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The Clarion / November 17, 2006
More incentives needed for better RA's
by Karen George
Contributor
Due to the graduation of seniors and the re
signing of several Resident Advisors this se
mester, 8 RA positions were available for Spring
semester. A few students applied, but Campus
Life Staff requested more applicants.
After asking more people to apply, a total of
7 people were in the running for 4 of the open
women RA positions. This did not allow for a
great deal of selection. The same was tiTie for
the male applicants.
Perhaps if the incentives for being an RA were
increased, more people would want the posi
tion, allowing for greater selectively, and in re
turn, better RAs. As it now stands, RAs are
paid $93.75 a month. They have their own
room, and they are allotted a free parking pass,
but for what?
RAs in Beam are required to be on duty one
night a week and one weekend a month. They
must attend a weekly RA meeting, a required
number of RA in-services, and extensive train
ing before the beginning of each semester. They
are also in charge of room inspections, fire drills.
three community builders a semester, the hall
bulletin board, and any disciplinary issue that
occurs on their hall or while duty.
An RA is on duty from 8PM to 8AM once a
week: approximately 48 hours a month in addi
tion to their weekend duty. So including week
end and weekly duty, and a weekly one-hour
meeting, an RA works approximately 76 hours
a month, while receiving $93.75. That equals a
little over a dollar an hour!
No wonder no one wants to be an RA.
Schools all over the country offer free room
and board to their RAs. They also have single
rooms and various other incentives such as a
monthly stipend to compensate for their hard
work. In order for RA quality to increase, the
applicant numbers need to increase, and the
caliber of the applicants needs to increase as
well.
Even if Brevard cannot afford to give RA’s
free room and board, perhaps a scholarship of
$ 1,000 a year could be allotted. Even the cheer
leaders get that. If incentives increase, so will
quality and quantity. RA’s are overworked,
underpaid, and underappreciated. They do the
best they can with what they have; now the
college needs to help them out.
Mixed feelings about "Campus Fever"
by Heather Hutchinson
Staff Writer
After interviewing a few people on the sub
ject, and partaking in various conversations at
the dinner table. I’ve come to the consensus
that we are all experiencing at least a bit of
what could be referred to as “campus fever,” or
the need to get out of this place, even for a
short trip in the car. Some people have come to
call this campus home, such as one person I
interviewed who said, “1 like it here, man. I’ve
been here 5 years.”
Yet, there is also the other side of the story.
I’ve discussed with some people their thoughts
on our campus going downhill in the past few
years. When asked if Brevard was getting to
them, one person replied, “Yes, actually. I can’t
seem to stand the eighth grade bullshit with
‘friends.’ And sometimes I just wanna give up
and say fuck it. It’s not worth it.”
Motivation with schoolwork and even get
ting up in the morning seems to be going down
hill. I’ve personally missed too many classes
in the last few weeks to keep up like I did
earl ier in the semester. I ’ ve been writing more
in my journal, and everything in my life seems
to be more important than my education lately.
I can’t be around the people in my town that I
feel need me— I have no idea what’s going on at
home. I’ve started chain smoking and driving
around at night aimlessly to run away from
myself, and therefore losing sleep.
Other people are also finding ways to es
cape: spending time at friends’ houses off cam
pus just to clear their heads. People have been
getting drunk early at night in the middle of a
school week to escape as well. Some of us are
starting to get short with each other. We’re
getting anxious for the end of the semester,
whether it’s because of finals, or because we’re
transferring somewhere, graduating, or just
needing time off. Too many of us have been in
school for too many years, and it gnaws at us
when the stress keeps piling on.
It’s definitely time for a vacation. Happy
Friday.
Matt's Take:
Liberal Arts Education
needs a little practicality
by Matt Rutherford
Managing Editor
Real life begins after 17
years of school. We get bills,
find a home, maybe buy a
car, and do whatever else it
is those adults do these days.
Do you ever wonder why,
especially at a liberal arts school, there is no
class on life skills for the real world?
We have classes that teach us to be leaders,
classes to make us better students (hopefully
we have figured it out by now), and even classes
specialized in odd, yet interesting topics. For
example, the course in “Religious Aspects of
Tolkien” will indeed teach me various ways to
look at Tolkien’s works. It may possibly open
doors of religious thought I’d never imagine to
think of. But, it isn’t going to teach me squat
about how to live alone.
We should create a course dedicated to teach
ing graduating students what to really expect
when they leave the safe confines of a college
campus. Some good information for someone
who is setting up alone for the first time would
be, learning how to find a place of residence in
small towns and cities, budgeting for a month,
finding affordable insurance, etc.
It’s not that I think leadership skills are in
significant; they are a vital role in job settings
and various other positions aside from one’s
main occupation. I do believe along with lead
ership skills, regular skills are in need of fine
tuning.
It just seems as if this is something that would
have been discussed or at least brought up.
However, the main attention as of late has been
on improving BCE or FYF type classes. I’m
not quite sure how central these courses are to
our education but it is evident that they need
work. The senior capstone class needs work.
Would this not be a perfect opportunity for a
real world course? The discussed topics should
definitely be included in the lectures.
Instead of taking us on random fieldtrips and
seminars, and talking about “power of influ
ence” what about taking us to a rental office
and showing us how to set up a lease? Faculty
and administration should stop focusing only
on the freshman coming in and give a little at
tention to students they plan to send out into
the world. You all have taught us to put every
thing into our work, make it our own, and be
proud of it. Don’t let us off that easily, one last
info gram is all we need to stay on track.