Clunking Heads on Campus

RAs are served in different colors and flavors and as usual, there is always a popular choice. Caramel Fudges just want to be liked. Every decision and every choice that they make is dependent on the reaction of the receiving party. If it is more likely for an RA to be bad-mouthed, after writing up three residents for boozing in their rooms, then the Caramel Fudge will opt for a laid-back, half-serious warning, as opposed to a formal write-up. They enjoy being in the midst of their residents even if it means breaking rules. Caramel fudge is the popular choice for kids who love to have a great time on their halls and not face the consequences for breaking the rules. On the other hand, it’s not a popular choice for law-abiding residents, or residents who just don’t blend well with the rest of the hall. Caramel fudges tend to be good speakers, argumentative, and well informed. Strawberry Sherbets love to be mother of everyone and everything. They treat their residents like incapable two-year olds, and never get passed the “Oh, isn’t he the cutest…” phase. They are generally not easy to annoy, and will persist in organizing events and activities for their halls despite the dismal turnouts. They do believe in the power of write-ups. However, given that their residents are only two year olds, Strawberry Sherbets are more likely to feel sorry for their “subjects”. They eventually turn to writing up their residents only after they are 120% certain of the actual events. Vanilla RAs are plain, direct, and fall into two categories. The category “A” vanilla types are motivated by money and longer resumes more than anything else. As a result, they could care less about their residents unless their unruliness stunts the RA in a serious manner. On the other hand, Category “B” types although excessively laid-back show occasional interest in their halls and are direct. One of their attractive qualities includes their superb planning of hall activities. Almost everyone on the hall shows up to these rare events along with their equally excited guests. Generally speaking, Category “Bs” are easy to get along with since they are so laid back, and plain. Last but not least, Mint chocolate chip RAs are the most passionate RAs you would ever encounter. They are passionate about their goals for the hall, their preplanned activities, and actually believe that residents can be disciplined. They have everything planned and conceptualized from day one. They are not intimidated by their residents and do not strategize to be “liked by all”. They demand utter respect especially during disorderly hall spells. Most of the time, mint chocolate chip RAs are down-to-earth and are also rarely lenient. Other RAs may find this flavor particularly annoying. After all, this flavor of RA always knows what’s right, and always finds some way to justify college policy despite the more popular opposition. And of course many RAs are yummy mixtures of the aforementioned flavors. Most of the time, one flavor dominates over the rest. Residential programs love Mint-Chocolate Chips and therefore aims to attract as many as possible during the RA selection process. Ironically, several individuals can pose easily as Mint Chocolate Chips. In my opinion, Caramel Fudges can effortlessly pose as Mint-Chocolate Chips. Only after witnessing the RA in true-life can one really judge his/her authentic flavor. I had tried to become an RA the previous year and failed, owing partially to my foolishness, and to the arrogance of my interviewer who at the time seemed like a Mint Chocolate Chip. Later, I was convinced that he was yet another category “A” vanilla RA. A year later, I transitioned into a state of slight disbelief after becoming an RA and witnessing what usually occurs behind the scenes. The truth is that RAs are given a standard list of questions to ask, and at the same time, the liberty to be creative. What frustrated me was the fact that different creativity levels also implies that candidates are interviewed at different difficulty levels. So when you have an RA who’s really smart, or isn’t smart, but thinks he is, he will inevitably be more challenging than an interviewer who can care less but catch the last innings of a baseball game. My interviewer dared to ask me what I would do in a situation where I ended up in a love relationship with one of my residents, and the resident ended up breaking a rule, which put his college status in peril. Would I write him up? I replied by stating that I would not be in a relationship with one of my freshman residents to begin with. He continued to probe me by demanding, “Yeah, but imagine if you were. What would you do?” I continued to reply by saying, “I can’t imagine, because I won’t be! It’s impossible! Therefore your question doesn’t hold.” The conversation oscillated back and forth like this for about 20-30 minutes. Considering the entire interview should run about 45 minutes, this was a huge percentage of time wasted. I felt as if I had been sweltering under the sun for five hours. It wasn’t a real surprise to receive an envelope in my mailbox rejecting my application as an RA during my junior year. I looked over my shoulder only to see friends jumping in response to their great news. But I knew God does things for a reason. He was probably trying to teach me to just answer the question already! After a day of depression, my spirit was suddenly re-lifted.