By Joanna Sperapani
Elm Staff Writer
One of the notable differences of this year’s Birthday Ball is the direct involvement of direct Residence Assistants (RAs). Four teams of two RAs, one team per zone, will be doing patrols on Birthday Ball, a method similar to the weekly regular rounds.
Assistant Director of Residence Life Amy Sine spoke on the change. She said, “The biggest difference in the past was that there was no one officially acting as RA on Duty. We wanted the students to have one person they could go to, to call and get help.”
Previous Birthday Ball procedure allowed every RA to go Birthday Ball, but remain responsible for their residents. Junior RA Danielle Glenn said, “In the past, we didn’t have an RA on duty. Everyone was on duty, so to speak. Everyone was allowed to go to Birthday Ball, no time constraints, but you had to go back to your floor sometime in the night. A lot of RAs weren’t doing that, so that might be why there has been a change.”
]
Sine echoed this concern. “It wasn’t really enforceable, and lots of people didn’t return to their buildings,” she said. “It also left huge gaps where no one would be able to provide residence assistance, because students need help at all different times. This [the change] eliminates vagueness. Also, it allows all the other RAs to go out and enjoy themselves without having to worry about their responsibilities.”
The RAs working Birthday Ball still get to attend the event in two separate shifts. One RA will begin the night by going to Birthday Ball from 8-10 p.m., at which point they will report back to their zone for their first set of rounds with their partner. Then the other RA may attend Birthday Ball until it closes. The phone and keys are held by the RA on the current shift, and after taking turns at the midnight breakfast, the RAs will patrol together a final time.
Sine said, “We didn’t want any RAs to have to totally miss Birthday Ball, so they are doing it in shifts. We want students to participate in all events, and this way the RAs get to enjoy the event fully. Many of the RAs who will be on duty stepped up, and hopefully others will do it at another time. That’s how you build a team and a support system.”
At the announcement of the new plan, some RAs were said to have been disgruntled at the change, although many expressed understanding for the policy change. “There are some RAs that were very upset about it, though the people who were more upset were in zones with more upperclassman RAs, because with some of them being over 21 and often seniors, that made the decision more difficult. To my knowledge, there shouldn’t be any seniors who are on duty, which means that everyone has the opportunity to go to their last Birthday Ball,” said Glenn. “I haven’t been particularly upset, because I’ve heard the reasoning behind it. I’m a junior so I’ll have another one, and next year I can say that I worked Birthday Ball before.”
RA Nick Totis, junior, is also working his first Birthday Ball. “I believe that this will be beneficial to the campus, because Birthday Ball is one of the more hectic nights for students and staff. People are in such a rush to get to the Ball that they might forget their room key, or they may have had too much to drink and need assistance in a variety of ways. It’s important to have RAs on duty to be available to help these students. From a student’s perspective, I think it is important to have RAs on duty that are able to answer the call, because Public Safety is already busy enough at the dance. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I’m happy to be on duty that night if it means I’m keeping students safe and allowing them to enjoy the dance.”
Gerald Roderick, director of Public Safety, expressed his hope that Birthday Ball is both fun and safe for all involved. “We’d love to not have anybody get ill this year and we’d love for everyone to have great time. We’re not there to bear down on everybody and make it a miserable night; we’re all here to keep it safe for you and we want you to come on out and enjoy it.” Roderick said there will be transportation available throughout the campus and Chestertown so that everyone can get to and from the dance safely. He stressed that Public Safety is required by law to check for alcohol at the door, as the inside of the dance serves alcohol and is a licensed area.
“I want everyone to be able to go have fun and feel beautiful, and of course I also want them to stay safe… My biggest fear is that we lose a student when someone was with them and they could have had been saved. If you call us or Public Safety, we’ll help you out,” said Sine.
Roderick had similar thoughts. “We’re really encouraging students to take on the responsibility of being a really good bystander and to intervene when things are going down a bad path. It’s not fun when your friend crashes and burns and you have to be with them while they’re on the way to the hospital, and you’re not having fun at the dance like everyone else. Be responsible, have a good time, and come enjoy it. Public Safety will be out patrolling the buildings, and I know the RAs have been asked to have their presence around. My old saying to the people on the campus is: if you don’t want our attention don’t attract it. We just want to go into this reasonably. We’re not looking hard, we’re just looking for you to be responsible.”