We, the undersigned Resident Advisers of Western Washington University, have concerns regarding University Residences’ actions and the impact they have had on our position. The residence hall communities have been negatively impacted by poor leadership and, in our experience, many cases have been mishandled, ignored, or discounted as inconsequential. We have been told on multiple occasions to trust the system that consistently shows us it is incapable, and uninterested, in addressing the issues we bring forward.
University Residences has not adequately met the critical concerns of both student staff members and residents in a number of incidents. Specifically, many Resident Advisers, from all regions of campus and over many years, have personally experienced injustices ​in this position. The following statements detail several such incidents.
The Resident Advisers from the Kappa residence hall experienced a number of conflicts that were not adequately addressed within University Residences and Human Resources. The Kappa staff did not have a Resident Director for approximately three months at the start of the 2016-2017 school year and were under-informed about events in University Residences, REM conversation logging, and fall closing by their interim Resident Director. When the Kappa staff tried to express their concerns, ask for help, or address these issues they were met with harassment, intimidation, and a lack of communication. The Kappa staff attempted to express their concerns to a Human Resources representative and the Director of University Residences who both failed to take action that addressed the aforementioned abuse. Resident Directors in the region tried to support Kappa staff through this process and were threatened with a reminder of their at-will status as employees.
The residence hall communities Mathes and SHADO experienced several cumulative sexually charged incidents during the 2016-2017 academic year that leadership in University Residences failed to address. Immediately after the first sexually charged incident in SHADO, in which a convicted felon entered a female Resident Adviser's room and was found wearing her clothes, Resident Advisers on the SHADO staff were informed by leadership in University Residences that they could not share any details with their residents despite the severity of the incident. The placement of a “gag order” over the SHADO staff, specifically the Resident Adviser whose room was broken into, prevented any outside pressure from being put on University Residences to address the issue. Both the security of the SHADO community, specifically Highland Hall, and the mishandling of the incident were brought up to the facilities staff and leadership in University Residences, including the Assistant Director and Director, in a feedback forum that University Residences regularly promotes as an opportunity to voice concerns called “Dessert with the Directors”. Despite this effort Resident Advisers were met with no resolution. After a lackluster response to safety issues in the first Highland incident the same Resident Adviser was sexually harassed and threatened by an unknown subject in February. Similar safety concerns have been brought up to University Residences regarding a lack of security in Highland Hall for multiple years. In Mathes Hall, female-identifying residents reported that a male-identified Resident Adviser made them feel uncomfortable by making inappropriate comments and unwanted advances towards them. When two Mathes Resident Advisers reported the accused Resident Adviser to their Resident Director the only response they were given was being told “not to think about it”. Unsatisfied with this answer the Resident Advisers went to an Assistant Director of University Residences and were told that nothing could be done at the time. University Residences regularly promotes their inclusivity and diversity while simultaneously rejecting the needs of both residents and Resident Advisers who have experienced sex-based discrimination as is apparent in their response to these sexually charged incidents.
On the topic of inclusivity and diversity, Resident Advisers are expected to have a one-on-one dialogue with their residents addressing the resident’s social identities in which both the Resident Adviser and resident are highly encouraged to reveal sensitive information and discuss identities including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender. Due to the role Resident Advisers play within their community this conversation has an inherent power dynamic and privileged identities possibly held by the Resident Adviser can perpetuate their problematic nature. Despite the complexities of this conversation, and the privileged or marginalized identities of both the Resident Adviser and resident, we are given minimal training and are expected to be knowledgeable enough to maintain a positive and productive conversation around social identity. In addition to the traumatic nature of approaching identity conversations so poorly, we are concerned with University Residences’ lack of energy going towards the implementation of a wider variety of gender-inclusive housing, accessibility within the residence halls, religious tolerance, and equitable hiring that currently favors male-identified Resident Advisers.
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Institutionally, University Residences has shown itself to be disinterested in the concerns of its student staff, and disinclined to initiate real change, even when such changes are necessary to bring this university in compliance with state and federal labor standards. There is an ongoing concern about Resident Adviser pay especially in cases, and subsequent denial of overages, of the number of hours worked by student staff members. We are compensated in housing, a meal plan, and a small stipend, which cover approximately 19 hours of work each week. Although student employees legally cannot exceed 19 hours in a week, in evaluating our job responsibilities (including, but not limited to, one-on-one conversations with residents, being on-call, administrative work, and unplanned crises), we cannot meet all expectations in under this average of 19 hours and frequently work more than this. Additionally, there is a discrepancy in the Resident Adviser-to-resident ratio within different communities that perpetuates the issues surrounding the 19 hours of work per week. Some Resident Advisers have as low as 27 residents while others have as many as 68 residents. The one-on-one format requires each of these Resident Advisers to achieve 80% completion of these conversation which creates an inherent disparity in expectations per person. No system is in place to track the number of hours worked by Resident Advisers; this allows University Residences to blindly insist that Resident Advisers are averaging 19 work hours per week despite having no substantial data to prove this is true. Although these issues regarding the inequality in work have been brought to leadership repeatedly through Resident Directors and at fall quarter evaluations with Assistant Directors University Residences has continued to insist that, with more efficient time management, all Resident Advisers should be able to do their jobs within the allotted 19 hours. We believe this to be improbable.
We are frustrated that University Residences ignores the legitimate concerns of student staff; these staff members have on numerous occasions tried to find solutions using approved channels of communication and have received no response from University Residences. We are frustrated that University Residences denies their own institutional failures and relies heavily on the high turnover rate of Resident Advisers, RDs, and on-campus residents to quell any complaints or concerns that are brought to their attention. Although we value the hours we spend working with our residents and the challenge of fostering relationships in the Western Washington University community we feel that University Residences is taking advantage of our commitment to our residents and subsequently overworking and exploiting us. Due to the lack of accountability and transparency in University Residences as a department we the Resident Advisers of Western Washington University have drafted a list of demands and await the prompt response of the university by contact through email or the undersigned Resident Advisers of Western will take immediate action. We refuse to allow the oppressive cycle to continue and ask that the university and University Residences hear our demands and respond to them accordingly.
This message has been shared with Sabah Randhawa, Eileen Coughlin, Leonard Jones, Ted Pratt, Karen Stout and Chyerl Wolfe-Lee. The letter/list of demands is also shared on a public Facebook page and with the Western Front, the AS Review, the Bellingham Herald and the Seattle Times.