American University
Residence Hall Association
c/o Housing & Dining Programs | 4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW | Washington, DC 20016-8142
Phone: (202) 885-1878 | FAX: (202) 885-1154 | E-mail: info@aurha.org | www.aurha.org
Reiter Boldt
President
(202) 885-1878
reiter@aurha.org
Devon Wallick
Vice President of
Administration and Finance
(202) 885-3606
devon@aurha.org
General Assembly Agenda
•
•
Rajita Sanji
Vice President of Advocacy &
Community Coordination
(202) 885-1742
rajita@aurha.org
Hayat Abu-Ghazaleh
Vice President of
Programming
(202) 885-2772
hayat@aurha.org
•
Patricio Barnuevo
National Communications
Coordinator
(202) 885-3676
patricio@aurha.org
Marieka Cober
Chief of Staff
(202) 885-2179
marieka@aurha.org
•
Daniel DeHollander
Advisor
(202) 885-3138
deholla@american.edu
•
November 21, 2013
Call to Order
o President Reiter Boldt called the meeting to order at 9:07 pm.
Attendance
o Anderson 4/6
o Cassell 6/6
o Centennial 5/5
o Hughes 6/6
o Leonard 5/5
o Letts Clark and Roper 6/6
o McDowell 5/5
o Nebraska 1/5
Minutes Approval
o Motion to amend minutes to change Rebecca’s vote to abstain, unanimous
consent
 seconded
o Motion to change “to it in the dark” to “do it in the dark,” unanimous consent
 seconded
o Motion to approve last week’s minutes, unanimous consent
 seconded
Agenda Approval
o Motion to approve this week’s agenda, unanimous consent
 Objective
• Con
o Move Pride Bucks fund request to the beginning
o Motion to move Pride Bucks Fund Request to first item on new business,
unanimous consent
 seconded
o Motion to approve this week’s agenda, unanimous consent
 seconded
Hall Reports
o Anderson
 First advocacy event on public safety and city safety
 Lounge decorating contest
 Thanksgiving is exciting!
o Cassell
 Gives thanks event went well
 Finished planning for stress busting
o Centennial
 Made thank you cards for Aramark
 Penny Wars going on in the hall
 Food drive team for en
o Hughes
 Trivia night event went well
 Holiday card and study events planned
Leonard
 Interviewed for new GA member position
 Going away party for semester students on Saturday
o Letts Clark and Roper
 In the middle of Pride Week
 Lounge decorating contest tomorrow night
 Finals event, small but nice
o McDowell
 Finals survival kits for all residents
 Final study event
 Special election in the hall for president
o Nebraska
 Not present for hall council reports
Executive Board Reports
o President
 Sat in on Campus Life committee on Board of Trustees
 Standing breakfast with Board of Trustees last Friday
 Working with Daniel on the Berkshire Apartments’ involvement
 Logistics for McDowell special election
o Vice President of Administration and Finance
 Fund requests on the agenda this week
 No more than 20% roll out for next semester
 Holiday Marketplace with My Favorite Student
• Working with Hayat and the care package provider
• Dec 2 and 3
• Makes money for RHA
• Event to buy products on those days
o Vice President of Advocacy and Community Coordination
 Food Drive: - Ends Monday, November 25th. - Collection is in the
office, hours will be posted - Still time to sign up!
 Students Helping Honduras
• Great job so far, seen a lot of money in jars
• Students Helping Honduras raises money for supplies and
salaries of construction workers creating schools in Honduras
• Ends on Monday - Winning hall will get a prize (to be
determined)
o Determined by money per resident
 Utensil Campaign
• All through December
• Posters and such to come soon - Keep an eye out for boxes in
lobby to return items
 Working on projects for next semester
• blood drives, Recyclemania, Multicultural night, Hall Wars, and
Student Conduct
• More updates to come soon
o Vice President of Programming
 Founder’s Day
 Thanksgiving dinner going well
 Tailgate
• Thank you for coming! You were awesome!
 Started looking at next semester
o National Communications Coordinator
 Creating the DC United Council
 Program of the Year bid for NACURH, representing bid
o
•
Collecting feedback on CAACURH
• For us and Penn State
o Chief of Staff
 Great GA bonding dinner
 Jamie working on Holiday Market posters
 Excited for Thanksgiving!
o Advisor
 Posting and decorating in residence halls
• Tape may not be used on general postings boards, only
thumbtacks or staples
• Please use painters tape or masking tape on the walls
o no duct tape, scotch tape, or electrical tape
• Please consider quantity of flyers that are being posted
• Please take down old flyers
 New recycling bins will be placed in residence halls at the end of
December and early January
 Question: There is a mouse problem on North Campus. Is there
progress on this front?
• Pests want to come inside when it gets colder
• Submit 2fix reports
• Be sure all food is contained and covered
• Extra food can be donated to keep it out of the room over
winter break
Administrative Board Reports
o Parliamentarian
 Working with Reiter on special election for McDowell
 Reorganizing governing documents to be clear
o NCC-IT
 Absent
 Working with Patricio
o Deputy Programmers
 Do it in the Dark moved to second semester
 End of the semester event on the last Friday of classes at night
• Around 6-8 pm
• S’mores on the quad
• Let Meg know if you want to table there
 Programming council
• Help to plan events
• Will co-sponsor events on the weekend
• Free food!
• Listening for feedback
• 1 pm on Monday in Butler Conference Room
 Trying to plan bonding dinner
 Founder’s Day
• Three months from today
• Working on lighting and music
 Final Perk
• Last Wednesday before end of semester
• Great Gatsby theme
• In charge of the photo booth
• Will need help setting up
• 7-8:30, MudBox
o Social Media Deputy
 Working on Holiday Market posters

•
Motion to suspend the rules to allow laptops during the presentations
 Allowed if the presenters are okay with it
New Business
o Pride Bucks Fund Request
 Presented by Lindsay, RA on Lecloper staff
 Requesting for South Campus’ event
 Pride Bucks are given to students who are outstanding members of
their community
 Monday, Dec 2, 7-9 pm
 Circus themed
 $500, food and logistics costs
• 40 large cheese pizza
• Includes tip
• Ordering food from Amazon
• Total is about $430, requesting for any other needs
 Question period
• Question: How is the money being broken up?
o Divided between the hall councils and RA funds
o Centennial is buying decorations
• Question: are you asking hall councils and executive board?
o Yes
o Hall councils are helping, great event for RHA to help a
side-wide event
• Question: $500 going toward food, not prizes?
o Food and minor logistical details
o Prizes and decorations are already covered
• Question: have the hall councils agreed to pay these amounts?
o They have talked
• Question: Anderson has not been informed?
o Not sure where the communication has been lost
o Contact your advisor
• Question: what is the total money amount of the activity?
o $1250
• Question: what are the specific amounts for RAs and hall
councils?
o RA funds with subsidize what is not covered and prizes
o Lecloper $150
o Centennial $80
o Anderson – not sure
o This is covering the prizes
o This will be for food
• Question: is that included in the $500 you are asking?
o No
• Question: if we grant the money, where will it come from?
o From the RA fund line item
• Question: how much is in that line item?
o $424.91
• Clarification: Centennial RAs are giving $175 for decorations,
hall council is giving $80 for prizes
• Motion to extend the period of Q and A by 1 minute
• Question: What are you ordering?
o Pizzas from Boli’s
o Amazon order for lollipops and animal crackers
o Logistics from Amazon, as well
o
•





o Pens for writing down information
Question: if we give them money, will it be replenished next
semester?
• Yes, just empty for next week
Question: What if they don’t use all of the money?
• Goes back into the line item
Question: where does the other money come from?
• Would be pulled from other line items
• Would need to amend the budget
Pro/con
• Pro
o Only one week left
o Used for food, will be used
• Con
o Concerned about giving money to just South Campus
o North Campus might need the money
• Question: when is the north side event?
o The 5th, coming from hall council budgets
• Question: where would that money come from?
o Probably conference line item
• Pro
o North Campus would have already requested if they
wanted it
• Motion to end the period of pro/con debate, unanimous
consent
o seconded
Motion to grant $424
• Question: what would that motion do?
o Vote to grant $424
• Question: so we wouldn’t be moving money?
o No, it would just be the $424 that was moved
• Objection
o Con
 Can still allocate the full amount
 There is money to cover it
o Pro
 Would have to move money from other line
items
 $424 is not that much less
o Con
 Not that much more to give the whole $500
 No reason to not give the full amount
 Probably will have some roll over next semester
o Question: why are they using Boli’s and not Domino’s?
o 2 for 1 special on Mondays
o Pro
 Would eliminate the extra room they built in
o Con
 If they don’t spend it, we will get it back
anyway
o Pro
 Will use RA fund to cover anything left
o Question: can we bring Lindsay back in to clarify the
RA fund point?
Clarification from the minutes, RA fund will subsidize
Question: how much time is left in the period?
 2 minutes
o Question: how much as Lecloper given?
 $100
o Question: how much does Lecloper have left in the
budget?
 $280
o Motion to end the period of pro/con, unanimous
consent
o Seconded
 Motion to move into a period of informal discussion, unanimous
consent
• seconded
• Question: what is this discussion?
o Raises your card, don’t need to go in pro/con order
• Discussion
o They have back-up plans if we don’t give the full
amount
o We should be using all of the funds we have for the
semester and avoid roll over
 Don’t have much time left in the semester
 Have the money in the conference line item
o Want the roll over in conference to go to conferences
• Motion to vote on the previous question: whether or not to
vote on the $424 grant
o Question: if this fails, what do we vote on?
 Another motion made
• Vote: 30-4-4, passes
 Vote to grant $424
• Vote: 24-11-3, passes
Student Rights Presentation
 Presented by Nicole
 General information about the student rights’ campaign
 Question period
• How many signatures are needed on the petition?
o 500 needed to propose to Kerwin
o Have around 250
• Are there any bills of rights being advocated for?
o Senate has passed it for
o Co-active resolution was rejected by Senate
o Will send petition link with the minutes
• What is this doing?
o Putting all of the rights and codes into one document
• Is this changing or adding any new rights?
o Simplifying the wording and making rights easier to
understand for all students
o One document for all rights
o Ignorance of rights is not an excuse
• What role has SAC played?
o Director of Student Advocacy worked on the team
 Code of Conduct reference
 He is promoting
• This is not a resolution, resolution to come
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o RHA policy to support student rights
• Why does this not exist?
o Pat Kelly ran on this in the campaign
Resolution 13-14-007
 Presented by Megan
 Friendly amendment: remove the last “and”
• Accepted
 Date will be corrected as procedure
 Question: didn’t the previous resolution change to RHA?
• It was done page by page
 Motion to approve the resolution, unanimous consent
• seconded
Resolution 13-14-008
 Presented by Nate
 Friendly amendment to add a space
• Accepted
 Clarification on voting by Paul
 Question: what changes the interpretation?
• This comma does not change the meaning
• Is a Constitutional change
 Motion to vote on the resolution
• Seconded
• Vote: 37-0-0, passes
Secret Snowflake Slips
 Facilitated by Rajita
 Question: when will gifts we exchanged?
• Last GA
 Motion to amend the agenda to remove the icebreaker, unanimous
consent
• seconded
CAACURH Presentation
 Presented by Patricio
 The delegation has not seen this video yet!
 Will attend No Frills and NACURH next semester
 Daniel: if you want a program for your hall, ask the delegation
because they all presented at the conference
 Question: when is the national conference?
• End of May, beginning of June
 Question: how many people go to NACURH?
• Comes down to the delegation cap
• NCC and NRHH president have to go
• Usually about 6
• Price of travel is also considered
Letts, Clark, and Roper Fund Request
 Presented by Cal and Devin
 If no fund request is granted, only 6% will be left for roll over
 Question period
• How much did you give to the Pride Buck exchange?
o Gave $100
• How much did you spend on the hot chocolate and cider?
o Lists how much is left after the cost
o Don’t get caught up in how much as been spent
previously
• Where is the free pizza coming from?

o Will buy that in the spring semester
o Want to have roll over to do this
• Do you not want to spend all of your money?
o Want to have some roll over for the next semester
o Saving some money for the rest of the semester if we
need it
o Will have an event during finals week
• Why don’t you request the money later?
o This is for the event now
o Don’t want to run out of money during the spring
semester
o Want the padding of some roll over
• Where would the money come from?
o Hall discretionary
o $200 left
• Does the money roll if it is not used in hall discretionary?
o Yes
Pro/con debate
• Pro
o Good for halls to plan for roll over if they can
o Help them since the money is available
• Con
o Anderson has to cut their budget
o Will still have some money left over
• Question: is Anderson discussion relevant?
o Not really
• Pro
o Hughes is not asking for more money
o Other halls probably not asking for the rest of the
semester
• Con
o Bad precedent to give money to have roll over
• Pro
o So little time and no more requests
o Money is in hall discretionary to give
• Con
o No monetary need for this money
• Pro
o Lecloper wants to do a finals event
o $150 could help with that
• Question: programming during finals week?
o Not allowed to actively program during finals week
o Passive programs are allowed, no active programs
o All money must be spent by Dec 6
• Question: do we discourage passive programming?
o Not discouraged
o Can be used during finals if wanted
• Con
o Supplementing the budget
• Motion to extend the pro/con debate by 5 minutes
o Withdrawn
• Motion to extend by 3 minutes
o Objection
 Withdrawn
Seconded
 Objection
o Motion to open the floor, unanimous consent
 Objective
• Con
o People still want to say
something
• Motion to end the pro/con on extending
o Objection
• Motion to end pro/con on extending,
unanimous consent
o Seconded
 Floor has been opened
Motion to vote on the fund request and call the question
• Seconded
• Vote: 6-21-4, fails
o

•
•
Open Forum
o Shoutouts
 Anderson Hall Council for bringing baked goods
 Hayat for coming to trivia
 Pitches be Trippin’ performance on Saturday
 Hayat for helping with Arabic
 Keke for organizing Cassell Gives Thanks
 Marieka for making her own team for trivia and planning dinner
 Sarah for giving birthday dinner
 Hayat for helping Arabic test
 Anisa for making baked goods
 Everyone for being attractive
 Patricio for making the video
 Boo for being GA member next semester
 Marieka for editing the election packet and being an angel
 Annika for being an RA in Cassell next semester
 Paul for being sassy
 E-board for listening to Hayat panic
 GA for a good Thanksgiving
 Rajita and Megan for coming to Anderson’s advocacy event
 Everyone for sticking it out during this meeting
Adjournment
o Motion to adjourn, unanimous consent
 seconded