The Hawk

Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: Opinion

I was looking at The Hawk online when this article caught my attention. I was a freshmen RA for three years - starting my junior year all the way through my year of staying at St. Joe's for grad school. I was appalled at the e-mail that a former upperclassmen RA wrote. I agree that RAs have the job to model good behaviors and how to become responsible adults, but to say that we were getting paid to "provide the illusion of parental authority" is ridiculous. What parents wants to see their child in the hospital and in a non-responsive state because they have severe alcohol poisoning? Our role was to guide students to make their own decisions, but first and foremost to keep them safe. By an RA allowing residents to drink themselves into the hospital and, on occasion, provide the alcohol for them is not only wrong; it's illegal. I know that The Hawk was merely presenting the views of one RA, but I felt the need to speak up on behalf of those RAs, both past and present, who took this job seriously. We are here to keep students safe, and if that means being a hard ass and not allowing them to drink, then so be it. That's one less visit to the hospital.

Becky Petravage '05

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