RA Responsibilties

Act as liaisons with the GSAS Offices of Residential Life and Student Services.

• Keep the Director of Residential Life, the Director of Student Services and the Dean for Student Affairs informed on a regular basis, even if help is not immediately needed. Do not hesitate to call. RAs act as the “eyes and ears” for GSAS in the residence halls.
• Be available for residents to discuss urgent and non-urgent matters.

Help residents, particularly new residents, adjust to their environment at Harvard and in the residence halls; be available for urgent and non-urgent matters.

• Lead and participate in events in August and September, such as move-in, International Student Reception, Getting Started, Orientation, Welcome Events, etc.
• Be available at least several evenings a week, especially at the beginning of the year. Be accessible, available and visible to residents.

Handle and report emergency situations, such as illness, accidents within the premises of the residence halls, facilities problems, etc.

• Be present and available during emergency situations.
• Specific examples of emergencies and procedures will be discussed during training and RA meetings throughout the year.
• Please refer to the GSAS Facilities Information and Residential Procedures sections of this manual to review emergency protocol.

Be visible and available to students both in the residence halls and at Dudley House.

• Eat in the kitchen and in the Dudley House Dining Room help maximize availability - RAs are expected to eat at Dudley House frequently.
• RAs have a responsibility for their particular floor, but they are also part of the team of RAs for and should thus get to know as many residents.
• Introduce yourself to everyone on your floor and to other residents as well. Look over the floor rosters and photographs in September to learn names and faces more quickly.
• Take the initiative when you can to introduce residents to each other.
• Be particularly aware of international students on your floor and language difficulties that can contribute to problems one has in adjusting to a new experience and environment.

Inform residents of housing policies, rules and regulations; monitor compliance.

• Adhere to all policies, rules and regulations – be the model resident.
• Fullfill responsibilities with the highest of standards of professionalism. Set the standard of floor behavior by example.
• If you have concerns about any policy, rule or regulation, talk with the Director of Residential Life.
• Respond to resident policy rejections by listening, relaying their concern to the appropriate person/office and referring them to the appropriate person/office.

Receive information from residents and report needed repairs and facilities problems; monitor progress.

• Report items missing and in need of repair.
• Monitor the condition of the kitchen(s), dining areas, lounges, bathrooms and other commons areas and initiate efforts to correct problems.
• Comply with rules and regulations regarding use of the Facilities.
• Establish and maintain a good working relationship with the Custodial Staff.

Staff two distribution of keys shifts during move-in weekend and at other times as necessary.

• Key distribution schedule will be determined during training.
• Assist with check-in and check-out procedures; provide residents with important move-in information at check-in.

Aid residents who are locked out of their rooms.

• Follow the lock-out protocol and procedure when performing lock-outs. This is reviewed in the “Residential Procedures” section of the manual.

Be available to residents on Friday and/or Saturday night several nights each Term.

• In addition to being available during designated weekends in August/September, each RA is required to be available during several weekends each term, Friday and/or Saturday,
• Although the RA is not required to be in their room throughout the entire weekend duty period, they are expected to be in the residence hall and to check voice mail frequently (at least every half hour).
• RAs can host events during weekend duty shifts, as long as they are within earshot of their phone.
• If a change needs to be made to the Weekend Duty Schedule, it is the responsibility of the RA to do the following:
  • Email: All RAs, the Director of Residential Life and gsasreslife@fas.harvard.edu.
  • The Office of Residential Life will attempt to make the change on the bulletin board notices in time for the Friday email newsletter. If this cannot be done, it is the responsibility of the RA to manually make the change on all posted Weekend Duty Schedules throughout the halls.

Attend monthly meetings and additional ones as necessary that are organized by GSAS Residential Life. RA meetings are usually held on the first Wednesday of the month from 7:45-10:00am. A second meeting is held occasionally. Class schedules and other commitments need to be arranged accordingly.

• Attendance at meeting with other RAs, the GSAS Offices of Residential Life and Students Services and others is mandatory. The meetings are valuable in sharing questions, problems, ideas and information, so that our team and community can function more effectively.
• In addition to the monthly meetings, there are several additional meetings and evening dinner socials  throughout the year – please consider these mandatory as well. It is possible that other meetings or RA workshops will be scheduled from time-to-time.

Plan, organize, and hold social events every two – three weeks for the floor for which s/he is responsible.

• Event ideas and planning tips are reviewing in the “Events” section of this manual. 

Participate in events organized by GSAS Residential Life and Student Services, fellow RAs, Graduate Residence Hall Council, Graduate Student Council and Dudley Fellows.

• Support these various organizations by attending and volunteering at several events throughout the year. Most notably, RAs volunteer at: the GSAS Welcome BBQ (run by the Dudley Fellows), the GRHC welcome and end-of-the year events, and GSAS Orientation.
• The CRA will organize a get-together with both the Dudley Fellows and the GRHC Officers at the beginning of the academic year to begin to foster relationships.

Organize and participate in activities a RA Liaison

• A full description can be found here.
• Assignments and expectation will be discussed during RA training.

Pick up information and materials at the Office of Residential Life every Friday afternoon and post or distribute them.

• Each RA has a mail try in Dudley House B2. RAs are expected to pick-up materials every Friday, between 12:00noon-4:30pm.
• If an RA is unable to do so, they should arrange for a co-RA to pick up their items.
• If items are not picked up by 4:00pm, RAs will be notified via email.
• Items in the pick-up must be posted and/or distributed by Saturday at 12:00noon. If you are unable to do the posting or distributing, it is your responsibility to make arrangements with another RA to do so for you.

Submit paperwork, online forms and weekly reports on time.

• RAs must submit their weekly report form by Sunday at midnight.
• RAs must submit expense forms and original receipt within 3-days of purchase.
• All other forms and reports must be submitted by the deadline communication.
• RA forms are also reviewed in the “Resources” section of this manual.