Author:
Javahead
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Date Posted: 16:01:43 11/21/12 Wed
>>>I have a stupid question on a minor point in a story
>>>I'm kicking around. I'm planning a scene set in a
>dorm
>>>room at a private college in the late 1950s, and I'm
>>>presuming the college would have something like a
>>>housemother to keep the lid on, enforce separation of
>>>the sexes, and probably keep booze out of the dorms.
>>>It would be very strict in comparison to what we're
>>>used to today. However, the "housemother" would in
>>>this case be a man. What would be the term used to
>>>describe him? Housefather? Something else?
>>>
>>>-- Wes
>>
>>My first year in college was 1962, all our freshmen
>>dorms had resident assistants, RA's, who supervised
>>the section and lived in that section. All RA's were
>>the same sex as the residents. Remember in 1962 there
>>were few if any co-ed dorms. I think RA's were paid
>>and got the room free.
>>
>>None of the dorms had housemothers. Some fraternities
>>on the other hand did have housemothers, but most at
>>my school did not and more than 50% of the
>>upperclassmen lived in fraternities.
>>
>>Here is a link describing RA's
>>
>>
>>href="http://www.ehow.com/list_6500767_resident-assist
>a
>>nt-duties.html">http://www.ehow.com/list_6500767_resid
>e
>>nt-assistant-duties.html
>>
>>Not sure if this helps.
>
>
>I don't know. I guess I'm envisioning something a
>little stricter and more conservative. In this scene,
>the underage character is hiding booze from the
>(whatever the hell the term is).
>
>-- Wes
For what it's worth, when I attended university (much later - 70's) the RA was responsible for checking for alcohol, etc. I remember my RA checking my room on a regular basis and getting frustrated that although I had a large display of empty bottles (1 each of every imported beer I'd tried) he never found any actual beer. (I didn't drink on-campus, or drink much, and since I wasn't underage I just tried bottles in the local college bars and restaurants.) Frustrated the devil out of him because he was *sure* that I had booze somewhere. Though he didn't know about the secret compartment in the closet some previous resident had built in - I could have stashed a dozen bottles there without worrying. But it was mostly a game on everyone's part.
My younger daughter is currently a CA ("Community Advisor" - UC Santa Cruz we're-so-special for "RA"). She says that she's expected to report any OBVIOUS drinking or marijuana use, but not to go looking for it. Very much a don't ask don't tell policy. Though she can call campus security if necessary, her biggest duties appear to be helping freshmen settle in, advising them about campus resources, and helping people who lost their room keys.
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