Res Life takes a few to the teeth

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The Emory Wheel

Editorials

http://www.emorywheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/01/27/43d97b33d046

7

Column: Focus Here — Res Life takes a few to the teeth

By van der Horst

January 27, 2006

Atlanta,Ga

They say that in sports the best offense is a good defense. Emory's

Office of Residence Life and Housing could learn from the world of

athletics by improving on its defense this semester. Instead of

ignoring major crises and issues this semester, Res Life must

confront controversial issues.

But enough with the sports analogy, I'll put it quite simply: I am

sick and tired of constantly reading in the Wheel about the gaffes

committed by Res Life last semester. There are too many hard-working

people in Res Life who don't deserve to work under the poisonous

cloud that has engulfed their organization. So I would like to take

this opportunity to review the most recent actions of Res Life.

The Res Life saga began on Aug. 24, 2005, when an Emory student's

father's hand went through the wall of his child's dorm room. His

hand landed in mold-infested wall insulation, leading to a

widespread evacuation of Turman South. Embarrassing? Very.

Preventable? Easily. Each of the dorms should have been checked for

mold before students moved into their rooms. But, in a recurring

theme for Res Life, instead of taking the initiative and checking

dorms before students moved in, it set out to apply a quick fix to

Turman South, ignoring potential mold problems in other dorms.

Chapter two of Res Life's fall semester failures occurred on Sept.

27, 2005, when officials from Res Life announced that approximately

100 residents from Turman North and East would have to move out.

These residents ended up moving into a Marriott over five miles

away. The reason? Mold. The same mold that Res Life neglected to

check for in these very same dorms a month earlier. Res Life

officials should be commended for coming up with the best possible

alternative solution, but this represents another example of a

problem that didn't have to happen. Furthermore, Res Life officials

should be getting good at reacting to crises, because they have had

more than a few opportunities.

While in these first two incidents Res Life officials responded

commendably — even if they failed to take simple actions to prevent

the issues from occurring in the first place — Res Life earned its

third black eye through its pathetic and completely unacceptable

response to Woodruff Residential Center students' allegations of

sexual solicitations by former Woodruff Residential Hall Director

Amondo Redmond.

The Wheel quoted Assistant Housing Director Kayla Hamilton as

saying " an investigation occurred and the appropriate steps were

taken. " Fair enough. I'm sure there is some kind of procedure in

place for incidents like this. But if that contingency plan doesn't

force someone in a position of authority accused of sexual

solicitation to at least temporarily step aside while the

investigation takes place, the plan is worthless. Two months went by

between the first allegations against Redmond (with strong evidence,

no less) and the removal of Redmond from the dorm. There is no

reasonable explanation that Res Life can provide. Two months is

simply too long. Redmond should have been moved out of the dorm

during the investigation, and he should have only been permitted to

return if and when he was cleared.

The biggest controversy throughout this saga has been the

painstakingly slow response by Res Life officials. Res Life could

have played strong defense by removing Redmond from the hall. But

Res Life failed to do this, and then found itself reeling in

retreat. Let's hope that this semester, Res Life will step up to the

plate and play better defense, so issues like those which plagued it

last semester will not occur again.

— van der Horst is a College freshman from Cincinnati.