UHDS closes doors to RAs
Margaret Eaton
Issue date: 2/24/06 Section: News
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It seems the UHDS is enacting an old policy, which states former RAs are not allowed to live as students in a residence hall where they were RAs.
Nick Mermigas, junior law enforcement and justice administration major and Lincoln Hall RA, is one of the many who is upset by the policy.
"It is not even a written policy, they're basically making things up," Mermigas said.
He insists RAs in the past have been allowed to live in the same halls in which they were previously on staff. He states those upset have already mailed letters of complaint to Western Illinois University President Al Goldfarb and have spoken with Associate Director for Residence Life and Facilities Tera Monroe.
"We're basically being pushed aside right now. There's a lot of other stuff going on in UHDS," Mermigas said.
He added the effort to bring this to the attention of the Western community is basically at a standstill right now because no one is addressing it at the administrative level.
Monroe, a Western graduate, insists she has not been approached by Mermigas or any of the other RAs about the problem and she would be open to a discussion.
"I definitely would be open to discuss it if they wanted to or if they approached me about it," Monroe said. She added the policy has been on the UHDS books before she came to the position.
"This is not a new policy. It's been here since long before I came to this job and if past RAs were allowed to live in their same halls after they were done on staff, it was because that rule was not being enforced by whoever it was in my position then."
Monroe said the main reason the policy is in place is awkwardness.
"For lack of a better word," she said. "It would be awkward for both the student who is the RA on the floor and the student who is the old RA living on that floor."
She said the awkwardness would come for the new RA having to deal with someone who had already done the job in that hall and for the old RA it would be strange because he or she would be secluded from issues that are just for staff that he or she are used to take part in. Monroe said because of the nature of the situation it is impossible to deal with this on a case-by-case basis.
In a letter to former RA Kyle Reini, Goldfarb voiced his support for UHDS' decisions. Reini, junior economics major who was an RA in Higgins Hall, appealed to Goldfarb after he said Monroe told him UHDS was afraid of RAs causing problems in their old halls.
Reini said the problem started when they were informed of the policy and went to the RA Council.
"Right now we're pretty much getting the run-around," Mermigas said. "We're talking to someone who will tell us to talk to someone else and then they won't call us back."
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