Resident advisor: an advisor who resides or someone who advises residents?

Question

Google assures me that there's a position at various postsecondary institutions called "resident assistant", "resident advisor", or "resident adviser". This is a student who lives in a dormitory and assists/advises its other residents.

When this phrase (whichever saw earliest use) was starting to be used, was it intended as

• resident_​adjective advisor

(i.e. a local advisor, an advisor who resides in the dorm) or as

• resident_​noun advisor

(i.e. someone who advises residents, à la "stamp collector")? Any evidence would be most welcome.

Answer 1

From the Columbia University Annual Report of 1915, we have:

and I am glad to be able to report that through the generosity of one of the Trustees, himself an alumnus of the College, provision has been made for a resident advisor of students, with office and rooms in Hartley Hall.

If "resident advisor" had been intended as "advisor of residents", then "resident advisor of students" would be redundant.

Answer 2

It depends on how it's pronounced, like most things in English.
In this case, which syllable has the stress is what distinguishes (disTINGuishes):

• If "resident advisor" sposta mean 'advisor who resides', it's "resident adVIsor"
• If "resident advisor" sposta mean 'advisor for residents', it's "REsident advisor"

Pragmatically, the first one is much more likely than the second;
but that's because of the way residence and advising work in the real world.
Not because of any grammatical or semantic rule.