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RAs want benefits to better performanceEditor, I would like to respond to the editorial written Wednesday regarding Residence Life and priority scheduling. I feel that the comments made in the editorial are unfounded and a little bit insulting. The writer likened being an RA to other campus jobs, but that really isn’t the case. At a normal job you go, clock in, work your shift and then go home. If you are an RA you start your shift the moment you walk in the door and you don’t get to look at a resident that needs to talk to you and say “I have a report due tomorrow, so I can’t talk right now.” You help them, no matter what time it is, and no matter what you are doing. I have yet to hear of any other job on campus that gives you a curfew, and last I checked the only student job that requires you to be up till 3 a.m. is an SA. RAs and SAs have to schedule around staff meetings, duty, programs, in-services, green wide programs and other various duties. Then they get to go to class regardless of how late they were up with their other duties. (Try getting up for an 8 a.m. class after you had a confrontation that took until 4 a.m. to resolve.) This also brings up the point you made that RAs’ work can be completed at night and does not interfere with classes. That’s a nice thought, but it’s simply not true. RAs often have staff meetings at 10 p.m. due to staff members having late classes. Those meeting last until around 12 a.m. or later, and then they get to go back and do homework. Then you have nightly duty and roommate problems that tend to occur in the evening, which cuts down on the amount of time RAs and SAs have for homework. I happen to be one of the members of the Residence Life committee that petitioned the university to gain priority scheduling for RAs and SAs, and the reason we are asking for this ability is not to shut others out of classes or to gain an unfair advantage over others. We simply feel that because we have numerous time commitments that come with the job, many of them late night, we should have the ability to schedule classes that don’t conflict with these schedules and allow us to perform to the best of our academic ability. In the editorial the writer suggested that if RAs and SAs wanted more rewards we should make more realistic requests. I would like to know what you think those might be. A raise? We all know the university can’t afford to give us one at the moment. Maybe you would like to pay more tuition so we can get one. Less work? Nope, someone would have to do it, which would mean hiring more people, and there goes that money thing again Any ideas that don’t cost the university money? Good luck. I hope I have made at least something of the point I wished to make with the above examples, but they are all moot anyway. We are not asking for priority registration because we want more perks; we are asking for it because it would allow us to do our jobs better and to be better students, which is the entire reason we are here. If you disagree with my thoughts that’s totally understandable, but if you are going to argue against them, please do not suggest that my job is less than it is, and please do not put words into my mouth. I think RAs and SAs deserve better than that. Michael Bertner |