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Counselors' job takes dual
role
By Dave Stephens
Assistant
Campus Editor
The role of residence hall counselors is to be
a friend and confidant to the students on their floors. It is also the
role of residence hall counselors to provide and enforce University
and residence hall policies.
It's this dual role of residence hall counselors
that is at the heart of a lawsuit against Purdue University, a lawsuit
that contends that this double role led to the death of Jay Severson.
It was five years ago today when Jarrod Eskew,
then a freshman in the School of Liberal Arts, entered the room of Severson,
a graduate student, and fatally shot him with a 12-gauge shotgun.
The day before, Severson, a residence hall counselor,
notified the Purdue Police Department that he had discovered Eskew with
cocaine in his Wiley Hall room. When police arrived on the scene, they
found traces of drugs in Eskew's room but Eskew had fled.
The next day, Oct. 16, 1996, Eskew returned to
Wiley Hall and shot Severson. Eskew then barricaded himself in his own
room, eventually committing suicide. An autopsy would later reveal that
Eskew had traces of both cocaine and marijuana in his system.
Three years after his death, Severson's parents
filed a wrongful death suit against Purdue University, the board of
trustees, several Purdue administrators and members of both the Purdue
police and the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Department. The lawsuit,
which has been delayed because of appeals, could be scheduled for early
in 2002, said Andy Wirick, lawyer for the Seversons. A motion of summary
judgement is scheduled for Oct. 29 in the Tippecanoe County court.
Wally Bielat, a residence hall counselor in Cary
Quadrangle, said he's never had a problem fulfilling the duties of being
a counselor.
"There's never really been a problem when it came
to enforcing rules," said Bielat, a senior in the School of Pharmacy.
"Our role is to facilitate an environment of friendship with the people
on our floor, but when someone does something wrong, what I try to do
is explain why they are creating a problem. I don’t just say, 'Don’t
do that,' but I try to explain where I'm coming from."
Bielat said most students know the counselors are
required to do their job, even if it means getting their friends in
trouble.
"That's something I try to make them understand
when I talk to them, that I'm not doing this for personal reason," said
Bielat. "Most of them realize we are still students ourselves."
Umer Taqvi, a senior in the School of Management
and a staff resident in McCutcheon Hall, said all residence hall counselors
receive intensive training about how to handle adverse situations for
two weeks in the summer and at various times during each semester.
He said the training covers many aspects of residence
hall life, including how to resolve conflict situations.
"We try to resolve the problem in an as nice as
possible fashion," said Taqvi. "We try not to come off as sergeants
in the military. We try to keep the sociable aspect there."
Taqvi said he hasn't experienced any threats to
his safety while working as a counselor and that he hasn't heard of
any major incidents happening in the two years that he has held the
position. He added that although he is aware of the potential difficulty
in maintaining the dual roles of his job, being a counselor is still
something he enjoys.
"At times it's hard because you're friends with
these people but you're also living with them and responsible for their
safety," said Taqvi. "But it's an important job that somebody needs
to do."
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CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
(765)
743-1111 ext. 253
Campus editor:
Laura Pelner
Assistant campus
editors: Kurt Esposito,
Dave Stephens
To
send a letter to the editor, please email campus@purdueexponent.org
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