HRL stands for Hell, Regret, and Lies (Part 1)
Editor’s Note: This is part of a 3-part series that aims to take an objective look at American University’s department of Housing and Residence Life, referred to as HRL, from the perspective of a former RA. All interviews were conducted anonymously due to fear of retribution. Any and all documents to support the claims made in this article were reviewed and verified by The Rival American.
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Written by Callie Whicker
Most students only know about HRL (Housing & Residence Life) from when they experience a room change, are registering for a room, or have some greater issue with Housing. However, for Resident Assistants (RAs), the relationship with the entity that is HRL is completely different.
This is my effort to speak out for all RAs – not for myself, but in hopes that this program will see some massive overhaul, including increased wages, a better working environment, and a complete restructuring of HRL’s leadership structure.
This story isn’t unique; it’s part of a destructive trend in how the HRL system treats students, pervaded by its lack of humanity and compassion. I hope to shed some light on what’s really happening to RAs and why there needs to be change. Change can’t wait, right?
What is HRL and what is an RA?
HRL is an organization made up of Community Directors (CDs) and Resident Assistants (RAs). CDs oversee different housing areas of campus, such as:
Lassell (Leonard and Cassell Hall)
McHughes (McDowell and Hughes Hall)
Letts Hall
Centennial Hall
Anderson Hall
Nebraska and Frequency Hall
Roper Hall
East Campus (Federal Hall, Constitution Hall, and Duber Hall).
RAs are in charge of each floor, helping residents’ mental and physical health by coordinating events, meetings, and facilitating roommate-conflict resolution. CDs report to Professional Staff (ProStaff) members, a few who sit at the top of the food chain that is HRL. As previously reported by the Eagle, RAs have 39 responsibilities throughout a single semester. Some of these responsibilities include:
On-call shifts, where an RA is responsible for their section of campus from 8pm to 8am the following day. They conduct rounds, in which they survey and inspect each floor of a building for all of the buildings in their section. They are called by students should any emergencies occur.
Unpaid desk shifts, where an RA serves a mandatory shift for three hours each week.
“Intentional interactions” twice a semester, where an RA spends roughly 20-30 minutes with each resident in their community and asks required questions about them. It’s important to note that there can be up to 60 residents on one floor.
RAs are given only a few people to rely on: fellow RAs in their community, and their CD. There’s barely any room for error in the position. A simple mistake could cost their job, with little understanding from anyone on the staff.
The Issue of Pay and Unionization
The Eagle broke down exactly how undercompensated RAs are. With the staggering amount of responsibilities that RAs have, they are drastically undercompensated. RAs are paid a monthly stipend of $375, which adds up to $1,875 per semester. If RAs were paid D.C.’s average wage for resident assistants at $22.11 dollars an hour, on a roughly 12 hour a week schedule, this would be a total amount of roughly $5,300 per semester.
Most RAs need the position, as most are on scholarship or financial aid. Housing is expensive, and the job provides a way for students who struggle to afford housing to obtain it. Unlike a majority of students at AU, RAs are often the ones working three or four jobs to get by. I know this because I was one of them, and it’s something that bonded a lot of us together.
This is the reality for most RAs: having to work so much just to compensate for what they aren’t earning through what’s meant to be their primary job. The RA work agreement, however, strictly prohibits this, stating, “Resident Assistants are permitted to maintain outside commitments of up to 16 hours/week while serving in the RA position.”
One former RA I interviewed, who served in the role for two years, discussed many different issues with the position. One of the responsibilities RAs have is assisting with residential move-ins and move-outs. The former RA, speaking under the condition of anonymity, outlined the workload put onto student workers at some of the most stressful times of the year: “During move-in and move-out, there was an additional workload with a training schedule that had few breaks. You would maybe have an hour break with a nine-to-six schedule.” Despite the increase in workload, there is no additional compensation.
In January of 2024, RAs were not paid their stipend amount. HRL was converting to a different payment model, with a new bi-weekly distribution of paychecks. Rather than testing this earlier, and communicating with HR, they let RAs take the brunt of the errors and did not pay them. There was little communication from HRL about the whole matter, and many dismissals of RA concerns. This pushed many of the RAs to unionize. I attempted to lead part of the effort and knew this would be a big project, but I was willing to put the time and effort in to see a genuine change happen. The stipend and housing credit are simply not enough for the job that RAs perform, and I knew they deserved more. Yet everyone had a fear of trying to unionize. Once a list of union members had to be made public, it put people’s jobs at risk, which ultimately killed the unionization effort.
An Essential: Feeding Employees
After the unionization efforts fell apart, it became even clearer how little HRL actually values its RAs. The department’s lack of support didn’t just stop at wages – it extended to basic needs like food. When RAs weren’t paid in January 2024, HRL’s solution was to offer us groceries. Sounds pretty reasonable, right? But even that fell apart. Almost every grocery order was wrong, having many items left out, leaving students hungry and not having many options to turn to. It wasn’t just a minor oversight; it’s part of a bigger pattern of neglect for their student workers. The basic care that RAs deserve just isn’t there.
Meal issues aren’t a new problem in the world of HRL. Most recently, RAs arrived for their training for the 2025 Spring semester a week early, where they usually have long training days supplemented by food. Due to the snow storm, however, training was canceled and students were left without food for that day, forcing residents to, hopefully, use any money they had to order food or to brave the storm.
RA First, Human Second
RAs have often faced an unsafe and hostile environment. One former RA said, “I felt a general lack of support from multiple CDs with being on-call. I was also harassed by multiple residents for months, with no action taken for my own safety. I would pick up extra shifts at the desk, sometimes working seven hours a day to not go back to my own floor. My other residents would tell me that the residents who harassed me were talking about me to others on the floor, and that impacted my mental health severely.”
Among HRL staff, there’s been a noticeable shift of focus to the term “progressive accountability.” It’s a term without a clear definition, left to the discretion of ProStaff members, putting people on the track to being fired. Any mistake can earn a RA “progressive accountability.” Members of staff have frequently weaponized the term against RAs, implying that termination is always a possibility, and even joking with the term.
There is never a distinction of what is worth firing over and what is not. This ambiguity fosters a toxic environment for students trying to balance their job, academics, and any additional extracurriculars. Additionally, there’s a mentality implied that you’re essentially working all of the time, which is extremely harmful for students simply trying to get through classes. The same former RA described their experience with the support system of their position: “There was a lack of empathy and understanding from the ProStaff. From my time as an RA, I can count the number of people in ProStaff positions who I felt truly supported me on one hand.”
Another former RA feels as if the RA atmosphere is made of glass, and that one wrong step can break it. RAs have not been treated like people. In training, they emphasize that you are a person first, student second, and RA third. And yet, not a single RA is treated according to that model. You are seen as disposable; to be chewed up, and spit out.
I couldn’t go to any campus media as an RA. I couldn’t speak out on what was happening to my mental health, my wellbeing, and my rights as a student on this campus. I wasn’t a person anymore. I was an RA. Until fair wages are given, support systems are improved, and the freedom to advocate for themselves is guaranteed, RAs will remain overburdened and undervalued–mere cogs in a dysfunctional system.
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