Being Greek and Being an RA

[KSUViolet06]

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.

[ZTAMich]

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!!

[RioLambdaAlum]

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.

[piphimaggie]

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

[SnowLady]

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.

[winneythepooh7]

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.........

[AWJDZ]

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!

[Munchkin03]

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.

[TSteven]

Originally posted by KappaSigKGB
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.

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.

And does this include men/fraternities?

[shadowstar]

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.

[PlymouthDZ]

Originally posted by reverie
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.)

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




(edited for spelling)

[reverie]

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!

[33girl]

Originally posted by KappaSigKGB
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.

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.

[SIAsensacion]

Originally posted by DSTinguished1
Does any NPHC members want to comment on this? i know my cousin was having questions about this. I gave her my advice but I know that its different for different schools and different people. please share thanks

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!

[AXOKatie]

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