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NewsvineAlmost a year has passed since the University discovered that Azia Kim was posing as a Stanford student and occupying campus housing. In an effort to address lingering concerns about dormitory security, this year’s resident assistants (RAs) have more frequently been receiving updated emergency rosters for residents in their houses.
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Sue Nunan, director of Housing Assignments, said in an email to The Daily that printed and electronic copies are sent to house staff twice a quarter, one two weeks into the quarter and another after the sixth week.
Several members of house staff, however, were not completely satisfied by this system.
“The system has been really confusing for me, at least,” said Terra House Manager Nick Hartfield ‘09. Last quarter, Hartfield did not get the most updated version of the Terra emergency roster until seven weeks after classes began.
“When people ask where my emergency roster is, I have to say I never got one,” Hartfield continued. Hartfield had to draw up Terra’s own updated roster in case anyone asked who was living in the house.
For Cardenal Resident Assistant (RA) Rahul Shaikh ‘08, the rosters have been a valuable resource because he had more than four resident changes in his hall during winter quarter alone. But Shaikh has also had criticisms about the roster updates. He said he only received emergency rosters two weeks after a new resident had moved in.
“We wouldn’t know that there is supposed to be a change in the roster until Residential Education would tell us,” Shaikh states. “They’re effective when we have updated versions.”
“We would hear about the person coming through either the Resident Fellows or just word-of-mouth,” he continued, “but there is the slight chance that someone might come in when we have an out-dated version of the roster, and we might not know that they aren’t supposed to be here.”
In response to these concerns, Nunan said, “If an RA has someone arrive on their floor that they have not been notified about, they should immediately contact [the administration] and confirm that this person has been assigned to that floor. They should not be waiting until the emergency roster arrives to make this determination.”
Rodger Whitney, executive director of Housing, told The Daily in an email that the rosters are one of a series of changes implemented since Kim was kicked out of Stanford housing.
“There have been some organizational and system changes since Azia Kim that have changed some procedures in both Housing and Residential Education,” he said.
For example, RAs and house managers no longer have access to room keys that they used to give to new students who were moving in. The Housing department’s front desk now controls access to these keys.
Nunan also said that Stanford hopes to move to a secure online roster system that can be accessed by RAs.
Despite concerns about kinks in the system, RAs were generally pleased with the implementation of a roster policy.
“They’re very effective,” Hartfield said about the emergency rosters. “Once this gets worked out, it will be super secure and great.”