Author:
As a third year staff member in RLHS, I want to address Brett Eagleton’s recent letter to the editor. How is it unfair to have underage students enforcing policy with their peers? When students take on the position of an HC or RA, we agree to follow and enforce college policy across the board. We don’t pick and choose who to include in incident reports. We are supposed to document fellow staff members if they are caught breaking policy, which has happened. We actually devote a lot of discussion to this topic during our yearly training, because this is a sensitive and difficult issue. We hold each other accountable, and it’s not okay to put each other in that position. In fact, I would argue that RAs that are under 21 are less likely to break policy, because not only would an RA go through the regular conduct conference process, but they would also most likely lose their jobs. That consequence seems far more serious than the other educational sanctions the rest of the student body often faces. I know that I took that into account when making decisions about drinking before I was 21.
In regards to Brett’s issue of providing a safe space for students to come with issues, I hope that she has listened to her hall staff. We strive to make the point that student safety is our number one concern. We are not here to police our peers. We are not going around looking for parties just so we can break them up. We just want to make sure that everyone has a safe, respectful experience living in the residence halls.My residents call the duty phone when something has gotten out of hand. Later, they comment on how reassuring and helpful their RA was during a really scary situation. I have also seen instances when students did not get help for their friend who had had too much to drink, which is way scarier and more dangerous.
If a student gets into a situation where there are concerns or problems with alcohol, we are an immediate resource for them. You don’t get into trouble just for calling for help, but there is definitely a conversation that needs to happen if you let yourself get that inebriated. Drinking is a part of college, but learning the consequences to your actions should be as well.
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