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Challenges and Stressors
One prevalent theme from the qualitative data was the challenge of enforcing COVID-19
policies that the staff felt were always changing or not clearly communicated. There
was also a perception that staff were applying the policies with varying consistency,
which led to frustration and resentment regarding workloads. Student staff were also
frustrated that residents who violated pandemic policies did not seem to receive serious
sanctions through the formal conduct process. As Bo, a senior resident assistant
(SRA), explained,
I was an SRA during that time period. And I definitely did see during spring 2021, a lot
of my staff was really frustrated that there weren't enough guidelines to enforce social
distancing. You would fill out a form on Roompact, and then just say . . . they weren't
following [the guidelines]. And the worst is that the resident would get just an email
or a talk. And that was it. And then there weren't enough serious repercussions to really
enforce social distancing, where a lot of my staff just felt really frustrated, and we just
kept on writing up the same residents and nothing's happening.
This campus had decided to take an educational and progressive discipline approach
to violations of the COVID-19 protocol for policies such as masking and social
distancing. There was a theme of frustration amongst the student staff because once
they submitted a report, student privacy rights kept them from being informed about
the follow-up. They interpreted this to mean that these violations were not being taken
seriously, which led to increased tensions with the professional staff and campus
administration.
Student staff also recognized that social isolation led to barriers in developing a
sense of community with other staff and their students. Bianca, an SRA, described her
feelings of isolation:
I think it was a hard adjustment of . . . getting everything done, and then realizing too,
because there were a lot of isolation protocols and we couldn't really see [each other] and
have in-person staff meetings. I know I felt really isolated from my staff. So I was definitely
feeling down about not really having the community that was so known to give to its RAs.
Students apply to become RAs for a variety of reasons, and one of them is to build
community with other student staff and their residents. COVID-19 policies prevented
the type of bonding and social attachments that students are used to or were expecting
from the RA experience. Having much of their job focus on COVID-19 policy compliance
was difficult for the live-in staff.
Students apply to become RAs for a variety of reasons, and one of them
is to build community with other student staff and their residents.
COVID-19 policies prevented the type of bonding and social attachments
that students are used to or were expecting from the RA experience.
Volume 49, No. 3 * 2023 117

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