Thanks to the administration, Resident Assistants could be moving out of their luxurious Speare singles to a new location: The picket line.

The administration recently announced to its RAs it will institute minor changes to the current RA contract. RAs working the front desk of residence halls must check in at the Resident Director’s office on Columbus Avenue. RAs will also see their hours doubled in the event they miss a shift without rescheduling.

These are minor issues, not exactly on par with your average Nike sweatshop, but it raises a larger question: What is the point of a contract if the administration won’t honor it?

Isn’t that why contracts are signed in the first place – to establish in writing the terms of commitment? What if the university raised tuition mid-semester and didn’t say a word until you got the bill? Actually, let’s not give them any ideas.

And according to the RAs who spoke at Thursday’s SGA meeting, this is not the first time the administration has rewritten the contract in the middle of the night.

Now, certainly it’s hard to cry for people receiving room and board for a job that really only requires them to show up. But RAs are employees of the university and, like employees in the real world, have the right to be treated fairly.

Even stranger is Vice President of Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier’s claim RAs are employees, yet their contract forbids them from unionizing or speaking to the media – two restrictions that reek of a power trip.

The administration was offensively out of bounds in assuming it could tamper with an existing contract without notifying those it most affects.

Obviously, something needs to be done if RAs aren’t showing up for shifts, particularly front desk shifts.

All the administration had to do was set up a negotiation between themselves and the RAs. But they didn’t. And now they have alienated their entire workforce.

Maybe it’s fair RAs be punished for neglecting their jobs. If you regularly skip co-op, you get in trouble. The difference is there’s a good chance your boss will tell you to your face. In this instance, the administration acted in cowardice.

The RAs need to remember something as these proceedings go further. They are the only ones who can incite change. The administration will not have a change of heart on the issue.