American University
Residence Hall Association
c/o Housing & Dining Programs | 4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW | Washington, DC 20016-8142
Phone: 202-885-1RHA | FAX: 202-885-1154 | E-mail: info@aurha.org | www.aurha.org
General Assembly Agenda 10 November 2011
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Call to Order
o At 10:36 pm President Cindy Zhang called the 7th General Assembly
meeting of 2011-2012 to order
Attendance
o Quorum is established
Agenda Approval
o Motion to approve the agenda
 Seconded, passed
Approval of Minutes
o Motion to approve the previous meeting’s minutes
 Seconded, passed
Oath of Office
o President Cindy Zhang reads the oath of office
Hall Reports
o Motion to limit hall reports to one minute
 Seconded, passed
o Anderson
 Planning events and preparing for CAACURH
o Centennial
 Working on a program for those residents who aren’t going home
for Thanksgiving
o Hughes
 Looking to do a competition with the RAs
o Leonard
 Will be putting up door hangings to explain what advocacy does
o Letts, Clark, and Roper
 Make a Wish event tomorrow (11/11/11)
o McDowell
 Working on a Cider, Cookies, and Candidate event
 Electing a new VP of Programming
o Nebraska
 Trying to get more people involved
o Tenley Campus
 Revamped the assignments of positions on their hall council
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Executive Board Reports
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o President
 Working on preparing a report to the Campus Life Committee to
present what RHA has been doing
o Vice President of Advocacy and Community Coordination
 Thank you all for helping and coming to Leading Beyond the Limits
 Not many people went, but those who did got a lot out of it
 Donated the extra food to a homeless shelter
o Through Students Against Homelessness and Hunger
 Advocacy Roundtable has put together a few resolutions
 Working on an open-housing resolution
 Sean Dugdale is redoing the HOTY point system
o Vice President of Finance and Administration
 Has been discussing a Constitutional amendment regarding
finances
 Granted an RA Grant Request
o Vice President of Programming
 Brian and Rory are wearing the exact same clothes
 Fall Fest is next Wednesday on the Quad from 12-4pm
 MasqueRave is next Saturday from 8-11pm
 Location TBD
 Planning some other events for later in the semester
 Planning Winter Welcome Week with other AU programmers
 Looking for a deputy programmer
 Email Paige with an application by noon tomorrow
o Chief of Staff
 Please update your contact information
 Will propose a Hall Security committee later today
New Business
o Resolution 11-12-005
 Carter Lowe presents
 Questions
 Where will the clocks be placed?
o In each floor’s lounge
 Who will maintain the clocks?
o It would be the responsibility of the students
 What about the people on Friday and Saturday nights who
want a new clock?
o Good question
 Who would replace the batteries?
o The residents
 Motion of the previous question
 Seconded
 Vote: 27-11-1
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Motion to move the CAACURH Roll call video and presentation to after the
resolutions
Seconded, passed
o Resolution 11-12-006
 Sean Dugdale, Patricia Hines, and Samantha Smithson present
 Sanitary concerns in the restrooms
 Questions
 If the resolution passes, how will you make sure the
resolution passes
o They are already on board to fixing these problems
o Kate will meet with HDP
 Motion to extend the period of questioning by another
minute
 Have you estimated the cost of these changes?
o No. What we’re after is accountability and structural
changes.
 Why didn’t you offer solutions at the end of your resolution?
o HDP is really excited to work on these issues, and
they’re working on ways to implement these changes.
HDP goes through all student concerns and
determines how much to spend based on student
interest and need.
 Motion to extend the period of questioning by another
minute
 Have you spoken to Green Eagles regarding the compostable
trashcans?
o They said it’s more economically feasible to slightly
contaminate the trashcans.
 Motion to close questioning
o Objection
 Vote: motion fails
 Motion to extend the period of questioning by another
minute
o Objection
 Vote: motion passes
 How can you ensure that this resolution will be fulfilled, if
passed, since a similar one wasn't followed through with last
year?
o It’s earlier in the year, so HDP has more time.
 Motion to amend the eighth whereas clause to read “Whereas,
Residents have voiced a need for convenient disposal of noncompostable and other forms of waste, constituting a second trash
bin; and”
 Seconded, passed
Motion to move into debate
 Seconded, passed
 Debate
 It should be very beneficial to the residents
 Vote: 38-0-1
Resolution 11-12-007
 Cindy Zhang presents
 Motion to waive first reading
 Seconded, passed
 Questions
 When would this committee expire?
o It’s a standing committee, so it would expire at the
end of the semester.
 How would CONGO work?
o They would write amendments and present them
each week, as they come across.
 Who do you think would chair the committee?
o Cindy: Probably Hussien Salama (Parliamentarian),
since he already has extensive knowledge of our
governing documents.
 Vote: 36-0-3 resolution passes
Resolution 11-12-008
 Cindy Zhang presents
 Cindy Zhang refers the resolution to CONGO as their first order of
business
CAACURH Roll Call Video
 Marie Scholz presents
CAACURH Bid Presentation
 Marie Scholz presents
Hall Discretionary Request: Centennial Hall Thanksgiving
 Wynn Tashman presents
 Questions
 How much is still in the Centennial budget?
o Around $600
 Who is responsible for cooking all of the food for the halls?
o An RA will be making most of the food
o Dish assignments will be split up by floor
 What other events are you planning that would take up the
rest of your budget?
o Cinemabun – Screening movies and eating cinnamon
buns
 How much is left in the Hall Discretionary fund?
o Between $200 and $300
 For how many more weeks can we grant requests?
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o Four more weeks
 Centennial hall leaves the room
 Motion to grant Centennial Hall $85
 Seconded, objection
o Debate:
 Pro: There are a lot of student athletes in
Centennial who can’t go home over break.
 Con: We’ve already granted them money, and
they still have a lot of money in their account.
 Pro: The semester is almost over for both the
Hall Discretionary account and the Centennial
account.
 Question: What do we do if we deplete the Hall
Discretionary line item?
 We move money from another line item
 Con: They still have a lot of money in their
account.
o Vote to entertain the motion: vote passes
 Vote: 14-18 motion fails
 Motion to grant Centennial Hall $100
 Seconded, objection
o Debate:
 Pro: Regardless of how little or how much
they have in their budget, we do have the
money to give them.
 Con: The event is a week before
Thanksgiving.
 Pro: The Student Honors Board is throwing an
event the same day, so an entire floor of
Centennial won’t be at Centennial’s event.
 Con
o Vote to entertain the motion: vote passes
 Vote: 16-17 motion fails
 Motion to begin a period of informal discussion for 2 minutes
 Seconded, passed
 Motion to grant Centennial Hall $125
 Seconded
 Vote: motion passes, Centennial Hall will be granted $125
o Security Presentation
 Brian Weinstein presents
 Motion to refer the issue of “Hall Security” to a special committee,
the chairman to be Mr. Weinstein, to explore and propose a plan of
action to present to Housing and Dining Programs.”
 Seconded, passed
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A Bill to Amend in Order to Create a Means of Collaboration through
Co-Active Resolution
o Rory Slatko presents
Adjournment
o At 11:59pm the 7th General Assembly meeting of 2011-2012 is adjourned
REMEMBER- NEXT WEEK’S GENERAL
ASSEMBLY MEETING IS ON TENLEY CAMPUS