Acorn

I was studying abroad in London during the second semester of my sophomore year when I received a letter notifying me that I was accepted for a resident assistant position in Eberhardt.

I spent a great deal of time on my application, so I was extremely relieved and grateful for the opportunity. I thought it would be a way to make a positive impact on the Drew community and get involved with student life. Now, a year and a half later, after resigning from the position, I can only look back and regret that I accepted that job in the first place.

However, now I can finally speak my mind to The Acorn about how I truly feel without having to worry about getting fired or belittled.

My employment with the Residence Life was, at best, bittersweet and wasteful except for the personal relationships I made with the other Resident Assistants.

ResLife has recently instated, or in their terms, �better enforced� rules that are truly detrimental to students� social lives and are, in my opinion, ridiculous. As the rules were tightened this year, I (a then 21-year-old senior) was unable to go to any party on campus where anyone was under the age of 21, whether or not I knew that the underage people were there. That means if I was off-duty in a suite with all of my friends in the senior class and one freshman walked in and someone reported me, I would lose my job. As someone who has always promoted responsible drinking and respected ResLife policy, I found this very offensive and I�m still troubled by it now. Why should I have had to worry about these things if I was of legal age to consume alcohol, off duty, and acting responsibly?

A new rule states that if the ResLife finds a picture of an underage RA drinking on Facebook that they could possibly be fired. Does Drew own Facebook? No. Does ResLife own Facebook? No. What if one of these pictures was taken off campus at an RA�s family barbeque? Are they going to lose their job over that?

Facebook is in no way affiliated with the administrative departments of Drew and thus, should not be used as a monitoring system. Reslife should be more concerned with educating RA�s and residents about the importance of making wise decisions when drinking at parties.

There are so many resourceful people on this campus such as Substance Awareness and Educational Programs Coordinator Audra Tonero and Aventis Wellness Program Coordinator Kathy Werheim, who are hardly ever used to support such programs.

Instead, it seems that ResLife is more insistent on ruling with an iron fist and neglects utilizing these resources to help students empower themselves to make wise choices. This ultimately may be the reason why we have so many alcohol transports to Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Let�s face it, this is college and regardless of what anyone does or says, the large majority of students at this school are going to take part in underage drinking. I did when I was a freshman, almost all of my friends did, and I know for a fact that many current RA�s did.

Let�s stop being na�ve and realize that we are a small liberal arts school and that the only thing that students can find to do on weekends, besides walk through the town of Madison (which is silent most nights by 9 p.m.) is find an older friend to buy a case of beer and party.

If an RA goes out to party, as long as they are responsible, they should not have to worry about getting fired from their position. When I mentioned this during RA meetings last year, the response was always along the lines of �You are all role models. We have to hold you to a higher standard.� As someone who strictly adhered to ResLife�s rules regarding drinking during my time with them, I was personally insulted. Being a role model is not about documenting people and walking around with a �holier-than-thou� attitude. Being a role model is embodied in wise decisions that illustrate responsibility, character and truth. Maybe it�s time that ResLife had a reality check and did some serious rewriting of policies.

In the meantime, if RAs are going to be tracked for their behavior in their personal time, then we should start imposing the same restrictions on faculty members and staff. Perhaps from now on, if I find a picture of a faculty member having a glass of wine at a reception, then I should report them to the deans for not being a �role model,� because as it stands now, the sentiment seems to be that anyone who drinks, regardless of age, is preventing the creation of a safe community.

This is getting out of hand and it is simply ridiculous. By putting these restrictions on RAs, students will become disinterested from even attempting to become involved in student activities. This year, as I�ve been told by members of ResLife, applications for 2006-2007 Resident Assistant positions were down nearly 50-percent from last year�s applicant pool.

This is a sad statistic and it is a reflection of not only a growing lack of student involvement in many organizations, but suggests that there is a growing rift between the student body, the faculty and staff of this school which may prove to have a backlash in the future.

If you want to disagree with me, that is fine. Just remember that I am writing this because I care about the future of Drew and its community, not because I am holding any sort of grudge with ResLife or feel any need to drag the reputation of their office through the mud. I want to see a compromise � a change that will benefit both students and other members of the Drew community and allow students of this school to feel as though they are living the life of a typical college student whilst receiving a first class education. I also want to make sure that students are safer because of this.

To quote John F. Kennedy, �Change is the law of life and those who look to the past or present are certain to miss the future.�

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