Being Greek and Being an RA
 

I was just wondering if anyone has had the experience of being an RA in a residence hall while also being a member of a sorority or fraternity? Obviously some things will be different (like where you live) so I was just looking for a couple opinions on this...

I'm actually going to be going through recruitment at the same time while I'm an RA. Girls have done both in the past so I'm not too worried about it, but if anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it!



(I tried to do a search for this, but RA was too short of a search term and I couldn't get anything under Resident Adviser or Assistant to come up, so I apologize if this has already been discussed.)

One of my very good friends (and closest sisters) joined Alpha Chi when she was an RA. She said it was a little weird with all her hallmates going through with her, but she knew a lot of them and was happy to share her new member experience with them. I know at my school, she would not have been allowed to talk to people on her hall who were currently Greek except in matters of residence life. She was an RA over the next few years, and she said it was a great recruiting tool. Good luck :)

I was actually an RA in undergrad and many of the other RA's were Greek. The hardest thing for me in being an RA was that the residents only saw me as "THE RA" and when I was out with my sisters having fun, they couldn't make the seperation, even though I was 21, and I never wore my letters at parties/the bar (not that I was doing anything irresponsible but this is an issue ALL RA's face, not just "Greeks"). I remember overhearing my suitemates talking about me negatively once because I brought a sister back to my suite who had a roofie slipped in her drink and I stayed up with her and took care of her all night. I think this was something aimed negatively at Greeks in general but what are you gonna do? We always deal with this kind of negativity. I learned a lot from the position however and actually the Resident Director of the hall I was in was one of my sisters who was a Gamma (I was an Omicron) so it was great to meet someone who was a DPhiE before my time. It was a good experience overall and the free room and board was another great bonus.

Oh yeah, I re-read your post. We've had several sisters go through the new member process while being RA's. It was no big deal, they just had to miss a few things if they happened to be on duty but they usually knew their schedules ahead of time so they could participate. Actually it was good because they each made a DPhiE suite after they became sisters :)

I was Greek and an RA. To be quite honest it can be difficult. Both affiliations require absolute dedication and that can be tough to deal with and balance. I worked with first-year students so early on, I laid down the law with my house. I refused to use my role as an RA to recruit women. Perhaps it was selfish, but I didn't want to mix the role of an RA into rush. If I had women who I wanted to join. I would make sure to introduce them to my sisters, and then expect my sisters to do the rush portion. I just did not want to jepordize that RA/Resident relationship with my residents.

Make sure you are also clear with your chapter that your job may cause some conflicts that do not give you ample time to turn in excuses. For example, I had an emergency on my floor a couple of times, and there was no way I could make it to an event, or if I was up half the night dealing with something it was also difficult to get to events. I talked to the secretary, and the President and made sure they understood where I stood in terms of absences and that I wouldn't abuse the privlidge.

It was hard to balance at times, and bidding on women on your floor can be hard, but you just need to figure out your needs and relate them to your chapter. You will probably need some special privledges in regards to excuses and attendance etc, but hopefuly, esp cause it looks good for a chapter, they will be willing to understand and work with you and your needs.

If you have questions lemme know :)

At Purdue you have to dissaffiliate with your house to become an RA or they won't take you. Pretty sh**ty if you ask me.

Well, you could always become an RA for your House, that way the roles will be intertwined and you won't have to worry about sacrificing one for the other...are RA roles really big at your school? at my school, the upperclass RAs talk about it being really easy because, well, we're self-sufficient by the time we're sophomores!

I'm going to be an RA in a freshman building so for the first few weeks they won't be quite self-sufficient yet. I don't think it should take much more than a couple months though.

I was an RA. I had the best girls on my floor. They gave me the freshman floor in the GDI hall so after rush the sorority girls moved to the sorority dorms so it was a nonissue.

One of our alums actually became an RA. She was still in school for a bit longer but her sorority requirements as an active were complete. And she was in the upperclassmen dorm... so she didn't necessarily "influence" anyone to join. But I thought it was cute that her hall's "theme" was a hawaiian theme complete with Palm Trees. (Our symbol is the palm tree as well.)

This past fall, two of our new members were RAs in the freshmen girls' dorm, as well as two active sophomores. Additionally, when I was a freshman living in that dorm, my RA went through fall informal recruitment and was a Pi Phi new member - none of the other RAs were in sororities.

I really looked up to my RA and she had such a good time pledging Pi Phi that, to tell the truth, her experience made me want to be a Pi Phi, too! She was always coming home with gifts from her big sis. :) And, needless to say, we had a lot of girls from that dorm become Pi Phis this year because they bonded with their RAs who were Pi Phis - but many chose other houses, too.

At Hillsdale, we don't have a system in place where the RAs must disaffiliate (I believe that's the proper term) for the year or semester. Our RAs are more than welcome to represent their Greek affiliation by attending house events, wearing letters, having paraphenalia in their room, etc. Panhel, however, keeps a close eye on the dorms to make sure nothing shady is going on.

If you have a positive recruitment and new member experience, regardless if you are allowed to inform your dorm-mates of your affiliation, then your experience may lead other girls in the dorm to want to go through recruitment, too. Thus, I could see the whole experience having a positive effect on everyone. :)

Good luck with recruitment!!

Another note of warning.

Beloit is odd, our house has 10 women, the rest live in the dorms. (our house is college owned and opperated) If you have sisters on your floor it can be a difficult situation. I had, my first year as an RA, 4 sisters on my floor (of 30), and it was difficult when one of them had an illegal pet and I had to put the kabosh on it. There was some tension. Also, because our house is college property, you never really loose your job, and when we had incidents in our house (which didn't have an RA) that unfortunatly fell on me occasionally. Like the rabbit and lizard in rooms, illegal lounge in the attic, and other things. It can jeapordize your job to look the other way, just my warning from a chapter where people tested me.

Our chapter president a couple of years ago was an RA. Actually was a big plus for us during recruitment.

My RA freshman year ended up being my sister since I joined her sorority. She really loved her hall, so while she was stuck with us a lot on night duty and other things, I don't think she minded. She still had plenty of time to fit in sorority stuff too.

When you want something to work, you make it work.

2 of my sisters are currently RA's. They do have to balance RA training w/ Rush workshops over the summer, but they do just fine. They are excused from events on the days that they are on duty (b/c they can't leave their floor) and are not obligated to live in the house b/c their room and board is paid for.

They aren't required to dis-affiliate, but it can be hard to maintain the "no contact rule", when you work on a freshman dorm and half of your floor is rushing. :)

I didn't have too many problems being Geek and being an RA until my Senior year. For whatever reason then, my last semester as President of the chapter, gave the selection staff the biggest issue with me. I was grilled about greek life in my interview with my bosses and other people on Res Life above me. Nothing was mentioned about the roles and responsibilities of being an RA in upper classmen housing just questions about greek life, alcohol and the 24/7 role of me as an RA. Looking back I could have steered the conversation back to RA business but I was so taken aback by the utter rediculousness of the whole thing that I lost my head. I was hired again, but not after a 2nd one on one interview with the director of all res. life where I assued him I'd have my priorities straight. Whatever....


My advice? Just be ready for some conflicting things to come up. People in RA life may not like that you're involved w/ Greek Life and vice versa. Be ready, but not too ready, you don't want to seem too eager to defend yourself, sometimes ppl see that as trying to hide something.

It's funny bc I learned so much leadership wise from both activities it's a wonder RA life doesn't want more Greeks!!

I was an RA my last two years of college. I think it helped get a few gals. I don't know didn't really think of it too much when I was an RA cause my dorm had a little bit of everyone in it and it was coed.

My sophomore year was my 1st year as an RA and also the year I went through formal rush. I had some of my residents go through it w/ me (they were all 1st years) and by the end of the year (since we had informal every term) about 8 of the 18 girls on that floor had gone PiPhi, it was insane! My Junior year I only had one resident rush (she's a PiPhi now too :) ) but the girls were very respectful and I never felt in my two years as an RA that there was any animosity directed towards me because of my greek affiliation, then again, ALL the girls who went greek on my floors went PiPhi ;)

I was an RA my Soph and Jr years. I pledged as a Frosh so that wasn't an issue.

The funniest story was the first person I wrote up as an RA turned out to be one of my sisters, eventually my roommate and now someone I include as one of my closest friends. Oh we laugh about it now, but I remember her saying that when she wanted to join AOII that, "THAT RA" was a member and would it be OK.

There were conflicting moments. I don't remember my time as an RA interferring with my sorority committments. But I probably did some things that most people didn't do - and that's an entirely different thread.

When I interviewed for Head Resident for my Sr year (Our only grad students on campus were Law Students and not many of them were involved in RA Life so many 4th and 5th years students were Head Residents at my University.) there were questions about my role in Greek Life vs my role in RA Life. I didn't get the position and ended up living in the sorority house and was very glad it worked out that way!

On the other side, as an RA we receive some pretty great training on a variety of issues. I know that this training has helped me both as an active sorority member, as an alumna volunteer and in the real world of life.

I was an RA to help out with financial aid. And I think the role of me being an RA and Social Chair both years I was an RA showed the true dichotomy (sp?) I've experienced throughout my life.

actually be prepared to be watched too. i know an RA who lost his job because the RD blew the whistle that he had pledged his frat illegally as a first semester freshman or something to that extent. and this was AFTER he had been in the frat for like a year or something. it came up when he was an RA.........

I rushed my fresh. year, but I was an RA my soph. and jr. years.

There were several conflicts...silence period before/during rush, after the fresh. rushed, several would "try" to take advantage of you, etc. My DZ hall was also in my dorm and several of my sisters would want me to bend or break rules for them. I had plenty of time to do both RA and sister stuff. Time was never an issue. I enjoyed being an RA, but decided my sen. year to move off campus. Working a fresh. hall is hard because they are not used to college life yet and are very needy. You have to be there for them 24/7 the first few weeks. It was a good recruitment tool thought., my hall was the only greek hall in the building and several of the RA's were also DZ's. ahhh....the good ole days!:D

I was an RA...there were a few Greek RAs, but it never was a very big deal because we had deferred Recruitment and so it obviously didn't interfere with training. None of my girls went through Rush, but a few of the guys did (we were co-ed by room).

It surprises me that there's such a big conflict between being an RA and being Greek--since in Educational Leadership, there's often a large overlap. My supervisors (one of whom was a Chi-O) never questioned my priorities, but oftentimes my sisters were upset that I chose not to live in-house.

:confused:

I'm familiar with sorority RAs on some campuses having to disaffiliate during rush, but not for the full school year.

Did you mean the full year or just during rush? If it is for the full year, that isn't right. :mad:

And does this include men/fraternities? :confused:

i originally declined an open bid because i was going to be an RA and didn't know how i would juggle the two, but ended up accepting the bid and it worked out just fine. a lot of the RAs on my campus were Greek as well, and i think it did help in a couple ways. it helped the freshmen (and unaffliated upperclassmen) to get to know Greeks, but i think it also helped display that Greeks can work together and be friends when they're from different houses.

the biggest problems i encountered came during rush. obviously, there are silence rules and such that don't apply to RAs because of the living situation, but it can be hard to be objective when a girl comes to you with rush concerns or talks about an experience she had at XYZ or whatever. you have to learn how to balance the loyalty to the two. i also ran into some problems when i would have to tell my sorority no because of RA functions, which had to be top priority. overall, they were understanding, but those people who hadn't been an RA or didn't see the value of them didn't like it that i would miss things for RA duty or whatever. it can be a great rush tool, though, so long as you stay as objective as possible and are open and encourage women to join whatever house they want and all of that.

Re: Being Greek and Being an RA
 

I'm an RA and Vice President of my chapter. I actually went through pledging while I was an RA. It was really tough as far as time management and organizing my schedule. I lived in a single in a dorm.. but 3 of my pledge sisters lived in the same building.

I am the LEAST organzied and have the worst time managment skills, but I made it through pledging and the RA semester with flying colors. I don't know if I'd do it again.. just because it was SO stressful. (Meaning, at the same time..)


That's the only time I've had a problem.. I've worked for the same RDs (I have 2) for 2 years.. and Pam was a founding sister of our Alpha Sigma Alpha chapter.. so she completely understands. And actually.. its been great working with her because she helps me in so many ways.. and she understands a lot. The RD I worked for when I was pledging was seriously anti-greek.. but he's come around since working with me... and seriously dating one of my chapter sisters :p


:)

(edited for spelling)

This is kind of random, but I was looking at a list of Famous RAs (yeah, I'm a nerd) and I found out that two of them are Famous Sorority Alumnae as well!

Both Sheryl Crow (Theta) and Katie Couric (Tri-Delta) were RAs in college!

I highly doubt this is the case...if so, it's discrimination and should be stopped by the student affairs office. They can't exclude a certain student group from holding a student job.

If the girls have to disaffiliate at certain times like rush, that's a rule of Panhel, not the RA program.

I am not in an NPHC sorority, but my experience may be more comparable to you than the NPC experiences shared so far.

I am in an LGLO, and I joined 2nd semester sophomore year, which was also my first semester as an RA. And I won't lie, it was HARD. My process was a lot of work, and being an RA is a lot of work, but if you balance your time right it can be done. I was on duty once a week and was required to be in my room from 7 pm to 7 am on duty nights, so I took advantage of this time to STUDY and get work done because I did not have much free time that semester.

I had the additional responsibility of going through RA training and the RA class WHILE I was an RA rather than before I started the job. RAs at my school apply in the fall and usually take the RA class in the spring, come back for training in the summer, and then start working. In my situation, somone left their RA position mid-year, so I was hired to start early and get training as I was working. It was an additional responsibility and challenge added to an already challenging semester, but I pulled it off somehow. The thing about my RA class that made it "interesting" was that we had an AKA pledge, 2 Delta pledges, a Kappa pledge, a member of a local Black fraternity, and, to top it all off, one of our two teachers was a Delta who LOVED to ask me questions. :) But I can't tell you how good it felt to go to the final exam of that class wearing my beautiful brand-new letters and showing my class and my sandz that I was finally done!!

After that first semester, balancing the sorority and RA responsibilities was easier in my opinion. Of course, there were meetings and programs for the sorority that I missed, but I knew going into all of these things that my RA job would have to come before sorority events, and my chapter sorors were very understanding of this. Several of them were RAs, so they all new the responsibilities the job entails.

One advantage of being an RA and being in the sorority at the same time was that I got to coordinate programming that involved both groups. At my school, RAs are required to hold 3 programs a semester, and programs that teach about diverse cultures are encouraged. I held a couple Latin dance nights where my sorors came in and taught some of the residents salsa and merengue, I held an immigration forum (and had a HUGE turnout for that program), and held several community service events co-sponsered by Resident life and my sorority. It was a great way to fulfill my job requirements as an RA while contributing to the chapter.

Side note: I was an RA for 3 1/2 years, and I do NOT recommend anyone to stay in the position for so long if you don't have to!

You know, if anyone gives you trouble about being an RA and going through sorority recruitment or tries to test boundaries with you, just be upfront with them. Tell them that you need their support and you know that they would never put you in the awkward position of having to choose, that you know that they are better hallmates/members/people than that. Usually the guilt trip - when used well! - works like a charm :)

I was an RA, but it was in the upper classmen apartments, so it wasn't quite like being in a dorm, but I didn't have any problems. Though I hated giving up one weekend a month to be on duty...without fail something fun would seem to come up at the last minute.

But many of my sisters were RAs in dorms and even RD's (directors over a dorm), we also had some RA's for Greek Villiage, so they lived in the house and stuff. It was never a problem. They couldn't come to our rush retreat because of RA training, but neither could our orienation assistants because of OA training. They did disaffiliate at the beginning of the year, but then they were back with us!!

Re: Being Greek and Being an RA
 

two of my pledge sisters were RAs when we "new membered"- they just needed to budget their time accordingly. They both survived and were on exec later on.

I am not an RA, but I am a member of a NPHC org (ZPhiB). One of my LS's was an RA while we were going through our process so I have some experience on the subject. Her job required her to do a hell of a lot of work including planning and attending social functions, forums, dinners with residents, weekly meetings, and even taking care of minor issues such as residents losing toothbrushes in the middle of the night :eek: yeah..i know lol...but u get the picture..While it is definitely a challenge, trust me it CAN be done.
You should be upfront with the people you are going through the process with as well as with the members of the sorority and they should be willing to work with you a little as far as time commitment is concerned. Just make sure you use every bit of free time that you have wisely. Good Luck!:)