Taking care of business
No plans for resident assistant union on campus
By Kami Lewis
Staff Reporter

The formation of the first residential assistants union at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst raised concerns for administrators across the nation, especially in the Northeast, said Russell Elleven, associate director of Residence Life.

But resident assistants across campus have no plans to form a union, said Dana Schmitz, a senior RA in Brachman Hall.

Daniela Munguia/SKIFF STAFF Jeremy Thaden, a sophomore biology major, works Monday nights as a Foster Hall resident assistant. TCU RA’s have no current plans to form a union.

Massachusetts RAs cited unfair discipline, arbitrary treatment and low wages as motivation for unionization March 5, despite objections from administration and Housing Services officials at U-Mass.

Elleven said Wednesday that Texas Right to Work laws would make it difficult for RAs in Texas to unionize, but that such a move is possible. He said he does not think TCU RAs would unionize.

According to the Texas Right to Work Law, an individual’s right to work cannot be denied or infringed by law or any organization.

Colby Hall RA Jerri Williams said the Residential Services office at TCU was not comparable to the one at U-Mass.

“The circumstances at TCU are completely different than those at U-Mass,” Williams said. “The Residential Services office facilitates RAs here as leaders on campus that are appreciated through the wages and housing we receive.”

Williams, a Massachusetts resident, said she visited the U-Mass campus at Amherst and she could understand the discrepancy between attitudes on the two campuses.

“We are so small here compared to the campus where the union formed,” she said. “Where an RA here has between 35 to 40 residents, the halls up there probably have 60 residents easily, so I can see where they would become overwhelmed by their workloads.”

Schmitz said that while RAs at TCU work long hours, they are still treated well by Residential Services.

“You work a lot of hours as an RA,” Schmitz said. “So many hours we could probably never be paid for everything we do, but it’s still a great job to have, and it’s well worth it.”

Information in this article came from The Campus Chronicle at the Amherst campus of U-Mass.

Kami Lewis
k.e.lewis2@student.tcu.edu

credits

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