Common Ground

An interesting post from a blog called Educated Nation:

It’s amazing what starts to look enticing when the economy is sucking. Nationwide, colleges and universities have reported phenomenal increases in the number of applicants for RA positions. RAs (resident advisors) are the long-suffering, non-freshmen, adult(ish) folks who agree to live in vomit-splattered, high-volume dorms in exchange for free room and board at their institution of higher education.

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During my freshman-year stint in the dorms, it was widely considered among the resident hall population that only an upperclassman with an extreme lack of tuition money would ever consider putting themselves in harm’s way (that would be in the way of a pack of newly-liberated-from-parental-control freshmen) for what is basically a non-paying job that totally wrecks your sleeping and studying schedules.

However, it was also considered by the lot of us that only someone with a higher degree of motivation to become educated than any of us college-fund-having kiddos had would accept such a job. So, while on the one hand we thought of our RAs as an especially cranky variety of fun-hating babysitter, we also had to admit that out of all of us, they were the most willing to do whatever it was going to take to earn a college degree—even put up with our played-out antics (which we thought were phenomenally original, but which the RAs and the janitors always knew exactly how to clean up, thereby calling into question our actual level of inventiveness).

From an insider’s perspective, I find it interesting how outsiders — those college students who never contemplated the RA gig — view the position.  I think with everything, there are always going to be a variety of opinions based on the personality of your RA.  If your RA was an asshole, you’re probably not going to have good odds of thinking they’re particularly valuable in on-campus living communities.  On the other hand, if you had a high-energy, motivated RA, you’re probably going to have a generally high opinion of the role.  I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing Alexa (at Educated Nation) wasn’t one that had a life-changing relationship with her RA.

Alexa’s description of the position is actually more hyperbole than it is fact.  Some RAs are initially attracted to the position because of its financial benefits, and perhaps there are more candidates for the positions because of that interest.  But as a residence life professional, it’s very easy for us to sort out those who are solely motivated by material benefits from those who want to make a difference.

As the housing officer notes in Alexa’s post, the RA is grossly underpaid in that the position’s extensive compensation will be earned by the middle of the fall semester.  It’s not just vomit, either.  Mediating roommate conflicts, confronting their peers’ violations of policy, and the famous “other duties as assigned” are staples of the job, and if someone was hired only interested in reaping the financial reward, we know they’d probably walk out immediately.

One thing Alexa noted that I wholeheartedly agree with is the notion of grudging respect for RAs among students living in residence halls.  A student might detest an RA for dispersing two of his/her parties in a semester and turning his/her name into the campus’s judicial officer, but I find in my conversations with the student (which follows this referral process), most of these students acknowledge that the RA “was just doing their job,” and we have a conversation about what that job entails.  I usually come away from the conversation believing that while that student still might not have come to terms with his/her responsibility in a particular incident, he/she does grudgingly respect the RA for dealing with the “drama” that can accompany the gig.

One more comment regarding the output of the position — it’s not just drama.  Many candidates interviewing for the position, if not there for the room and board, naively proclaim they’re there to “help people.”  (As someone respected in the higher ed field notes, “You can help people at a 7-11.”)  This is a better answer, though, than the material benefits line.  Eventually, successful RAs do help people, but each does it a bit differently.  They fine-tune their role with the help of residence life professionals, seizing the aspects of the position that amplify strengths, and challenging themselves to grow in areas of weakness.  There are strong event-planners, and those strong with administrative tasks.  They will understand at some point, though, that if they’re particularly successful, they don’t just help people; they change lives.  They’re the figurative (sometimes literal) arbiters of millions of minutes of life stories that intersect on a common hallway or wing.  It might be automatic to focus on the negative aspects of that — illness, conflict, etc.  But think about the potential there.  The RA that recognizes the influence and opportunity they possess in that setting is the one who is the most successful, and the person who gets all that they can out of the position — not just the room and board.

During my interviews at Miami University, I was asked by Residence Life what position I would be interested in for an assistantship. After talking to Molly and reading a little bit about the community, the Scholar Leader program was appealing to me. Here are the goals of the program, from its website:

1. For each Scholar Leader to develop a personalized and meaningful theory/philosophy of leadership.

2. For the program to influence positively the broader Miami University community through service, leadership, and support of others.

3. For Scholar Leaders to learn to analyze leadership dynamics and needs in order to determine the most effective form of leadership for any given situation.

4. For Scholar Leaders to utilize the skills gained from the various learning activities offered in the program to effect policy and practice in the program and elsewhere.

When I interviewed I brought this opportunity up as something about which I was particularly excited, given my experience in writing about civic engagement and my passion for leadership and the various forms it can take. I was greeted with positive response, but when I was offered admission, the caller told me that Residence Life was interested in me for the RedHawk Traditions community. While it was unexpected, I embraced it and moved forward, excited about being in Oxford.

Until today, when I received a call from the Residence Life office. An opening for the Scholar Leader program popped up and they wanted to know if I wanted to fill it.

So yes — good things come to those who wait. While I was interested in how I might be able to fit in a community that seemed to work a lot with athletics, a culture I wasn’t too familiar with, I now have the ability to exercise most of my strengths learned and developed over the past few years. Those participating in this program will have already invested in the program quite a bit just to be a part of it. I’m very excited for what’s to come.

Last night I had the honor of being the on call staff member in Residence Life. On a related note, yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday is celebrated a bit more intensely on college campuses.

The building I live in was probably louder than it has been the whole year. I had to confront situations involving underage alcohol three times, with two of those times occurring in the same room. One of the students living in that room was there for both situations, two hours apart. This student intrigued me a lot, while managing to scare me a little bit.

I have never seen someone express so much anger while trying not to. Said student recognized he had a problem controlling his anger, noting this as he was punching and kicking walls, hurting his hand in the process. He repeatedly yelled with frustration in the hallway.

I was intrigued because…

1.) While this may not have been clear to him the first time, he made these choices himself. Being found with alcohol and nine other people in the room the first time is one thing, but doing it again later in the night (with a smaller number in the room) is… hard to wrap one’s mind around.

2.) The anger was so out of proportion with the possible consequences, especially after the first incident.

Yes — the anger issue is something I don’t have to deal with. I’m a pretty calm guy. But watching someone else struggle with it made me wonder what it must be like to not be able to control one’s emotions.

I liked this, from Seth Godin’s post today:

It’s amazing that people have so much time to fret about today’s emergency but almost no time at all to avoid tomorrow’s.

A glimpse at the TV and internets shows one talking head after another angsting about today’s economy. These are the same people who needed to devote entire hours to mindless trivia nine months ago when they could have done an enormous amount of education about avoiding this mess in the first place.

Just thought I’d let readers know that I was officially accepted into Miami University’s College Student Personnel graduate program.

I’ll be transitioning from Erie, PA to Oxford, OH over the next several months.

I’m very excited and look forward to the change! I’ll provide more updates as they come.

The best paragraph I’ve read today comes from the introduction of Paul Loeb’s Soul of a Citizen.

The dream of sanctuary is an illusion. It erodes our souls by eroding our sense of larger connection, whether to our fellow human beings or to that force that many of us call God. The walls we’re building around ourselves, around those closest to us, and ultimately around our hearts may provide a temporary feeling of security. But they can’t prevent the world from affecting us. Quite the opposite. The more we construct such barriers, the more private life, for most of us, will grow steadily more insecure. (pg. 7)