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Assigning
roommates to RAs sometimes vital
Many
resident assistants are assigned roommates to help ease
the residence hall overflow problem.
By
Kristy Cubstead
With
an overwhelming demand for on-campus housing and not enough
beds, TCU will assign roommates to resident assistants
in the fall to help ease the problem.
Several RAs say having a roommate limits their ability
to do their job. It’s sometimes harder to advise
residents confidentially and privately, they say. But
university officials, faced with swelling enrollment and
an increasing demand for housing, say they have no choice
but to room RAs with residents until other options open
up.
“I think it’s inconvenient for us to have roommates
because there’s confidentiality issues,” said
Mary Power, an RA in Colby Hall.
Power was assigned a roommate for the fall semester, but
does not currently have one.The only solution to reduce
the number of RAs who have roommates would be to build
another residence hall or have a smaller demand for rooms,
said Roger Fisher, director of Residential Services.
“If, and when, we ever build another residence hall,
we would probably be sure to build private rooms especially
for the staff members,” Fisher said.
Fisher said there are about 3,150 beds in the residence
halls, but this coming fall, TCU will need about 250 more
than that. TCU also cannot house transfer students, even
though manyof them request on-campus housing.
“I think the demand has increased because the number
of beds available have not kept pace with the growth of
the student body,” Fisher said.
TCU has also put overflow students in hotels in the past
until there is room for them.
“Before we use hotels, we use RA rooms, lounges and
any area we can find because we believe that having the
student on campus is still better than in a hotel,”
Fisher said.
Fisher said hotel rooms and transportation to and from
the hotels are expensive, and this is used as a last resort.
Heather Reeves, an RA in Colby Hall, was assigned a roommate
fall semester.
“I didn’t mind having a roommate, but it made
my job a lot more difficult,” she said.Reeves said
there were confidentiality issues that were made more
complicated by having a roommate.
Everybody is told of the possibility of having a roommate
before they apply to be an RA, said Barbara Hawkins, associate
director of Residence Life. All RAs are given an opportunity
to choose their own roommate knowing they could be assigned
one.
Rebecka Guzman, hall director of Sherley Hall, said most
RAs with roommates are understanding of the situation.
“The RAs are very flexible and understand the housing’s
need to use the space,” Guzman said.
For each week an RA has a roommate, $20 is credited to
their student account, Hawkins said.
Fisher said he has worked at TCU for seven years, and
every year RAs have been assigned roommates. He said it
is usually a bigger problem during fall semesters.
“With our annual housing shortage, we cannot leave
about 70 beds unused at the beginning of the school year,”
Fisher said.
Fisher said RAs usually have roommates temporarily until
their roommates can be reassigned elsewhere.
“Until we have other places to put students, we have
to use every available bed,” Hawkins said.
The cost of on-campus housing increases every year for
two reasons, Fisher said. Operating costs, including utilities,
maintenance, staff salaries, insurance, furniture and
mattress replacements and supplies, increase every year,
he said. Also, TCU must pay back the millions of dollars
it borrowed to build the Tom Brown-Pete Wright Residential
Community.
Since the fall semester of 1997, housing rates have gone
up about 50 percent, or an average of about 7 percent
a year, Fisher said.
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Photo
Illustration by Sarah Chacko
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Daniel Hall resident assistant Kelly Achilles, a
junior philosophy major, converses with resident
Stephen McPaul, a freshman English major, while
Achilles roommate, sophomore political science major
Brett Grayson, lounges in their room. |
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