Policy Enforcement

Students' logic amazes me sometimes. If I find you passed out in a lounge, you don't respond when I try to wake you and the next day you don't remember what happened, how can you tell me that you are okay and it wasn't a big deal? What it someone else had found you? What if nobody had found you? What if you had passed out somewhere else?

I've had quite a few meetings with students regarding policy violations lately and of course, the common response is, "I didn't know." My grad suggested starting off next year with all the bulletin boards having information about policies and possible consequences, but I don't really like that idea - it'd create such a negative atmosphere right from the start - as if we were out to get students. There has to be a better way to educate residents about policies. And let's be honest - the students, who come to those meetings because they have violated policies, are rarely the ones that read our bulletin boards or attend floor meetings. And I think it's a good lesson for a student to learn - not knowing the policy doesn't let you get away with things. In the "real world," you can't kill someone and then say, "Oh sorry, didn't realize it was against the law." Okay, extreme example, but you get my point....

In the end, I think the best we can do is make the information available to students, remind them occasionally through e-mails or a bulletin board (one, not all) about certain policies, and create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable coming to you with questions. And then we need to make sure our staff knows the policies and enforces them consistently, so that - if a student violates a policy - we can at least have that educational conversation (and yes, there will most likely be some consequences).

But yeah, staff knowing those policies!?! - that can be a tough one in itself. I've had a few situations this year where my own RAs violated policy and then used the "Oh-I-didn't-know" excuse. YOU ARE AN RA!!! I realize students don't read our policies, but I would expect that you did...or at least paid attention when we talked about the main ones during training and/or staff meetings.

And let's not even talk about consistent enforcement....

But hey, only four more weeks left. It'll be a busy four weeks and I'm sure our policy enforcement skills will be put to the test, but in the end we'll make it through and hopefully we, as well as our students, will learn something from this whole experience.