Resident Assistant Scenarios

Words: 778
Pages: 4

This is your first semester as a Resident Assistant for the Department of Resident Life. You are excited to get to know your residents and build a positive community on your floor with your co-RA. You and your co-RA have a great working relationship; he is a friendly person, he has been an RA for four semesters, and he's always happy to help whenever you need assistance. You are still new to the position, so you know all the rules and policies and follow them judiciously. You are meeting up with your co-RA soon to brainstorm for the upcoming floor event. Just as you are about to open the door to the stair entrance, through the window, you see a resident leave your co-RA's room and your co-RA gives the resident a kiss on the lips. What would you do?
As mentioned in lecture, secondary relationships are interactions with your RA
…show more content…
On one hand, it is my job to be “fair, consistent, and equitable in responding to residents’ behavior concerns and in enforcing behavioral expectations” (Position Description). On the other hand, I must be able to “work in conjunction with, support, and respect all departmental staff members, including fellow RAs” (Position Description). The respect component is what sticks out to me. Despite the conflict, maintaining respect is the most important element to uphold the ethical principles.
Because this is an ethical issue, I have to consider the Ethics Review Guidelines. I don't know much about the relationship between my co-RA and my resident and I'm just going based off of what I saw. I would consider the “Respect Autonomy” guideline by acknowledging the constraints of my RA position and by respecting the rights of the resident and the RA to act independently. Furthermore, I would consider the "Do No Harm" guideline by not confronting the resident and co-RA in that moment. This could alert other residents on the floor and unintentionally do psychological harm to the