Emma Halahan discusses the changes being made to the hall support programme.
On the 16th of May, the college announced that the Residential Support Advisor programme (RSA) would be changed significantly for the 2017/18 year. The new programme, The Hall Life Team, will include 24 Hall Life Assistants and just six Hall Life Duty Officers. Only the six Hall Life Duty Officers will go on call, responding to emergencies and disturbances in halls during out of hours. This is significantly reduced from the previous programme where an RSA for every individual hall would be on call each night, now the six Hall Life Duty Officers will be responsible for the entire campus. It is unclear how this gap in service provision would be filled.
A current RSA, who wished to remain anonymous, commented on the changes: “RSAs are already understaffed and overworked; significantly reducing the numbers of people on call each night is dangerous for students. This year I was called in for a disciplinary meeting with the RSA team stating that I shouldn’t have put my academics ahead of my duties. We are overstretched and increasing the workload on a smaller team is just going to create a danger to mental health for both students and the Hall Life Team.”
A spokesperson from Royal Holloway University of London stated:
“There will be 24 Hall Life Assistants and six Hall Life Duty Officers working proactively with students living in halls. Each evening, members of the Hall Life Team will be engaging with students though innovative events and campaigns to bring the student community together and to promote a happy hall experience. Hall Life Officers will also be on-call throughout the night supporting students living in halls, alongside security and Campus Watch.”