When students have reached the end of their mandatory two-year residency requirements, most pack up and move off-campus. However, because of recent student behavior issues and an administrative backlash by both the city and university, a new program has been established to facilitate cooperation. The Community Assistant Program - a university initiative - employs local residents in the off-campus areas to act as go-betweens for students and local officials. Duties for the community assistants emulate that of resident assistants' role in some ways, as they include providing information concerning managing of safe parties and dealing with landlords and police officers. Although the program is good in theory as a possible response to past off-campus disruptions, whether the community assistants can prove to be a useful and effective asset has yet to be seen.
Although the program has promise, a lack of communication with local students has hampered its efforts. The 15 community assistants scattered around the student-populated off-campus streets will be paid out of a $30,000-a-year budget to act as representatives in that area. Their job involves attending weekly meetings, providing information to the students, and helping with landlord or roommate conflicts. However, many students have been unaware of the existence of the source(s) in their area. That glitch raises questions, both by students and overseers of the program, concerning the community assistants' accountability and the actual value of their assistance. Also, it is important that the CAs not become neighborhood tattle-tales, a prospect that Off-Campus Living Coordinator Jim Hintz has said he would not support.
The CA program has a good objective and a reasonable basis, but the means by which it has been put into effect are less than desirable. Furthermore, only when awareness about the program within off-campus areas increases will we be able to determine if the service will garner any practical use from OU students.
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Lack of awareness hampers program
