To the Skidmore Community,
We, the Skidmore Resident Assistants (RAs), have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election to form a bargaining unit to improve our position as student workers at Skidmore College. This union will function as a democratic organization of, for, and by RAs to promote our well-being. It will rely on elected resident assistants that will represent the needs and demands of the collective. We, the Skidmore RAs, have partnered with SEIU Local 200United, part of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which currently represents the Non-Tenure Track faculty at Skidmore and student workers at other institutions. They have supported us in our petition to the NLRB and will work with us to negotiate our contract when the time comes.
We take great pride in how our job connects us to the Skidmore community and allows us to improve the experiences of our residents and peers; however, we feel frustrated and unsupported by a contract that does not provide adequate compensation for the work we have put in. This effort is the culmination of two semesters of dialogue and organizing within our community. Since early September, many of the RAs have voiced concerns and frustrations regarding both the Office of Residential Life and the Office of Student Affairs, and we ask that you listen to our concerns.
Over the summer, all of the individuals who previously had professional, administrative roles in the Office of Residential Life were either transferred to different offices on campus or left Skidmore College. We, as RAs, were not notified of these changes until August 16th, six days before our return for training—four months after we had signed our contracts, effectively ridding us of any expectation of administrative support. The four Area Coordinator (AC) positions were not all filled until late October. Since then, one of the four ACs was announced to be no longer with the office. This left one of the four teams yet again without any direct professional staff supervisor. The new Assistant Director of Residential Life is filling in as the fourth AC–this is not fair to the Assistant Director who holds many responsibilities in the office, nor is it fair to the team of RAs and their Community Assistant who deserve an AC whose time and efforts are fully committed to such an important role.
During our summer training sessions, the Dean of Students and Vice President of Student Affairs said that feedback from previous RAs was being considered in an effort to improve the Residential Education Curriculum. We appreciate some of these changes (e.g., swapping the requirement of designing monthly informational bulletin boards with sending weekly emails). These changes, though, only cover the Education Curriculum. We need changes that meet our needs as both employees who directly support the student body and as full-time students.
We, as RAs, are a cornerstone of the Skidmore experience, creating communities on our floors, building relationships with residents, and serving as resources, role models, and friends. We are grateful for the opportunity to connect not only with our residents but also with each other, but the position requires a large time commitment as well as emotional and mental labor, and we do not feel we have received adequate compensation for these.
For our work, we receive a housing credit equivalent to the cost of a single room. This compensation is less than what RAs at some peer institutions in the surrounding area receive; benefits can include a stipend, hourly wages for dedicated time, and/or full coverage of board. Our only benefit, a housing credit, acts as an equivalent compensation for a minimum of 42 hours of on-call time, a minimum of seven hours of In-Staff Training, four hours of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training each semester as well as any additional time one needs to fulfill the Residential Education requirements. The credit also serves as compensation for two weeks of 9-5 training days before the fall semester and one week of 9-5 training before the spring semester. While we understand and appreciate the importance and value of these training sessions, the lack of compensation (outside of our room credit) makes us feel like our time and energy is not appreciated.
Additionally, not every RA receives this credit equally. For RAs whose housing is already entirely covered, they received no other form of compensation besides the room credit, meaning they are working without any compensation. In addition, all RAs receive the same compensation regardless of whether or not they serve a special interest community. (Special interest communities often require extra work to meet that community’s needs/interests.) Also, the number of residents an RA serves can range from 15 to 60 depending on one’s hall and whether or not there is enough staff to provide a floor with two RAs, which creates discrepancies in the amount of work for equal remuneration.
We have determined that to best serve the student body we need to have a greater say about the terms of our job. We want to make clear that this effort is not in opposition to the Office of Residential Life or the Office of Student Affairs, as we believe that we have similar goals of fostering inclusive environments and building communities that prioritize the well-being of their members.
We look forward to continuing our work with a louder voice in the community we serve.
In solidarity,
The Skidmore RAs