RA/AA Class 4-1-08

“Community maintenance” was an interesting topic to discuss during this training. Thinking of counseling, listening, and discipline as the common elements of floor maintenance adds up to the concept of building a good community.
In the past, I've been opportune to discuss issues like this with an RA friend of mine. He emphasized the importance of trying to fit in everyone into the community, and how to maintain your floor as well. Every so often, the residents are involved in quarrels with one another, one way or the other, and the common question is "how would an RA settle disputes among his/her residents?" Not understanding this concept, Community maintenance, leaves the RA with less clues on how to resolve issues and maintain a good community as expected.
Briefly, the most beneficial aspect of this lecture on community maintenance was the listening aspect. In my understanding, the listening aspect has to do with being able to hear the both sides’ comment and description of the incident i.e. understanding the cause of the quarrel from both sides before proceeding to conclusion.
I realize that it doesn’t seem right when the RA favors one side of the argument without hearing what the other side has to say about the incident. Also, it doesn’t seem right for the RA to ignore the reports from his/her resident about issues on their floor. Therefore, listening, in this sense, works best towards community maintenance as well as building a good and strong community of people.
As an RA, the most concern about today’s topic was how to effectively practice the concept of listening before making decisions in most situations that may arise within my floor. Reports may change at times, ranging from complains about roommate to maybe, other people playing loud music and disturbing fellow residents. Also, the procedures to approach these circumstances may change depending on the reports from the residents, and so my concern is being able to know when to listen and how to make suggestions and conclusions if the disputes arise.

Question:
1.

1. How do we know which problems of the residents to report to the hall council director? (Residence Hall Director)

There is never a point where the Hall Director will not listen to what you have to say about a situation. There are going to be instances where you are unsure whether or not you should tell your supervisor, but better safe than sorry; tell him or her. You should always err on the side of caution. If your supervisor says that a situation does not warrant his or her involvement then you can take that information to the next incident that happens of the same type.