Slowly but surely, Ohio University Residence Life is increasing compensation for resident assistants, those dedicated souls who forfeit their ability to celebrate Halloween and unlock doors at 3:30 a.m. for freshmen who lose their keys. This year, RAs saw a 14 percent increase in their room discounts, amounting to 84 percent of costs, thanks to investments from Vision Ohio and Residence Life's auxiliary budget.
After recent questionable spending, it's great to see OU put money into something that directly benefits students. Obviously, there's still much room for improvement: At other Ohio colleges, RAs receive full room and board, if not a stipend on top of that.
It's important for OU administrators to recognize that RA compensation not only serves as a form of financial aid, but as an investment in the quality of life for students, and possibly even retention rates. As anyone who's lived in the dorms knows, a good RA can make a huge difference in the freshman experience, particularly when roommates aren't getting along or quiet hours aren't being observed during exam week.
Moreover, better compensation may also encourage more students to apply for such duties, therefore giving Residence Life a larger pool of applicants from which to choose. We can hope that, should Residence Life see more applicants, they will be able to more carefully select students who are qualified to carry out the job of an RA. A bad RA can break a student's OU experience just as a good RA can help make it.
Residence Life can help create those good RAs, but the department should re-evaluate whether its policies ' often good in theory ' are being put into practice. True diversity, be it of race, creed or politics, should be celebrated. Tolerance is not the same thing as homogeneity. Groupthink is no substitute for real diversity.
Residence Life, however, is worth the effort to improve. Let's continue to make RA compensation a priority. These are tough times, but RAs are an important part of on-campus living, and they should not be pushed aside.
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Despite recent improvements, there is more work to be done
