RPS is a massive organization with 16 residence halls which employs 200+ RAs and needs to take care of 10k residents. Because each residence hall has an in-center Leadership Team, there is some amount of flexibility and variation in how things are run from one to another, specifically when it comes to the division of labor among LT (made up by RLC-SD and grads) and the supervisory model and style. Overall the department is highly centralized, very formalized, and relatively inflexible due to its sheer size. This is to satisfy the need for efficiency (made worse by its current lack of time and resources due to being understaffed) and also for safety reasons. For example, due to the nature of the work in housing there are very streamlined and strict procedures and guidelines in place to handle emergency and crisis responses to protect the health and safety of residents and employees. Another reason why there are such formalized and centralized processes (universal manuals for duty, conduct, and curriculum that all staff refer back to) is because the residential department is very large and it wants to do what it can to ensure both residents and staff across different residence halls and neighborhoods have a consistent and equitable experience.

 

By observing my own center I can see that Eigenmann is a direct reflection of how RPS organizes itself to make decisions about how resources are allocated to carry out the department’s mission, which is in large part implemented through the residential curriculum. In Eigenmann, for example, there is 1 RLC-SD, 2 Grads, 23 RAs, and 2 CUEs. We are also supposed to have 2 RLC-SDs so we are missing one full-time staff member in our LT. Each floor has 2 RAs unless it is an administrative floor, which ensures that RAs have a somewhat even distribution of residents and can support each other in implementing the residential curriculum. This structure also allows for each floor to form a community in an organized way, and there is clarity for residents in terms of who their RA is. Co-RAs often host community events and community meetings together which allows residents of the same floor but different wings chances to get to know each other and form friendships. I know that this is not always the case for other centers, as some centers are formed by multiple small buildings or “houses”, and each RA is assigned to a “house”, which results in an uneven workload and ratio of residents to RAs. This can deeply affect staff morale and the goals of the department are not as well carried out in environments where the ratio of residents to RAs is too high. The in-center LT communicates department information to RAs and addresses in-center issues during weekly Wednesday night staff meetings and over Microsoft Teams channels. Each RA also has 1-1s with their direct supervisor every other week, with additional meetings being scheduled as needed. This helps me ensure that each RA has a good understanding of the logistics, processes, and metrics of their role and how they fit into the department’s goals and mission. This organization ensures that the student staff members who are on the frontlines with residents have direct guidance and access to support and resources from leadership staff. 

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COVID-19 Transition:

RPS already has a very high turnover rate which was only exacerbated by the pandemic. In the Spring of last year, RLC-SDs were leaving en-masse, and the hiring process has been slow and ineffective ever since, leaving many vacancies across campus. Grads are directly affected as they are forced to fill in for RLC-SDs, which reflects in their morale and the pressure upon them. Eigenmann, for instance, is supposed to have 2 RLC-SDs, and has been missing one since last June. 

 

In summary, the high level of centralization, formalization, and stratification has caused the environment of RPS to be static, and does not encourage innovation or input from its grads. Creativity and active learning is discouraged and feedback from the student and graduate staff is not sought out as much as it should be, and is certainly not implemented. Additionally, the departmental goal of engaging and developing students, both staff and residents, has been compromised by a lack of morale. The heavy workload and the pressure of keeping afloat and managing only the essential functions has made RPS less effective than normal.