The Georgetown University residential assistants’ union is circulating a petition directed to the executive director of Residential Education (Res Ed), calling on the university to reverse RA policy changes made throughout Fall 2025. 

The petition asks Res Ed Executive Director Heidi Zeich to rescind a policy announced Nov. 7 that allows RAs living in suite-style apartments to choose only their direct roommate, rather than all of their roommates. Since its launch Nov. 17, the petition has gained 558 signatures as of midnight Nov. 21 from RAs, students and other community members. 

The petition urges the university to roll back the Nov. 7 policy changes.

“We demand that the Department of Residential Education immediately reverse their new policy preventing RAs from selecting their roommates and being given their housing assignments when they accept their employment offer,” the petition reads. “We further call on the university to stop making unprecedented unilateral changes to RA working conditions.”

After voting to unionize in April 2024 and accepting representation from OPEIU Local 153, the Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC) and the university entered a year-long process during which GRAC and the university agreed on a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The CBA created a stipend, an arbitration process for grievances and other policy changes for RAs.

A university spokesperson said the university values RAs’ contributions to residential communities and will use channels established in the CBA to negotiate on the policies of concern.

“The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the university and the Georgetown Resident Assistant Coalition (GRAC) established multiple avenues for both informal and formal discussion and resolution of issues of mutual interest and concern,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Out of respect for this legal agreement between the union and the university, which establishes OPEIU Local 153 as the sole and exclusive representative of GRAC members, Georgetown will continue to use these channels to discuss and resolve any concerns through good-faith engagement.”

Isaiah Vasquez (CAS ’27), GRAC’s vice chairperson and an RA for Copley Hall and Ida Ryan and Isaac Hawkins Hall, said he was encouraged by broad student support of the petition.

“I just feel like it means that our union has more student backing than ever,” Vasquez told The Hoya. “Part of this is by garnering attention and getting people to actually care about the issue because it is something that affects everyone on campus. Whether it’s noise policies or anything else, they are affecting students in general and whether RAs can do their jobs effectively or not.”

Dhruv Shah (SFS ’26), an RA in Hayden Hall, said the Office of Residential Living (Res Living)’s lack of communication on the policy changes was discouraging. 

“I’m a third-year RA and I signed the petition because I support the core of our demands: having a voice in our workplace and conditions of employment,” Shah wrote to The Hoya. “Putting aside the specific policy for a second, this is fundamentally about whether the university will treat us as equals.” 

“During RA training, we have dozens of university partners tell us that we are the first line of defense and that their work couldn’t happen without us,” Shah added. “That kind of falls on deaf ears when the current leadership of Residential Living treats us like we don’t matter.”

With the policy changes, RAs will not be informed of the specific room they are in until after phase two of the housing process, when residents are grouped in pairs. According to multiple RAs, this change means that even if an RA’s friends attempted to join the suite through the standard housing portal, the RA would not yet have a specific room assignment.

The petition alleges that the university is violating labor laws by refusing to bargain over this policy change. 

“This drastic policy change is a direct violation of RAs’ labor rights,” the petition reads. “As unionized employees, RAs have a right to collectively bargain over changes to their working conditions unless there is a ‘clear and present waiver’ excluding the issue in the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement. No such waiver exists.”

“The university is making a unilateral change, which constitutes an Unfair Labor Practice under the National Labor Relations Act,” the petition continues. “To put it simply, Georgetown University is breaking the law.”

According to the university spokesperson, the university has met with GRAC’s representation in OPEIU to discuss the policy changes. The university has also met with GRAC members on the Labor Management Committee, a CBA-formed committee that includes union and university representation. 

A university spokesperson said the university is working in good faith with GRAC and is in compliance with labor law.

“The university continues to communicate in good faith directly with GRAC and OPEIU, as required by the CBA, including an additional meeting with a union representative today,” the spokesperson wrote. “We look forward to continuing this engagement and reaching outcomes which are satisfactory to both parties.” 

Izzy Wagener (SFS ’26), GRAC’s chairperson and RA for Darnall Hall, said the influx of student support for RAs has been particularly meaningful.

“It’s been really awesome to see the outpouring of support from so many different parts of campus,” Wagener told The Hoya. “I didn’t even reach out to most of the groups that signed the petition and clubs and student organizations. So it’s just meant a lot that they went out of their way to show their support for us.”

As of Nov. 20, 15 student organizations have signed onto the petition in addition to GRAC, including student labor advocacy group Georgetown Coalition for Workers’ Rights, the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA) and Georgetown University College Democrats (GUCD).

Mansi Peters (CAS ’27), GUCD’s human resources director, said GUCD signed the petition not only to support friends and peers, but to work toward a better campus. 

“The entire point of advocacy and organizing is to understand that we’re all working toward a better community and a community that wants to uplift each other, no matter our personal stakes in it,” Peters told The Hoya. “So I’m passionate about law, sure, and I’m passionate about advocacy, yes, but I’m also passionate about the people who are actively being affected by it.”

GUSA President-elect Darius Wagner (CAS ’27) said RAs are an essential part of the community.

“Our RAs give so much of themselves to our community,” Wagner told The Hoya. “They stay here during breaks. They come early to design our dorms. They help us when we’re locked out. They help us settle conflicts between roommates. They give so much service to our community, and it’s been incredibly disheartening to see how the director of Residential Education has actively not been consulting with the RAs.”

The GUSA executive and senators tabled in Red Square throughout the week, encouraging students to sign the petition.

Braedon Troy (CAS ’27), GUCD’s campaigning director who signed the petition, said they signed because RAs are an integral part of student life. 

“For a group of people who are really an indispensable part of our dorm life here, especially at a school that requires you to live on campus for the majority of your time here, they absolutely need better working conditions to fulfill their jobs,” Troy told The Hoya.

Wagner said she hopes Res Living and the university administration will heed their demands.

“I hope that they consider some of the arguments that we’ve made and the support of partners on campus and take that into consideration and hopefully reverse this policy,” Wagner said.