Resident advisers question the future of their positions as students move off-campus

As students move off-campus and dorm de-densification continues, resident advisers are responsible for fewer and fewer residents. And the future remains uncertain for Carolina Housing student staff and their employment status.

Between Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, Carolina Housing's occupancy decreased from 60.5 percent to 15.1 percent, after the University moved all undergraduate courses online.

And as of Friday, on-campus housing is at 13.1 percent occupancy.

“There is the chance that your room, hall, and/or community assignment may change as we move forward,” Carolina Housing said in an email to student staff on Aug. 22.

Jarrah Faye, a sophomore majoring in political science, is an RA in the Craige community. She said she does not think it would be a good idea to move RAs to other halls, due to multiple clusters of COVID-19 on campus.

“I don’t really think it’d be a good idea for us to have multiple RAs moving to another spot so we can further spread the disease,” Faye said. “I think staying put is not only better for us but better for other students as a whole.”

RAs and other student staff are also facing changes to their day-to-day tasks.

“At this time, we are suspending rounds for all communities. The on-call phone should be answered, and student staff should provide assistance over the phone, where possible and appropriate,” Carolina Housing said in an email to student staff the afternoon of Aug. 21. 

The email also said the public desks will be closed, but office assistants and RAs should still report for office hours to complete administrative tasks.

“So far, housing has allowed us to close the desks so we can only answer the phone and help residents as much as we can remotely and we’re no longer checking out items,” said an office assistant who asked to remain anonymous due to employment concerns. “Because of these extra precautions, I do feel a little safer, but it’s weird because I still can’t do my job the way that I wanted to, the way we all expected to.” 

In the Aug. 22 email, Carolina Housing said RAs will continue to be paid as usual and those living on campus can continue doing so.

“I hope that, if we do have to get fired or terminated, there’s compensation,” the office assistant said. “Because it’s not fair for us to have to stay here this long and prioritize capital over our health for them to just terminate us with no type of compensation.”

She said she was excited to apply for her position earlier in the year, but thinks the University did not make a good decision in allowing students back on campus. 

Faye said she also thinks the University’s choice to have students on campus was ill-informed and put students at a higher risk of getting COVID-19.

“My RA experience was not worth getting kids sick,” Faye said. “It should not have reopened — not in this way.”

Faye said that, along with her disappointment in how the University handled COVID-19 precautions, she is disappointed to have not gotten the full RA experience.

“You want to build a relationship with your RA,” Faye said. “I didn’t want to be ‘that RA’ that was the stickler for everything, but I kind of had to because this is my health, this is their health.”

Director of Carolina Housing Allan Blattner said in a statement via UNC Media Relations that UNC understands the challenges facing students during this time. 

“This is a time filled with uncertainty and stress,” Blattner said. “Carolina Housing is working hard to keep residents and staff, including student staff, safe, and to regularly communicate about upcoming changes in a consistent and timely manner.”

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