The Warren College Student Council passed a resolution Oct. 27 calling upon Warren Residential Life to “”establish a formal process through which allegations of RA or intern misconduct shall be evaluated.”” The resolution was in response to the office’s October dismissal of seven Earl Warren College resident advisers and one intern.
The RAs were fired for allegedly violating residential life policy by attending a Sept. 6 Black Hall party where alcohol was served to minors.
While the resolution makes no objection to disciplinary action leveled against the eight students, it does call into question the process by which the Warren Residential Life office investigated the allegations. The resolution also mentions the lack of an adequate appeals process and the amount of time the fired students were given between notice and eviction from their on-campus housing.
The resolution cites “”individual interrogations,”” the uncertainty of the accused as to the nature of the allegations and the lack of a stated appeals process as problems contributing to “”tension and hostility that currently permeates Warren college because of this incident.””
However, at an Oct. 9 meeting of the Warren College Student Council, representatives of Warren Residential Life maintained that they had consulted with campus labor relations and had carefully followed all relevant labor, confidentiality and due-process codes in their construction and execution of the dismissal process.
The Warren residential life representatives maintained that the RAs, being contracted rather than hired as regular employees of the university, were not entitled to the same dismissal process that normal employees possess, and that the RAs served entirely at the discretion of the university.
“”From my point of view, the issue is about treating student residential life staff as any other staff person in terms of having due process rights in cases where the higher-ups feel there has been an infraction,”” said Warren Senior Senator Lauren Lee.
The passed resolution is an amended version of a draft rejected by the Warren council immediately after Warren Residential Life had fired the RAs.
“”The new resolution is a bit more concise, with less hostility,”” said Warren College Junior Senator Jessica Kepford.
The Warren Council also called upon “”Warren Student Affairs and Residential Life deans, current and former RAs, and all other interested persons”” to hold an open forum to “”encourage dialogue.”” While the forum had originally been planned for Nov. 4, it has been postponed to allow for the parties involved to set an agenda for discussion.
“”The Town Hall meeting is in the works, and we hope that all colleges — both staff and students — will participate,”” Lee said. “”We hope that out of the town hall meeting will come more educated public dialogue about the status and rights of student residential life staff.””
There was no immediate response to the resolution by the Warren Residential Life office. The office did, however, send out an Oct. 11 letter to Warren residents, and the remaining Warren RAs have been holding informal meetings to help residents adapt to the absence of their former RAs.
