"That said, to have porn viewing by an RA legal, and probably he can invite friends to watch with him, but no voluntary Bible study, smacks of impingement of personal freedom that should not be subject to "he's an employee" rules. I mean, what employee can watch porn legitimately on the job?"
Well, I was talking about porn in general in dorms, not in the RAs room. The school may have rules about that for RAs. I don't know.
It's interesting that you use the word "legal" with reference to this. An RA must follow the rules set by the organization that he works for. It really has nothing to do with laws. They're just rules of the organization.
Resident Assistants, generally, have some basic duties. They get free room in the dorms and, sometimes, free meals at the dining hall. In exchange, they perform a loosely-defined set of functions for a small number of students...typically one floor or one wing of one floor of a dorm. There are no set hours, generally.
Duties usually include getting to know all the residents in their area of responsibility. RAs help students understand the rules of the dorm, answer questions about dorm life, and generally spend a lot of time mediating disputes between students and roommates. They also serve as first-level contacts with the university's social services, such as counseling, health care, etcetera.
When they're in their rooms, they're on call for students who have some issue that falls under the RA's purview. That's the problem, I guess, here. No regular hours, and their room is essentially their office.
On a given day, they might mediate an argument between roommates, maybe even about porn. They might talk to a student who they feel is under a lot of stress or showing signs of depression, and suggest a trip to the counselor. They might spot a girl suffering from anorexia and help guide that person to the appropriate help. Another kid may just be homesick and need a pat on the back. And so the RA's job goes.
They have to be accessible to everyone under their sphere of responsibility and everyone in that group needs to feel OK about contacting the RA.
That's why there are rules for the RA. The Bible Study thing? Seems a little silly to ban that, but you never know. Maybe the Bible study is of the "God hates fags" variety. That might well interfere with the RAs job, since it's likely that homosexuality is an issue for some students.