Rcas

When Daniel Lewis ’13 was a freshman, he said he looked forward to the massage study breaks held by his residential college adviser.

Now an RCA himself in Whitman College, Lewis is the one providing the study breaks rather than taking advantage of them. Lewis is tasked with spending a budget provided to him by his college office, which he said is to be spent on food and supplies for various study breaks for his 14 freshmen and eight sophomore advisees.

This year, 81 full-time RCAs and a “handful” of Assistant RCAs were selected out of a record applicant pool of 256 students, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Cole Crittenden GS ’05 — who oversaw the application process — said in an e-mail.

Though residential college advisers have had mixed responses to the on-call system put into effect last September, a record 256 students have applied for RCA positions for the upcoming academic year. Last year 241 students applied, and 234 applied in 2008.

Despite the Editorial Board’s concerns over the implementation of the policy and disappointment that this change was instituted so abruptly and with such minimal student input, the board believes that the new policy has the potential to improve the safety of on-campus drinking while not detracting from the ability of RCAs to form positive relationships with students in their colleges.

Although emergency prevention by curbing high-risk drinking is critical to protecting our students, it cannot come at the expense of critical emergency response — that is, a clear communication line between students and RCAs.