Resident Assistant Case Study

As a Resident Assistant, I can expect to be confronted with at least a few incidents on a given weekend night. Although these incidents are often unpredictable in the sense that no two incidents are entirely alike, there are some general assumptions I can make before confronting the incident. One of the strongest assumptions allows me to hypothesize the trajectory of the incident based on the genders of the individuals involved. Based on my experience as a Resident Assistant, incidents involving male residents tend to result in active resistance and denial, while incidents involving female residents tend to result in fear and compliance.
At the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs, Connecticut, all first-year students are required to …show more content…
Buckley Hall and Shippee Hall house the first-year honors community. The honors program provides an opportunity for high-achieving students to go above and beyond the average students’ academic success and engagement. At the University of Connecticut, all incoming students accepted into the honors program are required to live in the first-year Honors community. Buckley and Shippee are located on the southeastern edge of campus, directly adjacent to Storrs Center. Many students often remark that the location of the first-year honors community is as far away from the center of campus, while still being part of the University’s property. Because the buildings are located on the outer edge of campus, may feel motivated to stay in the buildings and host parties, rather than venture across campus. These parties within the residence hall often result in incidents. In the Buckley and Shippee communities, incidents primarily involving male residents typically entail resistance and confrontation, while incidents primarily involving female residents tend to entail a greater degree of fear and …show more content…
I was not incredibly surprised when I learned that Matt’s “real” name was John Doe, and his friends were named Johnny Appleseed, Peter Pan, Willy Wonka, and Nigel Thornberry. Equally unsurprising was when each of their identification numbers started with a nine, when all University of Connecticut identification numbers begin with either a one or a two. At this point, there was nothing more that my duty partner or I could do. We left the scene with the information we were given and did our best to capture the details in a report to our supervisor. Although incidents like these are often incredibly frustrating, I have come to expect this general pattern of behavior among male residents when they are confronted by RAs. Unlike the girls we had dealt with earlier in the night, these boys offered no apology, compliance, or fear, and instead resisted with total lack of remorse. Many people outside of the honors program often expect that all honors students are polite, exude acceptance, and exhibit pro-social behavior at all times; in my experience, I have not found a significant contrast between the natural tendencies of honors students and general college