This blog series features different writers responding to the prompt, “What is the future of the RD position and role?”
Guest Post by Hannah Hotalen, Residence Life Professional
You are warm and snug in your bed dozing off to a comforting dream of the holiday season. You can see yourself walking around a room surrounded by family and cheer with a nice warm beverage in your hand. The lights are dim, the house is decorated, and the room is cozy and filled with laughter. The smell of savory spices and sweet treats swirl around you and fill you with the anticipation of an amazing meal ahead. The image and feeling are serene, and you are at peace. Until. You. Hear. That. Sound. The sound that every Resident Director dreads. The Duty Phone. Its high pitch, sing songy rhythm that chills your bones and brings the anxiety up through your toes to your throat. You jump out of bed, wearing your jeans and your sweatshirt, kicking yourself for letting the deep sleep set in. This phone call could either be a Student Staff Member asking a simple question, or it could be a crisis. As you answer the phone and shake off the peace, you start to prepare yourself for anything.
Anything. Resident Directors need to be prepared for anything. Anything can happen, day or night in this field. Yes, we have the typical calls that become routine. Like a student’s laundry got stuck in the machine, a student lost their key and needs a lock change, or a roommate pair are having a conflict. All these scenarios have similar structures to how we respond to problem solve. But then there are the calls that amp up the ante. The drunk and disorderly calls, the emergency medical calls, the mental health calls, the bias incident, or Title IX calls. These are the situations that need complex resolution strategies and a skilled leader to facilitate and navigate the process. These lead to burn out and can steer a Resident Director further into the field or further out. In my experience, people become Resident Directors for two reasons. One, to get their master’s degree paid for (if it’s a Graduate level RD position) or two, because they love Residence Life and genuinely want to help Students to have a great college experience. Only once they are in it, and really in it, is when you can truly comprehend the complexities of this role.
As we all know, Resident Directors have loads of responsibilities and need to take on many roles throughout their days. Supervisor, advisor, crisis intake coordinator, friend, student, restorative disciplinarian, physical laborer, program manager and the list can go on and on. While Resident Director roles and responsibilities can vary from institution to institution, I think we can agree that they have high expectations with sometimes minimal compensation or respect from other departments on campus. There is massive turnover in the field because the burn out is exponential. We talk about it at conferences and staff meetings and preach self‐care, but what does that actually look like? And how do we get there on a systemic level? So, what does this mean for the future of Resident Directors? I think that Student Affairs needs to re‐evaluate the value and the physical and mental workload that is expected of Resident Directors. Some institutions may decide to increase salary or benefits. Others may create other positions to absorb some of the responsibilities.
As a former Resident Director, myself, I can say that I LOVED my Job! But the mental and physical load got too much. While I was lucky to have a supportive leadership team, not all folx receive that. When someone has worked tirelessly to obtain a master’s degree and are working with so many expectations and then see the salary that’s given to them on paper (sometimes as low as 30,000) that can feel so demeaning and makes you want to throw in the towel. Yeah, I know the argument of “well you get your apartment for free” but not all people do. And sometimes the perks don’t always match the workload. I think the most important thing moving the RD role further, is the appreciation of it. Leadership outside of Residence Life (who in most cases are the ones dictating major decisions for the area) need to spend a day in an RD’s shoes and truly see and appreciate all that they do for the Students and the Institution. This role is all encompassing and all consuming. RD’s sacrifice so many things to benefit the Students and the Institution and I do not believe that they get the credit or notoriety that they deserve. They are the backbone to university persistence rates and make a huge impact on the student experience. I would love to see the RD role grow in the hierarchy of Student Affairs. When someone asks me about my time as a RD and if I would recommend it to anyone, the answer is always “It was extremely challenging at times, but I would not have changed that experience for the world.”
