Living in a residence hall, students need to know who they can turn to for help.

Many people in the halls are available to help students with their problems and answering questions.

In the residence halls there are resident assistants, associate resident directors, resident directors and other staff in the buildings.

RAs are leaders on each floor of a residence hall.

Mark Hudson, the director of University Housing and Dining Services, said RAs are supposed to be the source of leadership on the floors.

“RAs are undergraduate students there to help residents with your college years,” Hudson said.

According to the job description six of the basic roles of the RA are to work as community facilitator, educator/programmer, team member, administrator, university representative and referral agent.

Janae Bonner, an RA in Weller Hall and a senior biological sciences major, said she has been an RA for three years and has continued to learn from the experience.

“We all have duty nights Monday through Friday and we choose duty weekends,” Bonner said. “So there is always someone (who) is there at all times to assist the residents in the hall.”

Bonner said she is responsible for guiding her residents and answering any questions they have.

She said she often has great relationships with her residents.

“I love the relationships I make,” Bonner said. “I have created bonds with so many different girls. I get to see how they blossom.”

Hudson said it is also a good idea to know the resident director or the associate resident director.

According to the job description, the resident director is responsible for the management, administration, services, and activities in a residential building/area consisting. They are also responsible for managing the staff of the building.

Assistant residents directors share the responsibilities of the resident director.

Resident directors, like Kristi Eustice, the resident director for Andrews Hall, also mentor the RAs and residents.

“My job is mentoring the RAs, talking with residents that might have personal issues going on and telling the where to go to get help,” Eustice said.

Eustice also tries to make the residence hall a friendly and open environment.

Eustice said she thinks it is important to know who the resident director is.

“It’s very important, I try to make myself visible in the hall, I go to floor meetings and introduce myself again,” Eustice said. “I think it’s important because if there is a problem and they need someone that they can talk to, they know that they can talk to me.”

Eustice said it is important to get problems taken care of promptly.

“If there is something that they don’t know how to handle, they can come talk to me and we can take care of it and they can go back to their studies,” Eustice said.

It is also important to know the staff in the buildings other than RAs and ARDs and RDs. Residents should also the building student workers, desk assistants and night assistants.

Hudson said the BSWs are a critical part of community life. They are often the people students see the most other than their RA.

“They work to keep the environment neat and clean,” Hudson said.

BSWs are also the people can help with problems in the halls, such as messes and things that are broken.

“Many BSWs have told me about how they have built relationships with the residents in a building,” Hudson said.

Desk assistants are also important to know because they work with the secretaries and help deal with different issues throughout the day.

Hudson said it is important to know the staff in the residence halls because it makes the hall experience better.

“Being in a safe environment is part of what you pay for,” Hudson said. “Developing those relationships makes you more comfortable and therefore you feel more comfortable asking for help.”

Samantha McDaniel can 

be reached at 581-2812 

or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.