The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2 - 12

Rachael H. Stark * Sharon K. Anderson

(King & Mayhew, 2004). Campus employment
provides opportunities for students to develop
moral leadership qualities.
On any college or university campus, a
subset of students is expected to display moral
behavior and leadership every day in the role of
resident assistant (RA). These students can be
challenged to fulﬁll their ethical responsibilities, and at times they experience psychological
discomfort when there is a mismatch between
their professional obligations and their personal values and needs. According to Willis
(1992), "Responding to a resident's violation
of school policy, a conﬂict between roommates,
or an obligation to enforce a rule with which
the RA does not personally agree are all examples of cognitive disequilibrium that RAs may
experience" (p. 25).

THE ROLES OF RESIDENT
ASSISTANTS
RAs are generally upper-division student
leaders working within the division of student
affairs (Russell, Allen, & Wircenski, 2001). The
RA job description includes rules enforcement
and a list of responsibilities to help residents
with their personal, social, and academic concerns (Butters & Gade, 1982). Inherently, RAs'
job responsibilities suggest multiple roles that
include academic advisor, crisis counselor,
policy implementer and disciplinarian, program
planner, and emotional supporter to the students in their residential communities. In addition to managing multiple roles, RAs deal with
difﬁcult problems such as "alcoholism, suicide,
homophobia, racism, date rape, eating disorders and stress" (Dodge, 1990, p. A39).
According to Blimling (2010), RAs can also
serve as ethical role models for their residents.

He describes the following ethical skills as important for RAs as role models: being honest
with residents, supervisors, and other staff;
keeping conﬁdences and being trustworthy;
not making promises that they cannot keep; refraining from gossip; knowing what is right and
acting accordingly; and keeping commitments.
RAs have the potential to make a lasting
impact on the lives of the students they live with
for the year. When RAs embrace their positions
as role models and policy enforcers, residents
can experience a more positive living environment and more consistent expectations about
behavior. Although RAs have an important
role in the lives of residential students, little is
known about their moral behavior. As researchers, we found only a few studies that discussed
moral behavior in relationship to RAs. Pascarella (1997) examined the relationship between
the class rank of college students and moral reasoning. Deluga and Winters (1991) examined
individuals' motivation to become an RA. McKelfresh (1987) examined Deﬁning Issues Test
(DIT) pre- and post-test moral judgment scores
after students received training for the RA position. Rubington (1990) described how the
moral behavior of RAs contributed to residents
breaking residence hall policies: RAs tended
to selectively enforce policies based on their
relationships with the residents, and, through
a process of mutual socialization, the RA-resident relationships evolved to the extent that RAs
would "teach" residents on their home ﬂoors to
break the rules, using discretion. Besides Rubington's study, little to no research has explored
how RAs experience their role and the challenge
of enforcing residence hall disciplinary policies
grounded in the institution's ethical standards
for an academically thriving community.

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 42, No. 2

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