Resident Assistants (RAs) are student leaders who live in the residence facilities and are present to assist the Resident Directors. They facilitate peer communications and see that a positive living/learning environment exists as free as possible of the disturbing elements, which can hamper residence living.
What is a Resident Assistant (RA)?
To find what a RA does, read Resident Assistant Job…The Real Story
How can I become an RA?
Check out our Resident Assistant Selection Process.
So, what does a Resident Assistant actually do, you ask?
Residence Life Team Member: The entire RA staff is made up of approximately 30 student leaders, predominately upper-division students. This team is divided into clusters of RA teams that live in one of Vanguard’s residence halls and are supervised by the Residence Director of that facility. The RA staffs meet weekly with their RD, and regularly as an entire team to discuss issues relating to residence life, and to plan events and programs hosted by Residence Life. As a member of the Residence Life team, each RA is expected to support the other RAs.
Peer Counselor: As a leader in the residence hall, many residents will come to their RA for advice, counsel, information, assistance, and simple or complex problems. For example, the RA may deal with roommate conflicts, students with eating disorders, students with frustrations about Vanguard, and any number of things. It is important that the RA understands how to handle various situations, and be a resource for their residents. A good deal of training prior to serving in the RA role is implemented in the RA program to provide tools, ideas, and skills for the RA to handle the situations that may arise. RAs are made aware of the proper protocol for serious and emergency situations, as well as the day-to-day issues.
Resource Person: RAs are viewed as walking information booths. A RA will be sought out by residents to answer questions from “Where’s the Cove?” to “How do I log onto the VU network?”. The RA will be made aware of all the resources we have on our campus through training. If you still don’t know the answer to a question, you will have the confidence to say, “I don’t know. But let’s find out together.”
Programmer: Offering educational and social programming for residents is a vital element to linking the Residence Life program to the mission and goals of Vanguard University. Vanguard believes our residence hall community should be a vibrant living and learning environment. The departmental expectations for the RA are to provide social and education programming for resident students. In addition, the RA team is divided into five (5) working groups to coordinate campus-wide educational awareness programs once a semester, using campus resources. Resident Assistants offer exceptional programs that educate, encourage, entertain, and excite hundreds of resident students each year.
Administrator: Yes, RAs have administrative responsibilities, too. The RA, as part of the Residence Life team, is responsible to check students in and out of room assignments, be on-duty in the residence hall on a rotating basis, fill out paperwork and forms, sign out keys, vacuums, report room repair requests, and other duties. Another important part of the RA role is to stay in communication with the hall director regarding various issues in the halls.
Policy Enforcer: Resident Assistants, as the extension of the Student Life Office, are responsible to abide by and enforce Vanguard University community standards and housing policies. Each policy was created with the purpose of developing a safe and non-threatening place for the residence hall community members. RAs are expected to confront (in love) infractions of these behavioral standards and report violations to his/her Residence Director. Much training and role playing are used to equip RAs to negotiate the confrontation process. RAs never communicate disciplinary sanctions to students; they only report violations to the Residence Director.
