No summer vacation for residence hall staff

Many years ago, it took only one person to complete the job of a housing assistant in one of IU's 11 dormitories.\nToday it takes as many as five in each residence hall to complete the tasks necessary to house the 22,000 conference guests who come through IU's dorms this summer. \nHousing assistants are just a few of the more than 60 live-in summer staff who make their residence in the dorms during the summer. Other live-ins include administrative assistants, orientation assistants, summer school and groups resident assistants and a handful of graduate assistants.\n"Most of the summer staff are RAs during the regular school year," said Michael Moore, associate director for Residential Programs and Services. "We don't hire just anybody -- they have to have some background in housing."\nSince the focus is on using the dorms as a recruitment tool for future students, Moore said it is essential to provide a welcoming and friendly environment for conference guests and the summer staff helps put a good face on RPS.\nSummer staffers have various duties that often don't resemble the RA duties they are responsible for during the regular school year. \n"We check guests in and out, make sure the guests and their supervisors are comfortable while they stay with us in Briscoe," said senior Endy Obianozie, a housing assistant in Briscoe Quad. "But we do more than that. We check the doors at around 11 p.m. to make sure the buildings are secure, we do other various duties such as desk shifts, forwarding mail to former residents and give tours to those who want to see our facilities during orientation, among various other things that our resident manager needs us to do."\nThe summer staff, unlike RAs, does not have to deal with disciplinary problems during the summer unless the staff for the visiting conference guest is not around. Instead they mainly deal with building facility management. \n"From checking on broken windows, to lockouts, HA's are trained to do it," said Graham Shepfer, special services manager and acting director of RPS conferences. "They make sure that availability is there 24 hours a day in case something goes wrong and something needs to be done for the conference on a whim, whether it is at 10 p.m. in the evening or 4 a.m. in the morning."\nFor their service to RPS during the summer, summer staff members receive various incentives. All receive free housing in their various capacities, HA's, RA's and graduate assistants receive a meal plan and are also paid an hourly rate after serving past 20 hours during the week. \nFor the most part, the staff lives in the same area of the dorm, out of the way of conference guests. Living on the same floor provides various opportunities to get together for activities. \n"It's kind of nice living in the same hall with other RA's because during the school year we live on separate floors," said junior Joe White, an HA in Teter Quad. "It gives us an opportunity to play video games, basketball and chess among other activities that help us interact with each other. It helps us to get to know each other better on a personal level than during the regular school year."\nAlthough the job of the summer staff could be done by full-time staff, Shepfer said the amount of work would not be feasible for that situation.\n"We couldn't do it without them," Shepfer said.