Abstract
This case study examines and explores the challenges of maintaining honesty, openness, and transparency during the Resident Assistant application selection process. It focuses on a current Resident Assistant who is reapplying for this position and has provided false information in her application. As a supervisor, this case study explores how to go about approaching supervisees and how to effectively have a conversation addressing dishonesty in a constructive conversation. The situation becomes more complex when the supervisor was not given the application to review, but just stumbled upon it while seeing who on staff submitted applications.
Keywords: Resident Assistant, Application, Accountability, Dishonestly Misrepresentation
Primary Characters
Lucy (she/her): A professional Community Director, who has been in her position for three-plus years. Lucy directly supervises Zoey and has a strong relationship and bond with Zoey and the rest of her Resident Assistant staff.
Zoey: (she/her): A sophomore majoring in Psychology, she is a first year Resident Assistant, who is passionate about inclusivity and leadership. She has a strong connection and community of residents on her floor and is highly ambitious when it comes to both working on a team and completing her responsibilities within the Resident Assistant (RA) job. Zoey wants to reapply for the RA position because it is a huge financial relief for her and is something she truly is passionate about.
Context and Case Study
Zoey has had ongoing conversations with her supervisor Lucy this month about reapplying for the Resident Assistant position. Zoey has stressed how she enjoys the work, feels she makes a difference, and has grown in the role. She has also been transparent with Lucy about how big of a financial impact this job is for her. Zoey is a strong, passionate, ambitious Resident Assistant on the RA staff for this building. Lucy approves of Zoey reapplying and believes she will be a great asset to the returning RA staff as well as a genuine support for new RAs for the upcoming academic year.
While Zoey is in the process of working on the RA application, she notices that it asks a lot of crisis management questions. This is something Zoey has not yet experienced in the RA job. Crisis response is something she has talked to Lucy about. Zoey has said more than once in a supervision meeting, “I want to continue working on my emergency response skills. It always seems to be someone else who is on call when a crisis comes up. I have a lot to learn, but I also feel like I have a lot of strengths in this area.” Zoey shared she wants to gain more confidence in this area.
Because of her strong relational skills, Zoey is hoping to be placed in the first-year residence building next year. She feels her skills will be helpful as students transition to college, learn from making mistakes, and as they navigate roommate conflicts which tend to be a common issue in the first-year student community.
Zoey has not only talked with Lucy but has also had countless conversations with senior RAs about her application. They have suggested that the crisis response section is the most important part of the application for returning staff. One RA Zoey particularly looks up to even said, “I don’t know that anything else really matters other than administration skills on the application. They really want people who can train new RAs on emergencies. That’s what matters the most.” Zoey respects this person, and it makes her even more nervous about her chance of being re-hired.
Around the same time, Zoey gets a call from home. Her mom tells Zoey that Zoey’s father has been injured at work. Zoey’s mom says, “I don’t want you to worry too much. Things will be fine. I just wanted to let you know about your dad’s fall in case you want to come home and see him in the next few weeks. Money is going to be a bit tight for a while as he works through this recovery, but we will be fine in the long run. Of course, your dad doesn’t want everyone knowing about this, so if you could not say anything to anyone for the time being.”
Zoey doesn’t share this with anyone, including Lucy, fellow RAs, and friends at school.
With a lot of things weighing on her mind, Zoey puts off filling out the application until the day before it is due. While Zoey is completing her application section on crisis management, she doesn’t have any examples to share. Due to her stress and anxiety she decides to make up something for this part of her application. She begins making up situations related to conflict and crisis management issues. She says that these fabricated situations have been ongoing on her floor all semester. She describes her responses to these situations in ways she thinks align with what full-time staff would want to have happen. She builds a complex story of lies about her approach, communication, and conflict style.
She shares some minor crises but focuses primarily on an in-depth story line about roommate conflicts. She writes at length about how she has managed to solve these roommate issues, has redesigned roommate agreements with tremendous success, and how she has continued keeping a positive environment on her floor for all the residents.
During her interview, Zoey talks about how much she enjoys this work and hopes to continue to be a part of an RA staff. She shares that based on her experiences; she thinks she would be a good fit in a first-year community. When the interviewers ask specifically about her conflict style, Zoey doesn’t say much, simply stating, “I meet students where they are and help them find good solutions to their situations.”
During the interviews, Lucy does not interview Zoey as the department tries to have staff who don’t know candidates interview them. Between her own interviews Lucy is thumbing through files to see who on her staff has reapplied. She pulls three files of potential returners and skims them. When she reads Zoey’s file, she is surprised and confused about what Zoey has shared. Lucy doesn’t know if Zoey has handled these things and not communicated with her or if Zoey is making these issues up. Either way, Lucy has concerns about this application.
The evening after Zoey’s interview, she can’t sleep. She feels guilty about lying, worried about her father, worried about finances, and is not sure what to do. She doesn’t want to let anyone down but feels she has gotten herself into a corner.
Discussion Questions
- What are the ethical implications for Lucy in terms of reporting Zoey even though she wasn’t evaluating the application or the candidate?
- With whom should Zoey consult about this situation?
- What conversation should Lucy have with Zoey?
- What should Zoey do?
- Should Zoey still be considered for a position? Why or why not?
Author Bio
Sarah Berchtold (she/her) is a second-year graduate student in Clemson’s Master of Student Affairs program. Sarah’s assistantship is with Clemson Home as a Graduate Community Director. Prior to attending Clemson, Sarah graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in Spring of 2023 where she worked for three years in the Housing and Residence Life department. She is passionate about working with Resident Assistants and supporting students through the on-campus living experience.