West University - Resident Assistants Case

West University is a large college located in Phoenix, Arizona. Since its inception, the university experienced tremendous growth. The campus is located on 1,200 acres with more than 20,000 students providing on-campus housing to more than 11,000 students. Residential Life, a department within Housing Services, provides support for all aspects of the student's experience in the residence halls. There were 30 residence halls supervised by area directors (ADs), 23 resident directors (RDs) supervising the staff and office operations, and 32 graduate student assistant resident directors (ARDs) who reported to and assisted the RDs and co-supervised 300 RAs . Resident assistants (RAs) are undergraduate students who live on a floor in a residence hall.

The major responsibilities and duties of RAs can be broken into eight areas:

University Community building.

Resource and referral agent.

Crisis intervention and management.

Administrative duties.

Staff meetings and schedule coverage.

Training.

Performance appraisals.

General 0olicy management.

RAs hired were required to sign a job description and a resident assistant Memo of Understanding (MOU). The MOU outlined the terms and conditions of the position including compensation, work hours, GPA standards and several other requirements. An RA who worked a minimum of two semesters, was enrolled in the university with at least a 2.5 GPA, and not received formal punishment from the university could be considered for a community development assistant (CDA) position. The CDA was a mentor to RAs and assisted with problems. CDA compensation and other work-related requirements were identical to those of RAs.

Human Resource Policies for RAs and CDAs

RAs and CDAs had mandatory requirements to arrive on campus three days before each semester begins for mandatory training and building preparation. There was a 20-hour-per-week time commitment that included a stipend of $1,820 for the academic year with deductions for federal and state income taxes. RDs are their direct supervisors, conducted their performance reviews, and maintained their personnel files. RAs and CDAs who violated disciplinary guidelines were subject to a progressive disciplinary procedure.

Collective Bargaining on the West University Campus

Public employees were granted the right to join unions, present proposals to public employers but there were no obligations for these employers to engage in bargaining with these public employee unions. A few unions were active at the West University. Collective bargaining rights were granted to most of the public employees by passage of the state's general law allowing them to form, join or participate in unions. The law also granted bargaining collectively over terms and conditions of employment.

West