Well, I got fired from Housing. Read the letter I wrote to my residents and fellow RAs, it explains everything:
Residents of 3rd North and Fellow Brockert Staff,
As you may or may not have been told, I am no longer an employee of Student Housing. Due to an incident that occurred on the evening of April 1, Sherry Nevins, along with Rhonda Viney and Linda Mulroy-Bowden, made the decision to terminate my employment. I may or may not be appealing the decision, as I feel that anything I say in my defense will fall on deaf ears. I wanted you all to hear my side of the story before anything else is released publicly. This is 100% the truth, and I hope it will explain my impending absence better than what Housing will provide, if anything.
On the evening of April 1, a resident of Brockert Hall approached me saying that they had an idea for an April Fools Day prank that they could play on Rachel Wussow, Brockert's Resident Director. The prank consisted of chaining her vehicle to the signpost at her parking spot. At the time, I thought it was a harmless prank, and wouldn't have damaged the car or the signpole, since the chain was connected to the car and pole by plastic zip-ties, and would easily break apart should Rachel not notice the chain. I went down to the front of Brockert and watched as the chain was put on. At no point did I see or hear anything that would indicate malice towards Rachel or the RD position. In addition, a sign was placed on the driver's side window that said "Don't back up", further ensuring that her vehicle would not be damaged. I still believe that no harm could have possibly occurred from the prank other than the minor inconvenience of having to cut her car loose. Housing's Central Staff believes otherwise. During two meetings I had with Sherry and Rachel, Sherry told me that she believed that my intent was malicious and was done out of spite for Rachel. This is simply wrong. I have nothing but respect for Rachel, and believe that she is an outstanding RD and has a very positive rapport with her residents. Had I believed that the prank was malicious in intent, and was designed to personally attack her and/or damage her vehicle, I would have put a stop to it. But because of the nature of the relationship between Rachel and the people involved in the prank, I felt that it would be viewed as what it was: a harmless prank, and that everyone would have a good laugh and eventually forget about it. Apparently I was mistaken.
Central Staff's opinion is that as an RA, I'm responsible for preventing malicious behavior on campus. My arguments that there was, in fact, no malicious intent, indicated by the sign we left, along with the fact that I was only a fringe participant were, in essence, ignored. What wasn't ignored was my unwillingness to divulge the names of the people who were directly involved, which may have saved my job. I'll admit, I was slightly angry during the meetings, and with good reason; they were considering firing me for a completely trivial event. I would understand if I was being fired for providing alcohol to underage residents, or setting a lounge carpet on fire, or one of any hundreds of more severe incidents. Unfortunately, they are my employers, and I must respect their decisions.
So long story short, I will be moving out of 328 on April 17th. I don't know what the plans for staffing my position in the coming weeks will be, but I'm sure it will be taken care of by my capable fellow staff.
If you would like to talk to me, I'll be around on and off for the next few days. If I'm not, give me a call at 342-2012, or leave me a note on my door and I'll find you. I will most likely be moving to another dorm room in a non-circle hall, as I have been informed I cannot move into a different room in Brockert or any room in a circle dorm (Pickard, Brockert, or Hugunin).
To close, I would like to mention how great the men of 3rd North have been this year. I hope that you all have a great final few weeks. I would also like to say that the Brockert staff has been wonderful and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to work with. Good luck to everyone on finals!
Chris Perry
So yeah, it's a load of crap if you ask me. To be really honest, I'm not that sad that I lost my job, I'm more pissed and sad that the central staff of housing can be that anal and utterly merciless. I pity Sherry Nevins because I can't see how anyone can take a job that seriously. Sad, really. So yeah, I'm looking for a place to live for a month. If you have anything in the PVille area, give me a ring. Snootch.
