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While student staff discussed the challenges of making social connections
and building community, they also seem to have viewed each other as
a significant resource for support during these difficult times. They turned
inward to the RA community to help them cope with their stress and
challenges personally and professionally.
transparent approach allowed live-in hall staff to consistently check for updates. The
department also created a residential student leadership council composed of more
senior student leaders within residential life who held positional or influential roles
within their peer group. This group included senior resident assistants (returning RAs
who held additional mentoring responsibilities) who had direct contact with the director
and associate director of residential life. This direct interaction with the two
highest departmental administrators allowed information to be shared directly with
the leadership. A key responsibility of this shared governance approach was to share
information with their RA teams from this meeting and solicit feedback on pertinent
topics. The space allowed key leaders from departments like dining and facilities to
come in and respond to questions about modified protocols and processes associated
with the pandemic response.
Though the general age group of student staff put them in a lower risk category for
COVID-19, emotional fear alone can create stress and anxiety on the job. In response,
this university placed student staff in a priority group to take advantage of the early
distribution of COVID-19 vaccines through its health center along with frontline employees.
This was about one week after a higher risk group-the isolation and medical
staff-received them. Furthermore, all hall staff (professionals and students) were given
access to faceshields; provided with two different kinds of cloth masks, disposable
surgical masks, and N-95 masks; and were trained on how to use and store them.
Staff duty bags that are carried during rounds were outfitted with disposable masks,
mask adjusters, hand sanitizer, and a multi-use no-touch door opener. Offices were
outfitted with small equipment sanitizers to clean phones, keys, and other small items.
To further alleviate student staff anxiety when interacting with residents, all residents
were provided with three high quality reusable cloth masks, and communication was
frequently shared about the need to wear them. All these measures helped to reduce
staff's concerns about their health and safety while engaging with their residents.
The campus also instituted a well-coordinated system for isolating and quarantining
COVID-positive and exposed students in a separated residential building. Significant
campus resources were allocated to hire a team of full-time professional staff to
provide coordination and support for students in these spaces. The isolation and quarantine
operations, while managed by residential life, were managed as an operation
completely separate from traditional residential life staff. This intentional distancing
helped to alleviate the emotional fear of being exposed to the isolation and quarantine
staff, who were at higher risk of being infected. As the pandemic progressed and more
information about COVID-19 emerged, residential life began providing opportunities
for hall staff to alleviate their concerns by learning about the isolation and quarantine
services and touring the facilities. These measures fulfilled a critical need for student
Volume 49, No. 3 * 2023 121

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