Avery Coffey/Contributing Writer
Any student who’s lived on campus at their university can tell you at least one story about their Resident Assistant. Most will say we’re paid snitches. As an RA, one large aspect of our job is to support the student community that we look over (right after snitching).
Over the course of the past academic year, we’ve had to operate two major occurrences: a hurricane and pandemic. No amount of training could prepare us for what we’ve encountered the past few weeks.
I don’t have to remind you of the mass confusion that was created with the countless emails and phone calls. Even though I work at the school, my head hurt from all the information. The week before they announced remote learning, we were told that, even with a plan to close school was discussed, it wasn’t expected to get to that point. A week later, our spring semesters were turned upside down. From there, it never stopped spiraling.
We were in high hopes that regular campus activity would resume on April 4. However, I think it was when the sports teams began to cancel their training and games that we realized it was much bigger.
A majority of the residents in my building are athletes. On a daily basis, we see just how much effort and hard work they put into their careers. This sparked emotions in some of the other RAs and I because we knew just how much of an impact this had on our building. One RA that I work with went to the extent of mailing forgotten items to one of her residents.
We had every intention of helping our residents as much as we could in any way, even if it was through simple and constant communication. However, that became difficult because of the amount of deliberation between FIU administration. There were a lot of factors into making the decisions they made just like the state government. I believe that’s why the school started taking so much action in such a short time: the state of Florida finally started treating the virus with some severity.
Unfortunately, that’s what led to people being “kicked out,” even though it didn’t start that way. At first, only residents from surrounding areas had to leave if they could. It seemed like not even two days after this announcement, when FIU decided to continue remote learning for the rest of the semester, another one came through urging everyone to leave.
From what I observed, residents were more upset with the short time frame they were given to move out after being told to just leave for the original two weeks. The decision to ask everyone to leave was made several hours before the email was sent to students. However, due to the large amount of recipients, the email was sent out in batches. Some students got the news later than others.
After this happened, the panic and anger ensued. Regardless of when they got the email, it still didn’t give them enough time to plan a trip to campus and move out by the deadline.
While it didn’t affect me personally, I was upset for my residents. While we’re all adults, we still should be allotted time to adjust and understand the circumstances we’re under before pulling the rug out once more. Some residents had their friends retrieve their items because they weren’t able to come. A majority of residents asked for extensions on their move out date. Along with these options, FIU was allowing students to stay if they had a concerning reason for not going home, transportation issues or essential work.
I made the decision to stay on campus through all of this to support my remaining residents and community. There’s definitely a somber feeling around campus; even the volleyball net was taken down. The residents who continue to reside on campus are practicing social distancing, so it’s rare that I see them more than once in a day.
That makes it a bit sad when I work the front desk and don’t get to interact with them like before, since it’s one of the best parts of this job.
However, I can assume that the ones who left arrived home safely and are continuing their studies online. I believe the refund plan that the school had discussed might put them at ease a little more as well.
As an RA, this has definitely been one of the more challenging incidents of the year. It’s been a time that I’ve felt pulled in between empathizing with my residents and working for the department that they’re angry with. If the communication had been a bit better, not just with residents, but citizens of Florida altogether, many precautions could’ve been taken to save unnecessary panic.
While the current situation isn’t the best, FIU is truly doing everything possible to make sure the students aren’t left behind.
Featured image by FIU on Flickr.
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