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
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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
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February 27, 2014
Call to Order
o Meeting of the General Assembly called to order at 9:07 pm.
Attendance
o Anderson 6/6
o Cassell 3/4
o Centennial 4/5
o Hughes 6/6
o Leonard 5/6
o Letts Clark and Roper 6/6
o McDowell 5/5
o Nebraska 0
Minutes Approval
o Motion to approve last week’s minutes, unanimous consent
 seconded
Agenda Approval
o Motion to approve this week’s agenda, unanimous consent
 seconded
Hall Reports
o Anderson
 Attend JSA
o Cassell
 Kike the new president!
 Planning for midterm event next week
o Centennial
 S’more Tailgate was awesome, congrats basketball!
 Planning Taste of DC next Wednesday
• Everyone invited from 9-11 pm in Anderson 3k
 UNICEF challenge
o Hughes
 Banner for tailgate
 Finalized plans for midterm study break
 Looking forward to trivia night and Hall Wars
o Leonard
 Doing details on Dodgeball event
 Working with RAs on Taste of Leonard
 Working with Green Eagle for collaborative event
o Letts Clark and Roper
 Banner in the top 3
 Cereal bar event Monday, March 3 in Letts Formal
 UNICEF event going well
o McDowell
 North Side banner decorating in lobby
 Midterm event with Panera at 8:30 in McD Formal
 Relay fundraiser after spring break
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 Arlene is new advocate
o Nebraska
 None presented
Executive Board Reports
o President
 What I did
• Held first constitutional review committee meeting
o Next meeting is next Thursday at 8 pm
• Assisting in hosting the S’more Spirit Tailgate
• Worked with Paul to finalize election timeline
• Edited spring election presentation and information
 What I didn’t do
• Print, scan, and sign resolutions from last semester
 What I plan to do
• Print, sign, scan, and file fall semester resolutions
o Vice President of Administration and Finance
 What I did
• Relay for Life presentation
• Started gathering quotes for Hall Wars t-shirts
o Waiting for third quote
• Met with VP Finance for NRHH
• Got all of the Hall Council rollover amounts
• Spoke with Hayat about programming/finance one-on-ones
o Joint roundtable would be too big and difficult to
schedule
 What I didn’t do
• Financial policies
 What I am going to do
• Finalize quotes for Hall Wars t-shirts
• Scan all receipts into computer
• Financial policies
• Send out doodle poll for one-on-ones
o Vice President of Advocacy and Community Coordination
 What I did
• Hall Wars presentation
• Hall Wars scoring guide
• March newsletter submission
o Vice President of Programming
 What I did:
• Founder's Day
• Debriefed Founder's Day with E-Board and Programmers
o Email Hayat with any feedback/comments
• Filled out supplementary forms for Hall Wars space requests
• Contacted caterers for basketball game next week, sent the
contract to HDP
• S'more Spirit Tailgate is done
• Had most of my one-on-ones with Programmers
• Met with Marieka for Transition
o Made a to-do list and started working on that
• Did stuff for Do it in the Dark
 What I didn't do:
• NOTHING BECAUSE I R.O.C.K (as far as I know)
 What I'm going to do:
• Look over Patricio's bid
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• Finish one-on-ones
• Keep working on Hall Wars
• Keep working on Do it in the Dark
• Meet with Marieka more about transition
National Communications Coordinator
 What I did
• Released bid for review by GA
o Correction: March 20 is the deadline
• Prepared NACURH delegation application to be released
tomorrow
o Deadline: March 19
• Contacted buses for transportation to NACURH
 What I didn’t do
• My update on time ):
• Couldn’t present NCC amendment to Constitutional Committee
 What I plan to do
• Contact schools around the region to gauge interest in shared
bus to NACURH
• Present NCC amendment to Constitutional Review Committee
for comments
• Prepare presentation on regional pins that can be awarded to
anyone (3 year service, 4 year service, etc.)
Chief of Staff
 What I did
• Updated GA list with all information from e-board, still waiting
on some details from Patricio
• Sent all past minutes to Nikki in HDP, updated on the website
• Sent a few changes on the website to Nikki and checked that
they were done
o Send Marieka an email of any changes or suggestions
you have
• Finished a presentation about NRHH
• Met with Hayat about transition
o Reserved MGC 2-4 on April 27 from 4-8 pm
• Checked the advertising form and made sure the RHA Events
calendar is up-to-date, is as of Thursday
• Had GA roundtable to discuss resolution ideas with members
o Assigned them to come back with something written
after spring break
• Met with GA members about some resolutions
• Wrote about my thoughts on training and what was
accomplished
• Compiled a list of people for the NRHH application
• Worked the S’more Spirit Tailgate and banner contest in the
AU/Navy Game
o Go AU!
• IMPORTANT: office hours next week will be changed due to
Marieka’s friend flying in, please e-mail if you need to meet
 What I didn’t do
• Did everything on my to do list!
 What I plan to do
• Keep working on transition/induction
• Write some OTMs!
• Look over the bid and send grammar and content changes
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Advisor
 What did Daniel Do?
• Met 1:1 with Reiter and Paul (2/24/2014)
o Why: Constitutional Review Committee and RHA
Elections
• Met with Patricio about future plans
• Submitted contract for RHA food at Men’s Basketball Game on
3/5/2014
o Why: Contracts CANNOT be signed by students or Hall
Council advisors
• Attended Major Games (2/26/2014)
o Why: To support second year students also finalizing
their majors
• Attended S’More Spirit Tailgate and Women’s Basketball Game
v. Navy (2/26/2014)
o Why: To increase resident’s participation in AU athletic
events
• Submitted supplemental forms for Hall Wars space requests
o Why: Advisor’s role to ensure that policies are met,
accessibility, risk management
• Reviewed the RHA Strategic Plan
• Confirmed my commitment to assisting other advisors in
CAACURH
o Why: Important for RHA advisors to network and work
together on tasks
• Met with Vivian from McDowell (2/27/2014)
o Why: To help further transition new Hall Council
Advisors
• Attended Constitutional Review meeting tonight
• Worked on the busing at Founder’s Day
 What did Daniel Not Do?
• Attend Finance, Programming, and General Assembly
Roundtables
o Why: Too many other time commitments
 What does Daniel Plan to Do?
• Meet with Sean, the new HDP Financial Administrator on
Friday (2/28/14)
o Why: Discuss using non-paid DJs, contract policies,
accepting donated gift cards, etc.
 Reminders
• Upcoming Water Outages
o Roper/Clark: On Tuesday, March 11th from 10:00am11:30am, Roper and Clark hot water will be turned off
to replace a pump.
o Nebraska (old side): On Wednesday, March 12th from
10:00am-11:30am, Nebraska (old side) hot water will
be shut off to replace a booster pump.
• 2014-2015 Housing Selection
o Three Stage Process at
www.american.edu/roomselection
 STAGE 3: Room Selection, February 26th –
March 5th
• Due to an unexpected system error,
students assigned a room selection time
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slot for yesterday, Wednesday, February
26, 2014, will be unable to enter the
housing portal and select a room at
their designated time.
• Students originally assigned a
Wednesday, February 26 time slot will
now select their room at the same time
on Thursday, February 27.
• Students originally assigned a Thursday,
February 27 time slot will now select
their room at the same time on Friday,
February 28.
o Questions/Concerns: roomselection@american.edu
Administrative Board Reports
o Parliamentarian
 What I did
• Election work
o Edited election packet for spring elections
o Edited election timeline for RHA advisor/RDs
o Finalized the timeline for spring elections
o Completed GA presentation about elections
o Met with prospective e-board candidates
• Met with Reiter, Daniel, and Constitutional Review Committee
• Finished operations for Cassell Hall special election
o Congrats to Kike!
 What I did not do
• Did not learn Qualtrics with Reiter and Tyler, RD in Hughes
 What I plan to do
• Meet with Reiter and Tyler
• Make final edits to all elections material
• Email all election material to Marieka so everything can be
sent out
• Go through the bid
o Deputy Programmers
 Working on getting donations for Hall Wars
 Started emailing groups about Multicultural Night
• Early April, around the world themed
o Social Media Deputy
 What I did
• Made corrections to Leonard’s posters
• Advertised for S’mores Tailgate
• Met with Marieka for one-on-one
 What I didn’t do
• Digitized posters
• Sign up for Relay for Life
 What I plan to do
• Digitize posters by Thursday after spring break
• Advertise for McDowell study event
• Sign up for Relay for Life!
• Write OTMs!
NRHH Report
o Not present
New Business
o AU Athletics with Tim Staples
Yay Tim’s mom!
Video on facebook
Basketball game this Saturday, 2 pm against Bucknell
• Huge game
• Broadcasted on CBS College Sports
• Bring your friends, groups, everyone!
• Trying to win the Patriot League
• Cameras on the team and crowd
• Free baseball caps to the first 1000 people
• Let’s get to March Madness!
 Want to see students getting excited and being awesome
 Sports exposure helps the university
 Student leaders are great resources to get people to the games
 The hats are real and nice
 You can be famous… so do it.
 HOTY points!
 12/28 basketball players live on campus
Hall Wars Shirt Follow-up
 House of Cards theme will not be used
• Copyright problems
• General concerns with upside down flag symbolism
 Talk to Rajita after GA if you have any questions
 Board games will be the shirt!
• Working on digitizing
• If it doesn’t work, will move on to the next design
Hall Wars Presentation
 Presented by Rajita, Hayat, and Meg
 Questions
• Point system has been established for every event
 Motion to extend presentation time by 5 minutes, seconded
 Banners from some halls are missing, please return them to RHA
office ASAP
 Questions (continued)
• Are points awarded for Hall Council events?
o Promotes Hall Wars? Hall Wars!
o Anything else? HOTY!
o Ask Rajita if you have questions
• What do you get for winning?
o Residence hall will get a prize
o Also a plaque!
• What happens if it rains during an event?
o Record Setters and Finale  next day
o Kick off  MGC
Relay for Life Presentation
 Presented by Devon
 Motion to extend the presentation by 5 minutes, seconded
 Questions
• What about people who are not in RHA?
o Teams can be started at any point
o Can join any team
• What should we wear to the event?
o Participant shirts are white
o Captain shirts are brown
o Get a shirt if you raise over $100
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o RHA and Hall Wars shirts
• Do they sell merchandise at the event?
o Not sure
o Extra shirts might get sold
o Will talk to planning committee
• Is it too late to join the RHA team?
o NO! Do it now!
o Can sign up the day of the event
• What should we wear?
o Sneakers to walk
o Athletic gear, PJs, whatever
• How can you work on two teams?
o Can only sign up for one team
o Talk to both teams
• Can I join the RHA team if I’m not a member?
o Sure!
• Don’t knock door-to-door in residence halls to get money
NRHH Presentation
 Presented by Marieka
• What is NRHH?
o NRHH is established on leadership, scholastics,
recognition, and service
o NRHH promotes those pillars, picks the campus OTM
winners, works on STARs week, and works on puppies
on the quad
• Responsibilities of NRHH members: going to chapter meetings,
exemplifying the pillars, recognizing the OTM winners,
participating in service events, and planning events like STARS
week and transition
• To Join: GPA of 3.0, having lived on campus for 2 semesters,
demonstrate outstanding leadership or service in the halls
o Note: don’t necessarily need to have a leadership title,
just need to demonstrate the 4 pillars
• How to apply: link will be sent out next week
• Marieka will notify every one of their application status
 Questions
• Ethan: What are the requirements of the application?
o Everything is listed on the application (but there are no
cover letters or resumes)
• Kike: Can you still apply if you don’t plan on living on campus?
o If you don’t live on campus, you’ll just need to live on
campus when you’re applying
RHA Spring Election Info Presentation
 Presented by Paul, Reiter, and VPs
 Questions? Talk to the e-board.
 Questions
• Why is voting only a day and a half?
o Falling in line with SG spring elections
o Ours is right after their voting
o About the same time frame as other organizations
 Motion to extend presentation time, seconded
 Questions (continued)
• Is attending an info session mandatory to run for a position?
o Yes!
This counts as your info session!
Talk to the current member if you are thinking about
it/already decided to do it
o Be aware of the commitment
How do you become Chief of Staff or NCC?
o Appointed
o Talk to the member if you’re interested
Will not be asking for ID on applications, still slip it under the
door and write clearly
What happens if you can’t attend an info session?
o Email paul@aurha.org to set up a time to talk
o Still talk to the e-board member
Can you apply for a-board if you don’t get e-board?
o Yep!
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Open Forum
o Will have a discussion if form is not filled out/feedback not given
 Will go out tomorrow
 50% needed or discussion in next GA
o Chris Moody/THE Gail Hanson wants this, so… get on that.
o Every hall council should be making 30 second to 1 minute video for Do it in
the Dark
 Due Monday after spring break
 Email meg@aurha.org with any questions
o Working with JSA for Holocaust Remembrance Week
 Advocates, be involved!
 First full week of April
 Email nw5540a@student.american.edu
o Shoutouts
 Megan for filling out survey
 Joyce for writing national OTM for Rajita
 Hayat for getting OL position
 Centennial Hall and Daniel for working hard and being awesome
 Alya for always being excited and awesome!
 Hayat for working on Founder’s Day
 Centennial for working on Taste of DC
 Megan for saving Charlie at roundtables
 Charlie’s sister for her birthday and new job
 Reiter, Rajita, Daniel, and e-board for working spring elections
 Hayat for an awesome Founder’s Day
 Kaitlyn and Nicole for coming to Constitutional Review Committee
 Michael and Joanne for being gems
 Leonard for dealing with Jamie
 Kike for being new Cassell president
 New advocates
 Lecloper hall council for being great
 Marieka guiding GAs and making Monday better
 Everyone who looked hot at Founder’s
 E-board, Meg, Sarah, and Daniel for being supportive
 Sarah and Meg for Founder’s Day
 Marieka’s dad for being cancer-free and Relay
 Everyone who came to tailgate and basketball game
 Patricio for taking minutes for Centennial
 Daniel for coming to all meetings for being prepared and working
adorably in his PJs
Advocates for dealing with obsessions with poop/toilets for Anderson
Hall and Holocaust
 Auxiliary services for fixing vending machines
Adjournment
o Meeting adjourned at 10:46 pm.
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