RA firings necessary

Yesterday, two resident assistants were fired because they defied a verbal request from a resident manager. On the Monday of the NCAA Championship, they left Collins Living-Learning Center after they were told to stay.\nThe two, Trevor J. Thomson, a graduate resident assistant and Jim Brown, a resident assistant, left Collins during a closed weekend. During a closed weekend, resident assistants must stay in the Bloomington community. Their RPS supervisor told all resident assistants they were to remain at Collins from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Both left Collins from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. for drinks before the IU/Maryland game.\nIf Thomson and Brown violated the requirement to stay at their residence hall, then RPS was right to dismiss them both. While both are over 21 years old, by drinking, they nonetheless compromised their potential role during and after the game. \nBut a third resident assistant, Darren Transue, was fired for questionable reasons. Transue's mother had been hospitalized because of injuries sustained in a car accident. He notified RPS, explained the situation and asked for special permission to go home and visit his mother. His request was denied, but after he went to see his mother anyway, he was written up and later fired. This dismissal seems harsh because of the circumstances in which it occurred. RPS rules state that one RA per center can be excused from duty on a closed weekend. What better reason could anyone have to be excused from duty?\nNone of the three disobeyed any of the rules that were laid out to them initially in their contracts. But drinking off-campus when you're supposed to be in your residence hall impairs your ability to assist when needed. RAs are not regular students. They must be held to a higher standard as University employees. \nRPS is right to hold RAs to a higher standard during major campus events, and made the correct decision in dismissing the the two.