Students hold leadership roles in each house. They work for the Office of Residential Life and are trained to develop residential programming, respond to roommate disagreements and help ensure the safety and security of all students.
Residence Coordinators (Formally called Housefellows)
Residence Coordinators are undergraduate residence hall directors. They are juniors or seniors selected in the spring semester to serve as paid paraprofessionals. RCs are supervised by the Office of Residential Life and report to one of the Assistant Directors. They help create, in conjunction with their resident assistants, the community development of their particular residence house. They attend weekly meetings, receive extensive training and work with a large group of other student leaders. RCs also have the unique role of leading the RAs who also reside and work in the house/apartment.
What Residence Coordinators do
RCs host community-building events, help with roommate mediations, call in maintenance concerns, work with Campus Safety to ensure policy adherence, open/close the residence halls during each semester, help run Orientation and assist in the transition of first-year students. They also promote community in their houses through educational and social means that challenge and support the personal development of each resident. They work closely with the Offices of Student Life, Campus Safety, Facilities Management, academic deans, counselors, the Student Government Association, Honor Council, and other members of the Connecticut College community.
Resident Assistants (formally called Floor Governors)
A Resident Assistant (RA) is a sophomore, junior, or senior student whose primary role in the residence hall is to develop a positive residential community. RAs develop and coordinate the social and educational programming that occurs in the houses, including everything from ice cream parties to study breaks to dialogues with faculty and staff. Input from residents is always encouraged and invited.
The number of RAs in each residence hall depends on the size of the house. A typical house has between one and three RAs. Apartments will have 1-2 RAs per apartment complex. In addition to programming, RAs also assist the Residence Coordinator (RC) with the opening and closing of the residence halls, on-call responsibilities, lock-outs and roommate mediations.