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.
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