Last spring, ASU decided Hassayampa Academic Village resident assistants wouldn't have to lay down the law in the dorms.
But the plan was shelved because the University could not apply the new RA system to all residence halls, according to Residential Life officials.
The original resident-adviser system, proposed last spring, was supposed to have four full-time Department of Public Safety police aides assigned only to Hassayampa. The resident adviser would not have taken on disciplinary roles, Medina said.
But University Student Initiative and ResLife have since decided to put the new system on hold, said Diana Medina, a ResLife spokeswoman.
Instead, three on-duty police aides will cover all of the residence halls throughout the Tempe campus, said DPS Commander Allen Clark.
He said having three aides covering the whole campus would provide better security.
"Spreading your resources is the best option," Clark said. "It will help cover the facilities as best as possible."
No matter which model is used, DPS police-aide roles don't change, Clark said.
"Police aides are full-time employees and are the eyes and ears of DPS," he said.
Aides can't arrest students who commit policy violations, but can report them to DPS, he added.
Jessica Williams, a political science junior, was excited to become a resident adviser in Hassayampa, but when the job became a traditional resident assistant position, she turned it down.
"It was a great model because the RA would be a resource or a mentor to the student," Williams said. "If an RA has to resolve disciplinary conflicts, it may not be as easy for the student to come to them for help on other issues."
RAs must address students who violate University policy and support disciplinary actions when needed, ResLife said.
Jennifer Endicott, an accounting freshman who lives in Hassayampa, likes the idea of having RAs in charge of discipline instead of police aides.
"I would rather have the RA in charge of reporting violations because the RA is someone that I know personally," Endicott said.
Business freshman Cory Nelson, another Hassayampa resident, took a different stance.
"It's too bad the RA has to play the good guy and bad guy," he said.
Chad Stephens, a business freshman said it was all the same to him.
"Hey, the police station is right there anyway," he said, motioning to the building not to far from his Hassayampa home.
Reach the reporter at: jeffrey.mitchell@asu.edu
