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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2002)
Residence hall life for a new millennium Resident assistants help keep students educated, informed and entertained with events like “Guess the Straight RA Alexander Tam Freelance Reporter The residence halls are packed once again for a new school year, bringing a diversity of incoming students. And that means another busy year for resi dent assistants, whose work it is to help new students adjust to college and life in the residence halls. RAs reach out to students by or ganizing various social and educa tional activities and events. Events include movie nights, pizza parties and football game parties. One of the year’s key events was “Guess the Straight RA.” On Wednesday, about 120 students at tended to speculate about the sexual orientation of six RAs. Students asked questions about the RAs’ per sonal lives, ranging from sexual top ics to the CDs they had in their cars. Later, they had the opportunity to discuss the issue with the panel. “The lesson to be learned is that you should not judge a (person’s sex ual orientation) by their appearance or what their interests are,” RA Nicole Haskell said. According to Residence Life pro gramming Assistant Director Jim Ba jczyk, events like this are just one as pect of the main objective: to inform and educate students. Bajczyk said the events are also an important op portunity for residents to socialize, meet new people and enjoy campus life. The general feedback from stu dents about the recently-offered so cial activities has been strongly posi tive, Bajczyk said. When an off-campus riot occurred last month, RAs and University Hous ing decided to respond by organizing additional activities for students dur ing the following weekend, he added. “We are going to do everything we can on campus to keep students here and keep them involved,” Ba jczyk said. He added that residents in each hall can choose the activities they would like to have. Skiing, hik ing trips and massage demonstra tions are some of the many options that have been previously organized based on student ideas, he said. “The residents need to know we have the money,” he said. “We have the ability to do programs they want. We just need the ideas.” Throughout the course of the school year, resident assistants and complex directors will plan as many as three events each week for their complexes. Bajczyk said there is more emphasis this year on better attended, quality programming, as opposed to previous years, when there would be many activities but few students who would attend. Bajcyzk said resident assistants are required to do a certain amount of social and educational activities each term. The beginning of the year will primarily focus on getting stu dents to build relationships in their individual halls. As the year pro gresses, the programs will become more educational as residents devel op a level of comfort with each other to share personal experiences. “We want (students) to get to know each other, interact with each other, and with events like ‘Guess the Straight RA,’ we want to educate them and encourage tolerance with each other,” Moore Hall RA Lisa Larkin said. A calendar for the planned events will be available online in November. Alexander Tam is a freelance writer for the Emerald. Need a Hand r\ with University related problems • Student Conduct Code Faculty Misconduct UniversityflqtVfting Grade Disputes Discrimination tudent Advocacy FREE Advice and Representation \ EMU, Room 334 OSA is an ASUO program funded by your incidental fee Run your for sale item in the ODE classifieds for five days (items under $1,000) ... if you don't sell it, we'll run it 5 more days for free! EAT. LAUGH. PRAY. (repeat as needed) Discover the meaning of life through Christ St. Thomas More Newman Center. Catholic Campus Ministry 1850 Emerald Street (across from Hayward Field) Mass schedule: Sat. 5:00 pm & Sun. 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 7:30 pm (Student) Phone: 346-4468 http://www.newmanctr-uoregnn.org e-mail: newman@newmanctr-uoregon.org 015029 Social connections • Coffee Houses • Progressive Dinners • Sports Events Faith Community • Meaningful Retreats •Engaging Masses • Guest Speakers Societal Commitment • Social Service Projects •Charity Fund Raisers • Alternative Spring Break
