Navigating the RA Hierarchy

Love them or loathe them, RAs are a staple of the college experience for many. But how do they fit into the communities they are responsible for, and what challenges do they face in their roles?

Story by Joshua Kornfeld

A group of students hanging out in the Fairhaven “quad” in 1970. Image courtesy of Western Washington University.

For many first-year college students, one of the first authority figures they may meet when moving into the dorms is a resident adviser (RA).

RAs are fellow students who serve in leadership roles and enforce housing policies for other students living on campus. When hiring for RAs, Western Washington University looks for candidates who can "serve as a peer mentor and leader amongst their staff and peers," according to its housing website.

Tera Fitch, a third-year student, served as an RA at the Fairhaven dorms on South Campus during the 2022–2023 school year. Fitch said that RAs have a range of jobs throughout the quarter including checking in on residents, completing rounds (checking the building for safety and policy violations) and often serving as the first point of contact for residents when they need help.

"Last year, we had to do three rounds every night, which was just brutal," Fitch said. "And Fairhaven, where they had, you know, 12 stacks and four flights of stairs… you'd have to run up and down and check every single hallway."

Fitch said she felt that the distinction between being a student and an RA was often blurred, meaning that she felt like she was always working.

"It was definitely a tough job because you never really got to clock out. It was kind of a 24/7 job," Fitch said. "If you walk outside of your dorm, or even a lot of the time if you're in your dorm, people are gonna see you and expect you to be the RA."

Fitch said she was closest with her fellow RAs due to the unconventional schedule and often high workload. She said that RAs are scheduled to work 19 hours a week but that in practice, that number can vary widely due to the dynamic nature of the job.

"It was definitely very time-consuming… it was supposed to be a 19-hour position, but it was definitely almost always more than that," Fitch said. 

Fitch said that sometimes when working an on-call rotation, she would complete rounds and then go on to have a relatively uneventful night. 

"There were other nights where I was up until 3 or 4 a.m.," Fitch said.

When residents are experiencing mental health crises or other emergencies, RAs are often seen as a first point of contact. However, RAs receive no training in first-aid or mental health emergencies. 

Richard Henderson, assistant director of university housing, said that RAs are not trained in first aid as they are not first responders and it isn't technically in their job description. 

The RA Safety Guide states that in the instance of a medical emergency, RAs are supposed to call University Police and follow up with their Resident Director (RD) as soon as feasible. RAs are also not allowed to enter a resident’s room for health, safety or wellness concerns, according to the guide.

“In the event of a medical emergency, RAs can provide a first aid kit and contact emergency services. Medical first aid response is not within the scope of the RA position; therefore, those functions should not be performed by RA staff,” the 2022-2023 guide states.

Henderson noted that RDs are also not required to be trained in first-aid, but added that “staff are trained to assess the situation they come into and appropriately respond (including calling in or referring to professional resources).”

Fitch described the additional team members who support RAs and RDs with responding to students who may be experiencing mental health crises. Fitch said that as of March 2023, Western has two care specialists, one of whom is on-call.

"We have two full-time care specialists who serve our on-campus students. They are responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing programs and services that promote the well-being and success of our students," Henderson said. "In addition to serving on an on-call rotation where they assist staff in responding to health crises among other things and have a close working relationship with our on-campus partners in supporting students."

Each community has an RD who supervises student staff such as RAs in addition to dealing with other administrative tasks. Nash has roughly 10 such student staff members. Hannah Wiebke is an RD for Nash Hall on North Campus and has been at Western for three years.

"Essentially, all of us are here to provide support, supervision, and overall management of the buildings or communities that we oversee," Wiebke said. “I oversee Nash Hall. So I have seven resident advisors, one inclusion assistant, and one residential office assistant."

Wiebke said her favorite part of the job is mentoring the RAs. She said that a lot of students become RAs because they like helping people and want to make a difference.

Fitch said that despite the high workload and expectations of being an RA, the community aspect is what she remembers most about the job.

"I really enjoyed just having the opportunity to get to know people and give them resources if necessary. And just be able to be somebody that they could trust to help them," Fitch said. “And I really valued getting that connection.”

When not responding to resident needs, RAs also put on activities for their residents. Specifically, they’re required to put on at least one event every quarter. Fitch organized several events during her time as a Fairhaven RA, including a movie night, a haunted house, and a gingerbread house-making contest.

However, one of the most memorable moments from Fitch’s time as an RA was toilet-related. 

"I was doing rounds, and I checked the gender-neutral bathroom in my stack and the toilet was just full of ripped-up romaine lettuce,” Fitch said. “ I was like, ‘Okay, why is this here?’ I wasn't sure what to do, so I just flushed it.”

Fitch said that despite her best efforts of flushing the lettuce, the toilet had a green hue for the rest of the year. 

Despite being barely older than their residents if not the same age, RAs are expected to serve as mentors for their fellow students while enforcing housing policies and responding to situations, emergency and otherwise, that they’re completely untrained for. The RA contract states that to be suitable for the position, RAs must be able to balance a full course workload with a variety of demanding tasks. These tasks and expectations are often unique to the RA position and likely not something other student workers have to think about balancing.  

Since RAs serve in a public-facing role, they also have to be mindful of their professional appearance online. Western has specific guidelines RAs are encouraged to follow, particularly with interacting with residents online.

According to the RA guide, RAs are allowed to post online but are encouraged to be mindful of the content they are posting and of any interactions they may have with residents.

Jonathan Higgins, director of University Communications, said in an email that RAs are not spokespeople for the university. Under the listed university policies on the policy website, Western doesn’t have an overarching university media policy that is listed for interviews for those not representing the university such as RAs.

John Thompson, assistant director of University Communications, described the general university media policy in an email as follows: "Any WWU employee can speak to the media on any topic, and certainly faculty or any expert at WWU are always able to speak to media about their work. When it comes to issues that impact the institution or community as a whole, we ask that employees not speak on behalf of Western without working through those details with University Communications."

Klipsun contacted several RAs who all stated that they knew nothing about any media policy for interviews. 

Several RDs provided different responses regarding interviews. One deferred back to University Communications for comment, while another agreed to an interview but asked to see the questions ahead of time and also to see the story before publication.

Assistant Resident Director Richard Henderson described the student staff’s residence life media policy in an email as follows: "They would consult with their supervisor before agreeing to speak as we would evaluate depending on the request whom [sic] from our department would be best to answer the questions fully and most accurately. Professional staff go through the Executive Director and the campus communications team. This is to streamline information, we get many requests from many different sources, i.e., news outlets, student interviews for class assignments, etc."

The Observer, Central Washington University's student-run newspaper, ran a story in March 2021 titled "The secret life of the RA." According to the article, student RAs were not allowed to speak to the media because of their RA contract.

Western's RAs are not prevented from speaking to the media, according to a 2023-2024 RA contract, and Henderson said he isn't aware of any previous cases of RAs violating media policies. 

RAs are student workers who are tasked with being peer mentors while juggling their own classes. They work varying schedules that frequently cover nights and weekends, all while enforcing housing policies, adhering to media policies and ensuring the safety of their residents. Between their varying workloads and the unique positions they inhabit, RAs are expected to work demanding schedules that require them to complete tasks not expected of any other student workers. They are often placed in uncomfortable situations, sometimes due to the large amount of power they tend to have over residents, and all for a yearly stipend of $1800 in addition to free room and board.