Author: Nona Gronert
The ASOC Senate, in its Tuesday Nov. 17 meeting, approved a proposal to create the Residence Advisory Board (RAB), a student committee which will serve as a liason between the student body and the Resident Life (ResLife) department.
In the past, the Residence Hall Association (RHA) existed to fulfill this purpose. However, the association was more involved in putting on dances, giving funding to student organizations and holding the “Hall of the Year” competition than communicating student opinion to Resident Life.
Dances put on by RHA included Splatter and the Back to School Dance, Halloween Dance and Winter Formal in collaboration with Programming Board.
The RAB came into existence to replace the RHA, partly to better collaborate with the new Residence Life staff and to eliminate overlap in programming and funding provided by ASOC. Seven new staff members joined the Residence Life Staff at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year and the Board intends to provide them with the student input necessary to operate constructively.
Originally, the RHA and the ASOC Senate both put on programming events, and they would both fund student organizations. Now, the Board is focused in a new direction, leaving the ASOC Senate to focus on funding and creating student activities.
According to ASOC President Andrew DeBlock (senior), RHA did not effectively serve student needs in the past since it tended to focus on programming and not the original intent of communicating student concerns about living on campus. “I didn’t see any kind of advocacy from RHA,” DeBlock said. RHA had a budget that student organizations could apply to for funding. “We [ASOC Senate] felt that in the past funding had not been allocated correctly,” DeBlock said.
The idea for the Board was initially conceived after DeBlock and Assistant Dean for Residence Life and Housing Services Tim Chang attempted to contact RHA’s former executive board (e-board) at the beginning of the school year. Chang and DeBlock were looking to plan the Back to School dance that has traditionally been organized by the RHA and received no response from the e-board members.
Mid-semester Charles Bennett, now the Chair of the Board and former Chair of RHA, contacted DeBlock to discuss how RHA’s former e-board could change RHA to better serve the student body. Bennett, along with former e-board member Chelsea Kellogg (sophomore), met with Chang and Lower Campus Community Director and adviser to the RAB Kari Kuykendall to draft a mission statement and proposal to bring to the ASOC.
“I think the way we’re going with RAB will have more impact than the way RHA was structured before,” Kuykendall said. At the Nov. 17 Senate meeting, Bennet said, “The RAB will focus more on operations issues,” such as missing remotes for residence hall televisions or the request for a convenience store in Pauley – issues which the RAB will bring to the attention of the administration.
In addition to advocating for the student body to Residence Life faculty, according to Kuykendall, the board may also try to improve the room draw process. The RAB will be run by an executive board, headed by Bennett. Former RHA e-board members have been invited to serve this year, if they wish, and the RAB e-board will be accepting applications for other members, according to Bennett. He said he is now looking for additional RAB members from every residence hall to also participate.
DeBlock hopes that more students will become involved in the RAB since the position will require less of a time commitment than being a member of the RHA did. As described in its proposal, the RAB will meet every two weeks.
However, some students are displeased by the introduction of the Board. Former RHA e-board member Patrick “Mack” Schoen (sophomore) is dismayed with the new organization of the RAB. Schoen feels that Bennett highjacked the restructuring of the RHA into the RAB.
In addition, he dislikes that e-board members of the RAB will not have special preference in room draw for housing, like e-board members of the RHA did in previous years. “I’m dissatisfied with the new structure but if Tim [Chang] takes suggestions seriously, it could be beneficial for future students,” Schoen said in an e-mail interview.
Conversely, Kuykendall sees the change as a positive force. “I’m excited for this board to be formed and start making a difference on this campus,” Kuykendall said.DeBlock said that he and the Senate support the RAB and see it as a work in progress. “[The formation of the RAB is] a first step; it can easily be adjusted to become more effective.”
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