<p>Acrimony</a> in ResLife: Seven RAs fired for failing to perform rounds | The Huntington News</p>
<p>Note it says 7 RAs were fired and also that they were offered on-campus housing for the remainder of the semester.</p>
<p>thank you for posting the article. They did offer them housing, that’s correct, but it’s not free - cost is nearly $1200 for remaining few weeks of school. So they are not “out on the street” if they can come up with that money, which is a relief (except if they can’t pony up the $$$). </p>
<p>As far as I know, no final appeal decisions to date, although I believe a couple did not appeal and have left the dorms; the remaining are still in their rooms, thank goodness. Only 7 so far, so definitely not half the RAs (as originally relayed to me, so I apologize for getting that wrong), just half of this particular staff, but it seems to be a systematic process (checking their key cards to see if they completed rounds) initiated by the administration and all RAs on campus are “on the edge of their seat,” says my friend. And now it appears the administration is possibly reconsidering and knows it jumped the gun?</p>
<p>I wonder if it is that administration is using these 7 as an example to the rest of the staff – it does seem from all accounts that full completion of rounds was a systemic problem so I wonder how they picked these particular RAs; there does not appear to have been any precipitating incident (like the drug overdose someone suggested) or issues with the terminated RAs. I found it troubling that, according to the article, one girl had been an RA for 3 years, with glowing evaluations! </p>
<p>the RAs generally seems to have a lot of support on campus. I would be really worried if my kid was a resident in the building left without any RA (according to the article).</p>
<p>The story says the audit is still ongoing, and that it seems that only one group has been audited thus far, and of those, a majority were terminated.</p>
<p>Thank you kiddie for providing the facts.</p>
<p>As for Mannix’s original post, it was irresponsible. It was stated that half of Northeastern’s RA’s were fired. That would have been 94 students. In fact it was 7, a gross exageration. They were also not “thrown out on the street”, they were offered the option of staying on campus and being billed a prorated charge for room and board. R&B is $6500/semester. This is a good value for what is a part time job for 14 weeks, More than a student would earn in another part time job.</p>
<p>Mannix’s post also generated wild speculation by others with no connection to NU about students dying of overdoses and a drug ring operating out of the resindence halls. One poster even started a thread urging students not to attend Northeastern because of this situation. That thread was deleted by the moderator as it violated CC’s T&C’s.</p>
<p>If Mannix had been responsible the post would have started “My kid’s friend was an RA at Northeastern and was just fired because… Does anyone have any information about this claim?” Instead it was presented as fact.</p>
<p>yes, i was irresponsible. I was wrong, wrong, wrong and I am a horrible person. I have been appropriately flogged. I apologized for getting the numbers wrong in post above, and I apologize for saying they were getting thrown out on the street. That is what was reported to me, inaccurately, and I should not have reported it as fact. okay? I won’t contribute to CC anymore, since I have committed this inexcusable sin of feeling upset, concerned and worried for a college student and getting facts wrong. While $1200 may not seem like a lot of money to you, it is to many students and it is true that they may not (ONLY seven of them) have had any place to live on just a few days’s notice, given the original termination letters from administration. I can still have the opinion that the situation was handled badly and that the RAs should not have been fired in this manner… or maybe I can’t have that opinion, I’m just not sure anymore.</p>
<p>You can certainly have an opinion, just don’t express it as fact.</p>
<p>Go easy on Mannix. The story was true, except for the number of RAs. If there is even one person who was wrongly fired, I would want the matter looked into as a parent. It sounds like they do want to set an example, instead of addressing the few who may need retraining. It wouldn’t be the first time that strategy has been used by many institutions. Termination of even one employee, puts everyone on notice. I remember having my privileges removed during elementary school due to the actions of a few and people frequently preach to the choir. Mannix cannot control what other posters speculated about. I am not naive enough to think that every institution is transparent in their motives and actions and big institutions do have the upper hand in dealing with situations. (And students)</p>
<p>Actually, I think Mannix is closer to the facts that Tom. The story said the audits have only started and are ongoing, and that many RAs are lax. Ergo, if NEU sticks with this policy, many may end up terminated. I think NEU has showed tremendous lack of judgement. Do they normally terminate employees with no warning? Or is this just how they treat students? Is the head of Residence Life being fired for not supervising his or her staff?</p>
<p>The article indicates as least one RA reported being told to move out – possibly NEU has softened due to the press they are getting.</p>
<p>This entire story seems to me show lack of judgement by NEU. What is their plan? Are they going to terminate all RAs who missed rounds? When are they going to finish audits? If they do terminate all RAs who missed rounds, who is going to cover the rounds? Are the few remaining ones going to have to work around the clock? Or will there be no coverage?</p>
<p>“The article indicates as least one RA reported being told to move out”</p>
<p>…of the room she had as an RA. Nothing has been “softened due to press” (in fact this is the first and so far only account of this incident). </p>
<p>Let’s try not to blow this out of proportion or be so quick to “judge”… This is certainly not the first time any RAs have been fired on this or ANY college campus, for failing to do their job - a job for which they are getting a huge benefit (free housing). Yes, this incident points out that NEU’s system has its faults but also that they are working on correcting them, for the good of the entire student population.</p>
<p>it is very unfair for people who probably know very little about this school to judge the entire school based soley on this incident and to try to influence potential students because of their own personal biases that this is somehow a bad school to attend, and hopefully most people who hear about this incident can look at it in a more balanced manner.</p>
<p>Scan, if the school wants to issue a press release they can. It seems to me they are intent on draconian punishment for students, free ride for lack of supervision by staff. That’s their privilidge, but it still leaves many questions unanswered. Do you think that only SOME RAs should be subject to this “audit” and terminated? One small segment? Or should all be treated the same? What if most of them do end up being terminated? Should the head of Residence Life not have to be accountable, or are only students accountable? Because part of this sad story to me, is that if a school will only studends accountable and not itself, that is not a good thing.</p>
<p>It appears that some people are eager to assume the worst.</p>
<p>I wonder what started this whole investigation. Perhaps it was complaints by students that the RA’s were not there when they needed them. Now I’m speculating, not stating a fact.</p>
<p>Tom, good management would have taken the time to assess the problem before any punishment. Now Residence Life has put themselves isn position where they have decided on punishment before bothering to complete the audit. No one seems to be questioning that.</p>
<p>Rather than focus on the two items I got wrong,* and acknowledged, and apologized for, I appreciate that we are now talking about the rest of the story (which is accurate). How the university chose to handle this situation, and why these 7 were targeted for not doing something that it seems, from all accounts, that most RAs also were lax in doing. I do think they picked that particular staff to start with because they could legally leave 50% of the RAs in place in the affected buildings and still be in compliance with their own regulations, but it makes you wonder if those terminated to date are scapegoats. I just can’t believe they are treating their own students this way; I hope they are at least given probation and can keep their jobs. They are as a collective group very, very upset, losing sleep, can’t focus on their schoolwork; I really do feel for them.</p>
<p>Everyone wanted proof - I note that the NEU student newspaper that published the article today is a weekly paper, published it looks like every Thursday. Maybe I’m particularly suspicious, but I am not sure it’s a coincidence that the firings occurred last Thursday, with an entire week’s news cycle to work through before it was reported. I also am shaking my head a little that many were super upset with me for being “irresponsible” (I get it, I get it, I accept responsibility) but the kids who posted the blog about the best ways to avoid getting caught doing bad stuff now that there were fewer RAs patrolling – well, that’s just par for the course :)</p>
<ul>
<li>[well, actually, partially wrong: it was half of one staff rather than half the RAs, which I acknowledged in the original thread was maybe inaccurate and I was trying to track down the correct numbers before that thread closed; and they weren’t maybe “thrown out on the street” if they were offered housing at a cost, but this really, truly what this kid thought was happening. (He also thought it really WAS half the whole staff). That’s the way the termination was presented to them. They are young adults and for many it may be a first time job; they were (are) really scared (and for the record, they do have to pay for the remaining time in housing if they are kicked out, and this kid, for one, does NOT have the money, so really was looking for somewhere to live).] So please, again, my motives were pure in concern for these kids, I was not out to get Northeastern. </li>
</ul>
<p>Maybe someone who is more familiar with Northeastern administration or Residence Life can offer a more complete picture.</p>
<p>Mannix: Your entire post is conjecture. I agree with TomSr., please stop posting your speculations and lets stick to the facts. Unless you are directly involved with the situation, you don’t why NU took the actions it did. Every job comes with standards, and if they are not followed there are repercussions. Your suspicions about NU’s motives sound rather ridiculous.</p>
<p>What about the standards for the Head of Residence Life? What standards is he supposed to have? Judgement? He fires some employees, without a warning, and without bothering to complete his own review of non-compliance. What is he going to do, if as the News indicates, many more are non-compliant? Fire all of them? How about standards for college administrators?</p>
<p>Posters who have no connection to or knowledge of Northeastern are the ones assuming the worst and stirring the pot.</p>
<p>The Huntington News frequently provides updates on line if there is breaking news.</p>
<p>Unless you are directly involved with the situation, you really don’t know if there are implications for the head of Res Life (there very well could be). So, stop speculating and let the facts play out!</p>
<p>CC may have “pot-stirrers”, but I do not believe that was the intention of the OP. We shall see how this story plays out. Now that the story has been brought to light through the student newspaper, it will hopefully be handled more even handedly.</p>
<p>RAs get free room and board. At the admitted students days last year many on the panels were quick to promote get a job as an RA to get free room and board. Being an RA is a job with responsibilities - nobody is giving you the $2,500 for food and probably close to $5,000 for room each semester for nothing. That being said when planning on college finances for the 4-5 years at Northeastern, nobody should assume having this job and therefore not plan on having to pay for a dorm room and a meal plan each semester (including co-op terms).</p>
<p>Kiddie, with all due respect, I think there are far greater issues.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Did Residence Life warn the students in writing?</p></li>
<li><p>When they were terminated, were they told how many absences were excessive? Is that same standard to be applied to all?</p></li>
<li><p>Do all RAs use the card key system, and are subject to audit?</p></li>
<li><p>How in the world could Residence Life terminate some RAs before the audit of all was done? Do they have any idea of how many will have to be terminated?</p></li>
</ol>