Residential Advisers, or RAs, are an integral part of the housing system here at the UW. They serve as a link between Housing and Food Services (HFS) and the thousands of students who live in the residence halls each year.

But lately, RAs have been greatly dissatisfied with their jobs and the treatment they have received from HFS. The RAs’ discontent became evident with the creation of a Web site called “RAs Unite.”

The Web site was founded because there is no space for RAs to voice their concerns, said Rick Fulton*, who frequents the Web site.

“We really care about the students. That’s why we’re in it; we just feel really alone,” Fulton said.

The Web site features posts by current and former RAs voicing concerns about the way HFS is run and their fears about speaking out against the organization.

One post by an RA claims that when a resident attempted suicide last fall, the RAs were left to deal with the situation by themselves.

“This is just one perspective on one situation,” said Chris Jaehne, assistant director for Residential Life, about the post.

Officials at HFS are aware of the Web site, and they say they are working to correct the complaints. Eric Godfrey, vice provost of Student Life, has also stepped in to assist HFS in working toward a solution.

Welcome Bags: An incident in question.

This year, RAs had to pack welcome bags filled with Chipotle coupons, Dawg Daze information and other things for new residents. The process took an entire day of the RAs’ training.

A Resident Director (RD) sensed frustrations and called a meeting to talk to the RAs. Several students voiced their opinions at the open forum.

“The next day, the RAs [who voiced concerns] were sent e-mails from the RD telling them to meet with her,” Fulton said. “At these meetings, they were told to ‘reconsider their positions.’”

The RAs were told that they were corrupting residents with their negativity and that the frustrations they voiced were illegitimate, he said.

“I hope to never have to do that again,” Jaehne said, in regards to the welcome bags. “The original plan for getting those welcome bags ready fell through, and it was left to the RAs to get it done. It also took a lot longer than expected.”

Speaking out: Is the fear legitimate?

RAs are afraid of speaking out against HFS, even if they voice legitimate concerns, because they feel their jobs may be in jeopardy.

An RA who wrote on the “RAs Unite” site recommended that posters take security precautions when posting on the Web site.

HFS’ dealings with the RAs led to a concern for the advising jobs, but this concern is not going unaddressed.

Godfrey said he knew of the RAs’ worries and said they are being addressed.

“If there are students who are worried about speaking out because they think it would jeopardize their positions, they simply need not worry, because that is just not how this culture operates,” Godfrey said.

Communicating better with RAs: solving the problem

The main goal of HFS’ mission to reconcile with its RAs is to communicate better with them, as well as with all of its employees. This is being done through an RA council, as well as a “Learn to Live” committee that Jaehne is leading.

Both efforts aim to continually evaluate the situation in residence halls by establishing a dialogue between RAs and higher-ups in the HFS administration.

“Everything we do is based on feedback,” Jaehne said. “Better communication with all of our staff is something we are striving to achieve.”

He continued by saying the RAs and all other staff could have been better informed of the increase in food prices by HFS during spring break. He expressed that this would have made the RAs better equipped to deal with complaints from residents and the whole situation would have been handled better.

Students or Employees?

Many RAs posting on the site questioned whether they are regarded as employees or students first. Several felt as though they are treated as employees first, and not like the students they all are.

“There is no hierarchy even in that question. They’re both students and employees at the same time,” Jaehne said. “They have to maintain a certain GPA to even be RAs, and if their grades are slipping because of something related to the job, then we’ll sit down and address it with them.”

In this and other ways, HFS has been working closely with RAs to try to understand the their issues, Godfrey said.

“RAs Unite” seems satisfied with the response so far. The founder of the Web site wrote a mass e-mail to RAs expressing his hope for the future.

“We leave you with optimism that there is potential for a new era of leadership in HFS that will be in line with the vision of the University,” he wrote.

*Name has been changed.