In the midst of an election year, officially four years post-COVID, an unprecedented issue has reigned across not only our campus, but also the entire nation. A national worker shortage was identified in the past year. As a small institution, Viterbo isn’t safe from this shortage, and it has been obviously reflected in budget cuts, staff shortages, and a hiring freeze.
To resolve this issue, Residence Life has taken an unconventional approach to satisfy their hiring. Every year, a group of 30 eager students line up to take part in the resident assistant hiring process. However last year, only three students showed up on that fateful day. In response, Residence Life chose to put their heads together and come up with a solution. Their decision? Employ the longtime residents of the building to fill the RA role.
You know the saying, “Many hands make light work”? Now imagine your RAs have eight hands each. Suddenly, rounds are faster, door decorations are created in mass amounts, and room checks are completed in an instant. That’s right. Twenty-three spiders have been hired into the resident assistant role in order to fill the gap in each apartment building.
A perk of this? Their home is above the students, found above the ceiling tiles in Bonaventure and in the doorframes of Clare. With the residence within the buildings, the department is able to save money by selling those previously RA occupied spots to students.
Residents have had mixed opinions on this. First-year Arachnophilia major, Jasper Huntsman says, “I feel more at home than ever! Spiders are so cool and to have them in charge? Even better!”
Some concerns are that this change will prevent students from choosing to live on campus in fear that their arachnid authorities will cause terror and nightmares throughout the student population. Residence Life coordinators state that this was a necessary move for the university to be able to provide a unique, personalized on campus living environment. By providing the spiders a role, not only are they saving money on housing and food plans, but they have also reduced the need to spray for our other many legged friends who find their ways into our buildings. The spiders have kept incredible control of their students and fellow critters so far.
The spiders have completed some incredible programming so far this semester, with events such as “Creating Webs of Connection,” where residents learned how to network in the professional world and create relationships with others.
Campus leaders believe this change will continue to be implemented in the coming years after the success they have seen in just one semester. With more hands available, Residence Life has also been able to cut work study hours in their department, saving even more money. Although this has been a non-traditional shift in what we are used to seeing, many expect it to be a positive change for all.
