Many individuals in the student body are in uproar regarding the decision to cut the position of peer mentors in the freshmen residential halls. To be clear, there are numerous rumors floating around about the changes being made, but according to Student Government Association President Yevin Roh, the only alteration that has been decided on is the cut to peer mentors.

When I heard this news my initial reaction was a combination of, “What’s the big deal?” and “Finally.” My experience with my peer mentor freshman year was incredibly lackluster. His name was Reggie and I hardly ever saw him. His door was usually closed, he never hosted any programs or events and I essentially did not have a relationship with him of any kind.

On the other hand, Ashley, my resident assistant, was awesome. Her door was always open, she was friendly, and she hosted events for our floor that people frequently attended. Furthermore, we once ran into each other while intoxicated and it is one of my favorite memories of my freshman year. It was flat out hilarious and we had a strong enough relationship which allowed it to be so.

I understand the importance of resident assistants, maybe because mine did her job exceptionally well, but I feel some confusion about what role peer mentors are intended to fill. If they are supposed to do what their title implies, mentor, I feel that resident assistants can do this as well. Ashley certainly would have been my choice of mentor, and I know she did plenty of mentoring and assisting of the residents over the course of the year.

I might be incorrect, but it has been my understanding that the role of a resident assistant is to help the individuals in their dorm to adjust to being at college. The two jobs seem very similar to me, and considering there are multiple resident assistants on every dormitory floor, it seems the job of the peer mentors can be accomplished by others.

Other students have shared with me how much more they connected with their peer mentors than their resident assistants, and I recognize that peer mentors can and do serve an important role in residence life. They are an additional resource for freshmen who may feel lost and alone on a large, busy campus. However, this seems to also be exactly what resident assistants do. Do we need two different types of positions to guide and mentor the freshman class? Peer mentors are definitely not wholly unnecessary, but as I assume the cuts are being made due to budget, and seeing as this university has been struggling financially for years, cuts must be made.

During my three and a half years on this campus I have seen students angered by fee increases and also angered by the cuts the administration makes, but in a budget crises both of these things must happen. I am not saying the university has made the best decisions in terms of the cuts they make, but somewhere along the line they need to be made. Would we as a student body be willing to see fee increases in order to save the Peer Mentor position?

There were rumors of other changes, most of which I do not agree with. The resident assistant job should not be changed to an unpaid internship and housing should not have a correlation to GPA. Although at the same time I do not view these changes as something to be up in arms about, perhaps only because they will not affect me. If I were to be living on campus or serving as a resident assistant next year, I might feel differently.

Regardless, students should have had a larger role in the discussion and decision process of all of this. The peer mentor position should not have been cut without consulting the student body to a greater degree since it does impact more than just those individuals who fill the role. I just have not been convinced of the importance of the peer mentor position and this is likely because the  limited experience I had with them was negative. As a result, I was, and remain, largely unconcerned with the decision to cut the peer mentor position

I more than welcome individuals to send me emails explaining why this position is so critical and why resident assistants are not suited to do this same job already. I would very much like to understand what caused people to protest – so rational, articulate, well thought out emails with answers to these inquiries are appreciated.

Kellie Quinn is a Collegian columnist. She can be reached at [email protected].