SA Community Life Committee

4/1/13 Community RA position 2013 (CORE RA: COmmunity and REspect)

RAs seek to create: safety, inclusion, conversation, responsibility, understanding, a home, connections, learning, fun, care, accountability, and a place of belonging. They do this by actively engaging residents in membership to a community. They have residents engage with each other in a community that reflects respect, civility, and understanding. True membership in a community is complex and has depth. It is about honestly understanding someone different from you. It is about peer accountability. It is about confronting inappropriate actions and voicing your concerns for someone’s wellbeing. It is about being able to have disagreements and everyone walking away having learned something. It is about a “place” where people can be who they are, not who they think they “should” be.

To this end, Residential Programs’ focuses our work on five Learning Outcomes: � Community Engagement � Moral and Ethical Awareness � Multicultural Competence � Academic Engagement and Intellectual Inquiry � Health, Well-being, and self management

To delve deeper into the concepts of community membership and respond to the university’s call for addressing needs, issues, and services related to sexual violence/bias prevention, we are creating the CORE RA position. We recognize that bias, sexual violence, and general harm to a community often comes from the lack of knowing how to fully engage and be a responsible community member. The CORE RAs will explore the community engagement learning outcome beyond foundationally doing social programs or getting people to know their neighbor. They will help their staff actualize community engagement through the learning outcomes of: � Moral and Ethical Awareness — e.g.: consent, by-stander intervention, holding peers accountable to their actions � Multicultural Competence — e.g.: exploration and appreciation for multiple dimensions of identity, understanding diversity and multiculturalism beyond difference in personality and lifestyle � Academic Engagement and Intellectual Inquiry — e.g.: exploring societal and social expectations, understanding media’s role in our understanding of ourselves and others, discussion on the principles and guidelines for civil discourse

Selection Each RHD will select one RA from their staff to fulfill this position. Staffs with 10 or more RAs, can have two RAs if desired.

Requirements � The CORE RA will work closely with their RHD as a catalyst for identifying and/or developing staff initiatives. � CORE RAs will develop at least one in-hall staff in-service for the year in collaboration with RHD. � All CORE RAs will meet every three weeks departmentally with the other CORE RAs from 6:15 −7:15 PM on Wednesday nights. During this time, they will share and support initiatives, generate hall and departmental ideas, and plan 1 initiative per semester for the (or part of the) campus community. This group will be advised by the Diversity and Special Programs Coordinator and an Assistant Director. � These responsibilities should be incorporated into Community Engagement plans to make sure these expectations lead to an equitable amount of work among RAs.

How will they be trained? This group will return to campus one day before other RAs in the Fall to complete supplemental training. This training would be designed and facilitated by the Diversity and Special Programs Coordinator, Assistant Director, Student Staff Development Committee, and the Diversity Committee.