An ASU Residential Life administrator said the department is responding to concerns about how resident assistants are treated.
"We are addressing the concerns," said Residential Life Associate Director Mistalene Calleroz, although she added, "it's difficult to change things mid-semester."
She said Residential Life was not disputing the accuracy of The State Press March 24 story on the subject, but felt that it was somewhat one-sided. The department will not be issuing an official statement, Calleroz said.
"There are a lot of positive things about working with Residential Life," she said, although "there's always room for improvement."
Meanwhile, a former hall coordinator and a current RA reported similar experiences as employees of the department.
A former hall coordinator with Residential Life said Wednesday that her time with the department was difficult, but valuable.
"It wasn't a healthy environment for me, professionally and personally," said Kerensa Tice, a hall coordinator on north campus from 1999 to 2002. She is now the director of Residential Life at Central Arizona College, about 40 miles southeast of ASU near Coolidge.
"It's a very emotional, stressful position," she said of being a hall coordinator. "If you feel left out on a limb, that's a really tough place to be."
Tice said she didn't feel appreciated as an employee during her time at ASU.
"It really felt like a transitional place," she said. "You were expected to come and leave in a pretty short period of time."
She added that she thought the department didn't value its employees enough.
"They make a lot of money, and they don't have to value people. People will come and work there," she said, adding that that was one of the reasons she took a position at a much smaller school.
"My quality of life is very important to (Central Arizona College)," Tice said.
Also on Wednesday, a current north campus RA spoke to The State Press about his time with the department, saying he sometimes felt his superiors there cared more about adhering to policies than helping RAs or residents.
"Whether they're here for us or not," he said, "at times it seems they're just here to support Residential Life, no matter who they have to step on."
He said inconsistency was a problem and spoke of a situation similar to one described in last week's story where an RA on his staff was fired for a policy violation that, in the past, might have warranted only a warning.
"Maybe they're trying to set a precedent," he said, but he added, "as quickly as you're welcomed in, they just as quickly kick you out the door."
The RA said he originally intended to allow his name to be used, but after grappling with the idea for several days, he decided he could only comment anonymously.
"We should be able to voice our opinions ... without fearing that our jobs will be in jeopardy," he said, but "there's no doubt in my mind that I absolutely would be fired."
Internal e-mails and memorandums within the department seem to indicate a continued push for media silence, one of the issues discussed in the original report."My request is we not respond to the article, as there are forces outside the department working behind the scenes to challenge The State Press approach to the article and others like it," said department Director Kevin Cook in an e-mail to Residential Life staff members, but not RAs.
He went on to call the story "one-sided" and asked that employees not allow it to influence their work.
Calleroz declined to elaborate on what Cook meant, because she said she didn't know all the details.
The 137 RAs on campus received a different letter, delivered Friday through campus mail and signed by Cook, Calleroz, Area Coordinator Mary Triano and Assistant Director Cassandra Camille.
The letter said RAs' advice and presence make an impact on hall residents' college experiences and were sent with gift certificates of at least $10 to the ASU bookstore. Several RAs, speaking anonymously, said they received higher denominations based on seniority.
Reach the reporter at noah.austin@asu.edu.