Residence Hall | Photo by Qusai Takuri | The Wright State Guardian
Wright State University’s (WSU) residential assistant program faces challenges due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic while students currently in the program remain reluctant to talk about the issues.
Challenges due to COVID
All aspects of campus life, including residential life, have been impacted by COVID-19. This extends to the residential assistant (RA) program.
According to Jenifer Attenweiler, associate director for residence life and housing, programs RA’s would normally conduct face to face with their residences had to move online all of 2020 and most of 2021.
This virtual environment prevented RA’s from strongly connecting with their residents.
“It’s really hard to build relationships with residents when everything is virtual,” Attenweiler said.
Due to this connection issue and a lack of interest in the position, the RA program has faced recruiting issues.
“We (housing) struggled with people not wanting to take on more responsibility than being a student,” Attenweiler said. “We had some difficulty in recruiting because expectations of the job are different.”
Recruiting efforts for the academic year 2022/23 RA program were extended into the current spring semester.
Details of the program
The RA program is an extensive process. Before candidates are even interviewed and considered for placement in the program, they must take the one-hour credit course: “Topics in Residence Life.”
According to Attenweiler, this requirement was waived last year due to COVID but has since been reinstated.
Once students are accepted into the program they must go through a week and a half of training before the new academic year starts.
After the new academic year starts, RA’s do various jobs such as planning residential events, holding office hours and having on-call hours where they are available if a situation in a residential building arises.
The only compensation RA’s receive is a complementary single room in their assigned residential hall, a meal plan and the waiver of their residential activity fee. Using the average 2021/22 guaranteed housing and meal plan rates, this totals to about $5,443 per 14 week semester before taxes and extra incurred costs.
RA opinions
The Wright State Guardian reached out to 13 current RA’s to get their perspectives on the program. 11 did not respond, one referred us to speak to higher-level administration and one reported that she did not end up taking the position.
WSU student, Sierra Hinton, applied for and was offered the RA position for this spring semester, however, she ultimately turned it down due to the time commitment and other factors.
“It is very time-consuming and I am much busier this semester than usual. Many friends also warned me not to take it due to their own personal experiences,” Hinton wrote.
Hinton did not expand on what those personal experiences were or what she was warned against.
