Dear Louisiana State University,

The COVID-19 Pandemic has highlighted the university's lack of empathy and care for its frontline workers. As the foundation of the Department of Residential Life, Resident Assistants (RA) deserve to be heard and protected. Only then, will we, RAs, be able to support the communities that we service. We have voiced concern throughout the first weeks on campus, but we have largely been dismissed. Here are our demands to protect and listen to LSU Resident Assistants:

COVID-19: We demand that the department...

1. Provides sufficient PPE to RAs (additional cloth masks, face shields and personal bottle hand sanitizer). 
2. Replenish hand sanitizer dispensers throughout our communities daily.
3. Suspends all in-person activities within the current Community Engagement Model, including in-person interactions.
4. Develops an online Community Engagement Model for the Fall semester to substitute suspended in-person activities.
5. Provides weekly communication to RAs and residents on the number of COVID-19 cases in our residential communities.
6. Provides information on current availability of quarantine and isolation spaces.
7. Provides consistent communication concerning our job duties during COVID-19 conditions (redistribution of duties when RAs are in quarantine/isolation/withdraw from the position).
8. Provides explicit communication on the potential protocols for large outbreaks in our residential communities.
9. Provides clear and explicit protections concerning RA Job Security including but not limited to: Normal disbursement schedule of stipend during an RA’s quarantine/isolation; housing and stipend security for RAs if LSU classes transition fully online or campus closes partially or entirely.

Community Engagement: We demand that the department...

1. Follows our Community Engagement Demands as they pertain to COVID-19 (See #3-4 in our COVID-19 demands).
2. Explicitly sets consistent engagement expectations throughout all communities.
3. Provides clear and explicit protections for RAs who cannot reasonably meet the expectations of the new community engagement model.
4. Creates an RA task-force to develop a reasonable model for community engagement with the Assistant Director for Community Engagement. This model should be adopted starting in the Fall 2021 semester.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): We demand that department...

1. Provides full cooperation in matters of discrimination bias investigation and accountability.
2. Provides full transparency about the bias incident report process.
3. Expands DEI training over multiple days during training weeks.
4. Coordinates mandatory Safe Space Training for RAs during training weeks.

Additionally, we demand that the department endorses our statement on protection from retaliation and establishes an open line of communication with the Concerned LSU RAs platform to negotiate these concerns and establish trust with the Resident Assistant body.

Tigers do their part; LSU, do yours.

Sincerely,

Concerned LSU RAs (concernedlsuras@gmail.com​ | Instagram​ | Twitter)

Reach us at concernedlsuras@gmail.com or DM us on social media.