Section D·Page 2
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, August 17, 1998
A resident assistant ant (right) at Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall checks out a ball to a student. RAs are required to work six hours each week at their residence hall's front desk to assist students. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
RAs make things go smoothly
Students enforce rules, organize social activities
By Kristi Hartloy
Kansan staff writer
Resident Assistants Nick Walker, Wichita senior, and Bobbi Weatherhold, Emporia senior, greet students with smiles and quick hellos in Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall.
The residents, comfortable with Walker and Weatherhold, eagerly return greetings.
"It's one of the best jobs to have," Walker said of being an RA. "It's good to live so close to campus and have time to study. I know if I lived off campus, I would have never met so many people and made so many friends."
RAs work at the front desk of their hall six hours a week. They also have to spend three nights and three weekends on call.
While on call, they are responsible for building security.
RAs receive $40 every two weeks, reimbursement for room and board and all cafeteria meals.
Weatherhold said she would rather be an RA than live in an apartment.
"I have to be around people," she said.
Weatherhold said that she enjoyed being able to go down the hall and knock on doors to ask friends to a movie.
"I couldn't do that if I lived in apartment complex." she said.
Disciplining residents is the downside of being an RA.
"When they act up and you have to yell at them, that's not very fun." Walker said.
RAS keep the halls safe by enforcing the rules.
"That's the hardest part, being the Gestapo when you're trying to be their friend at the same time." Weatherhold said.
Residents sign roommate contracts to help curb problems that might arise, such as late-night activities, Walker said.
"It's one of the best jobs to have. It's good to live so close to campus and have time to study.I know if I lived off campus, I would have never met so many friends."
"It's kind of a good way to establish some communication about those things." Weatherhold said.
Nick Walker
If problems cannot be worked out, RAs try to mediate them.
Nick Walker
Wichita senior and resident assistant
"It teaches them how to work it out and come up with compromises." Weatherhold said.
RAs have to come up with a different floor program each month. The programs must be either educational, physical, spiritual, social or culturally diverse. Weatherhold said.
"A lot of times we try to tailor the programs for the specific needs of the residents on our floors." Walker said.
RAs do two social activities a month with residents, such as going to a movie or bowling.
The main hiring period for RAS is during the spring semester. To
become an RA, students must be at least a sophomore.
Interested students are required to submit a written application and essay about why they want to become an RA and what they think are the duties of an RA.
Applicants must then interact with seven or eight people and are judged on their performance by instated RAs and senior staff members. If they make the cut, applicants have a personal interview with a panel of RAs and senior staff. Applicants who make it to the next level, interview at three residence halls with senior staff and RAs. After the interviews, RAs are chosen.
If you are interested in an RA position, contact the Department of Student Housing, 864-4560.
Students seeking food for thought encounter more Mrs. E's options
By Kristi Hartloy
Kansan staff writer
Students eating at the Ekdahl Dining Commons this fall will find a few changes, including an expanded menu and longer hours.
Sheryl Kidwell, dietitian unit manager, said the cafeteria's menu would be expanded. A breakfast sandwich and new pasta and vegetarian items also will be added.
Kidwell said that offering more items at one line would cut down on waiting time.
"We're trying to make it a one-stop-shopping kind of idea," Kidwell said. "Students can have their salad, breadsticks and choose from two toppings and two pastas."
More vegetarian entrees also are being added to the menu because staff research indicated that students wanted more vegetarian options.
"Every year we've tried to cater more and more to the vegetarian population," Kidwell said.
E's Express is another dining option for students living in Daisy Hill residence halls.
"It's been tremendously successful," Kidwell said. "It really helped take the bottleneck out of Mrs. E.'s."
E's Express has continental breakfasts and sack lunches for students who do not have time to sit down and eat. It is located in Hashinger Hall. The program began last August, serving 500 students. Kidwell said that by May 1998, more than 900 students were taking their lunch from E's Express.
E's Express hours have been expanded to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
DINING HOURS
Daisy Hill dining hours:
Mrs. E's
Monday-Friday:
■ lunch, 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
■ dinner, 4 to 7:30 p.m.
Weekends:
brunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
dinner, 4 to 6:30 p.m.
E's Express
Last spring, E's Express was only open from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sharon Scrivenner, Winchester freshman and Mrs. E's employee, said she thought more students liked eating in the cafeteria than at E's Express because students could sit down and eat a meal with their friends.
Kidwell said to break up the monotony, all of the cafeterias on campus hold special events throughout the year.
Some special meals include a tailgate party in September, steak and special desserts on Halloween and a traditional Thanksgiving meal and food fair at Oliver Hall in November.
"We do a little more merchandising and marketing of our food and make it a little more fun." Kidwell said.
Scrivner said she liked the cafeteria's special events because they were well-attended by students and the workers enjoyed presenting the events.
"It was fun to set up and prepare all the different foods, because it was different from the regular cheeseburgers and fries," Scrivner said.