On Wednesday, the University of Oregon Student Workers Union held a town hall meeting in McKenzie Hall to discuss the new “evolved roles”of community assistants and community safety assistants. These new roles will be replacing the resident assistant job.
The meeting was held for current RAs to discuss their concerns and frustrations about the changes to the position.
“The reason we’re having this town hall now is to allow resident assistants to talk through any worries or fears that they might have with the split (role) change,” UOSW president Jacob Gattone said. “I think most of us are expecting the transition into this rule change to not be smooth and to be messy, and when things aren’t moving properly at this university, the people who are at risk the most are the workers, and so we want to make sure that everyone’s protected.”
CAs are offered a 65% discount on a double room and CSAs are offered an 85% discount on a single room, with both allowing for the standard meal plan. This is compared to the previous compensation for RAs, which was full room and board and a stipend of $1,395 a year.
“I don’t think [the split] is a coincidence. This is a direct attack on RAs [who] are some of the most economically vulnerable workers on campus and it’s the job of our union to make sure that workers are protected,” Gattone said.
The decrease in pay is especially hard for Kalapuya RA Nathanial Pratt, who works three jobs in addition to being an RA.
“As a Pathway student, I’m here on scholarship. I’m financially broke,economically disadvantaged. I’m Latino, I’m first generation. For me, coming to college was such a big deal,” Pratt said. “Now that I got here, it really just feels like everything is against me, and it feels like I don’t belong here, and it just feels like Latino students are never allowed in spaces of higher education, especially economically disadvantaged ones.”
During the meeting, several attendees voiced complaints about lack of communication from administration regarding questions and rules.
“I have been without my supervisor for a few months so far, and we really haven’t had any good guidance as far as our role, our expectations, and we don’t really have anyone to report to to ask questions,” Kalapuya RA Cyrus DeWitt said.
Attendees also mentioned that several residence halls have been without community directors throughout the year, leading to improper communication.
“Housing cannot seem to hold on to community directors who keep either quitting or being fired, for, in my opinion, bullshit reasons,” Global Scholars RA Diego Duarte said. “It makes it so that no RA knows what’s going on with housing at any given time. No one knows what we’re supposed to be doing, who we’re reporting to, what we’re responsible for and given situations and things responsible for us. It just makes it really difficult to do a lot of different aspects of our job.”
According to UO spokesperson Angela Seydel, RAs who served through the 2024-25 academic year and the 2025-26 school year will transition to a “community coordinator” role. This role will “grandparent” them into maintaining the role consistent with what they already did, including the full room and board compensation. The title of “resident assistant” is being retired.
Students who became RAs for the first time during the 2025-26 school year are not included in this transition and are expected to apply for one of the new roles and receive the associated compensation of a discount on room and board.
Seydel said the restructure was discussed with student workers as early as 2021 and was ratified in the UOSW contract.
Several attendees voiced complaints about how they received the news of the role split. According to several RAs, they learned about the transition over Instagram rather than from their advisors. Several RAs shared their discontent with housing and the university at the meeting.
“I think that lately the university as a whole, evidenced in [the] housing department, they’re really showing their true colors of, ‘we are a corporation above all,’” DeWitt said.
As application deadlines approach for CA and CSA positions next year, current RAs are concerned about still holding a job as their current role gets phased out.
CAs will not be offered single rooms but instead must share rooms. If they don’t choose to room with another CA or CSA, they will be slotted randomly, leaving the chance for them to be slotted with a resident.
Following the meeting, UOSW hopes to continue to work with RAs to make sure that their voices are heard.
“I’m hoping, especially after this town hall, we’re able to move forward stronger and show the university that we’re serious about this, and that it’s not just RAs who are unhappy about this, it’s everybody on campus,” Gattone said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article included incorrect stipend amounts for resident assistants. The Emerald regrets this error.
