Where have all the R.A.s gone?

There are many concerns about the housing program here at the University of La Verne. The buildings are out-dated, dirty, ant-invested and down-right expensive.

These are all concerns for students who live on campus.

After all the money that they pay, they expect to get the bare necessities of dorm room living: dryers that dry your clothes rather than leaving them damp, bathrooms that aren't losing tiles on a daily basis and cable, or at least TV hook-ups for those residents that live in the Oaks F-building.

These are issues that housing is attempting to address by forming the Residence Hall Association.

The RHA is a voluntary group of students who give their time to meet and talk with housing administrators as student representatives for residents who feel that their opinions or suggestions are not being heard. The members of the RHA will serve those who choose to live on campus and give them a chance to voice concerns without the bureaucratic levels of the housing offices personnel.

Although we applaud the idea of the RHA, it is hard not to wonder why this type of communication was never achieved between the residents and their R.A. or P.A.?

Every year, 20 or so R.A.s and P.A.s are chosen to live in the dorms for free in a single occupancy room and serve as a representative of the housing department 24-7.

What ever happened to the people being paid for the job serving as the liaison between the residents and the students? Why is the housing and residential life office handing out free rooms to students who sign-up to be R.A.s and P.A.s when they are not fulfilling the needs of students on campus?

The Campus Times applauds Eugene Shang, the RHA program and the students who choose to be a part of it. Perhaps the RHA will be more successful at addressing the student concerns the student R.A. and P.A. staff could never seem to do.