What is The Future of RDs? – A Need To Be Honest About The Workload Of The RD Position

Guest Post by Terrance “T.J.” Singleton, Residence Life Professional

Called by many names… the RD, the HD, the AD if the institution is small enough. A unique position with a blend of many of the different areas and offices that make up an institution. The purpose of the RD position has always been to serve students, however the institution sees fit. Being that the position is so CLOSE with the students of the university, it has unique advantages and challenges you don’t see with many other university personnel positions. Given the questions that students and families are asking, whether college is worth it anymore, this also begs the question of the usefulness of certain roles in a college campus, one of those being the RD position…or to many parents and families, the Super Senior RA. But in all fairness, does this position have its purpose in today’s colleges and universities, and what is the future outlook of the role? Does the role and nature of the work need to change? Is it a simple title change? Is it something each college and university can address separately? Or maybe things can stay the same? 

One thing is for sure, that RDs have been a heavily worked group in any institution. Ask any RD how they feel about their work, and no matter their level of passion, time, or energy put in, it’s always at a higher level than the title might suggest. The RD role tends to be utilized for the junction between the curricular and co-curricular activities on a college campus. Students stay in the residence halls not only to conduct their studies and projects, but also to sleep, eat, and re-energize with their peers. The halls are a place for students to learn with it means to live in community whether it’s their first time or for them to learn about in a new context. RDs are there to facilitate those dynamics, being the first person to call when a student has a break up, or a breakthrough… or breakdown. If we could list the amount of responsibilities for the RD position, this post might go over its word limit. 

So, if the question is, “Is the RD position valuable to the institution?”. Then, the answer is a resounding ‘Yes’. The position is integral to the success of the institution because the success of the institution is predicated on the success of the students in it. RDs provide many of the supports that students need to be healthy and happy in their studies, from mental health challenges, social dilemmas, incidents related to bias and discrimination, concerns related to finances, and tackling larger scale systematic problems that plague the US nation, as well as the world. So, a simple title change, AKA being named the Housing Overlord, simply won’t cut it. The work is tremendous, and needs more than just an exterior makeover. 

Okay, so if we know this type of work is important to the institution’s mission and goals, why aren’t more people doing it. I’m not talking about hiring more RDs, or Graduate RDs, student employees…or making more student “leadership” opportunities. What I mean is, why isn’t this work a part of more people’s job description at the university setting. Take 2020 for example, and all the challenges that came with it, each RD can attest to how strenuous the work was and still is, as well as possibly their reason for leaving the profession altogether. On the other hand, many other positions in the institution, especially those that had the option to be remote and more administratively supported, felt that it was a nice change of pace… a break from all the chaos of that had plagued education up until that point. Much of the tedious work was placed on certain subsections of employees at the institutional level, one of those being the RD position. The universities wouldn’t have survived without them and many other overlooked positions at the institution. “Should one position hold so much responsibility?”, “Is it wise to rely so heavily on the RD role position to support the institution’s mission?”. You may have your own opinions to these questions, and the next question to ask yourself is, “Why”. 

There’s no easy way to say this…the future of the RD role is looking like it needs a rebrand and a reworking of the definition of what it means to be an RD. In starting these changes, institutions can begin to be honest about the workload of the RD position, as it relates to the integral part it plays in the university’s success. Not honest as in, creating a longer laundry list of tasks that maybe encompasses the “duties as assigned” bullet point. But more so a comprehensive assessment of what the RDs need to be successful at their jobs. 

Questions to ponder: 

1. Have institutions asked their RD teams directly what their needs are in order to be successful in that role? 
   • Follow up, have institutions appropriately responded to those needs? 
2. Have there been any plans in the work at the institutional level that properly reassign some of the responsibilities of the RD role across the university to address things in a holistic framework? 
3. Have institutional increased their level of support for RDs in the form of financial compensation, creative frameworks for hybrid and remote working environments, and more access to leadership in the making of decisions that are going to affect the RD position? 
   • I, for one, would love to have paid summers off to recuperate a little more and feel that fresh and rejuvenated feeling that colleagues in other offices or sides of the house feel at the institution. 
4. Lastly, whether you’re a parent, student, university official, or just some random blog loving saint, are you ready for the RD role to evolve, to change for what works better for the future?