Correction Appended
Housing and Dining Programs planned to send an e-mail to all on-campus residents Friday to unveil EagleEye, a new program that will gather information about resident students' personal life, academics, social life and overall AU experience that AU officials will then track, according to documents The Eagle has viewed.
The program is considered opt-in, although if more than five or so students per floor do not participate, Housing and Dining will pressure RAs to get more students to participate in the program, The Eagle has learned.
Director of Residence Life Rick Treter said the program is totally voluntary for residents and that if RAs do not complete the program, their jobs are not in jeopardy.
Treter first confirmed the Friday date to The Eagle. After receiving another phone call, he retracted the statement and said he was "premature" in his statement and that the program is still being reviewed.
Housing and Dining Executive Director Chris Moody said there was "no intent" to send an e-mail Friday and the program is still under review.
Some resident assistants have already begun the program and started talking with students, according to Treter.
RAs learned of general aspects of the program at staff meetings last week, The Eagle has learned. RAs got specific details and guidelines at an in-service session Tuesday, according to Treter.
According to the documents viewed by The Eagle, specifics of the program include: -There are different interview guidelines and questions for freshmen, sophomores and upperclassmen. -Freshmen will complete a survey prior to a meeting with their RA. -All RAs must make an effort to conduct a brief meeting with each of their residents, recommended to last between 15 and 20 minutes, during which they will collect information about each student's experiences at AU. More brief or informal conversations are permitted if the RA feels he or she has enough information to complete the evaluation. -After the meeting, RAs will enter information about the student into an online program, including subjective numerical evaluations of each student based on a one-to-10 scale. An online file will exist for every resident who participates in the program. Treter denied an online database of student information would exist in connection with the EagleEye program. -RAs will also enter other observations into a text box on the Web site. -Once the information is collected, Housing and Dining personnel will review the numerical information to identify any discrepancies between the self-evaluation and the RA's evaluation. -Tailored e-mails will be sent to specific groups of students based on their responses and the RA evaluations.
The data will be analyzed at an aggregate level rather than focusing on one student. Treter will view all records and the records will eventually be deleted, he said.
The program's formal purpose is to increase interaction after students gave poor ratings to RA-student interaction in a survey this spring by Educational Benchmarking, Inc. The program is also being billed as an early warning system to identify red flag students, or those who may need additional support, and as a way to increase student retention, The Eagle has learned.
Some RAs have a problem with the collection of this type of data into a file, while others dislike the increased workload, essentially creating an additional time commitment of 45 minutes per year per resident, The Eagle has learned.
"The idea of EagleEye is bizarre to them [RAs]," Treter said.
There is a bit of nervousness among RAs, he said.
"I know there are some vocal RAs," Treter said. "They aren't understanding what the orientation of this [program] will be."
You can reach these staff writers at news@theeagleonline.com.
Last updated on 9/18/08 at 12:38 p.m.
Correction: In a breaking news alert published Sept. 18, "Housing and Dining to conduct new student monitoring program," The Eagle incorrectly reported which students would be encouraged to have individual meetings with resident assistants. Only freshmen will have three meetings a year. Sophomores will be encouraged to have one meeting per semester. Juniors and seniors will not have one-on-one meetings with RAs but will receive informational newsletters.
