Coach of the Year — Rob Donnenwirth, N.C. Wesleyan
NCAA Div. II All-South Women’s Soccer
1st Team — Alyson Patrick, Amy Coley
2nd Team
— Kelly Walters