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 29 March 2012
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Call to Order
o At 10:03pm President Cindy Zhang called the 19th 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 last meeting’s minutes
 Seconded, passed
Election Concerns
o Hussien: I take responsibility for the delay in RHA elections and I’m sorry.
I dropped the ball. Since I didn’t handle that the way I was supposed to,
other people picked up the slack. Regarding who is supposed to be
allowed to vote, it should be all current resident students, not just those
currently living on campus who will also live on campus next year.
o Cindy: We have two options. (1) Keep this election as it currently is: those
current resident students who will also be resident students next year will
be the only people allowed to vote); or (2) open the election to all current
resident students.
 Motion to take this to a vote
 Seconded
 Advisory vote by the General Assembly:
 Only those current resident students who will also be
resident students next year will be the only people allowed
to vote: 16
 All current resident students should be allowed to vote: 16
 Abstain: 5
 Discussion
 A second advisory vote by the General Assembly:
 Only those current resident students who will also be
resident students next year will be the only people allowed
to vote: 16
 All current resident students should be allowed to vote: 20
 Abstain: 1
By tomorrow morning, all current resident students should be able
to vote
 Rory leaves the meeting to call OIT to have the list updated
 Rory: I wanted to apologize for my interpretation. I recognize that
I made an incorrect interpretation.
Open Forum / Shoutouts
o Sean: Shoutout to Rory Slatko for doing such a tremendous job with
elections
o Carter: Shoutout to Izzi Gleason for being such a big help with Hughes
advocacy
o Evan: Beach on the Beach, please help create and spread advertising!
o Tori: Downtown Touring Fellowship is a new club. Meets Tuesday at
11pm in MGC.
o Fiona: Shoutout to Rachel Mulligan and Samantha Smithson for producing
a hall advocacy online video
o Paige: Shoutout to the programmers. Shoutout to Evan Roglich for
coming to office hours all the time.
o Matty: Thank you to all the candidates to running fair, clean campaigns
o Sagatom: Thank you for the E-Board stressing out with me.
o Lindsey: Thank you for changing your facebook pictures to election
advertisements.
o Sean: Thank you to those who came to the constitutional form last night.
o Brian: Thank you to Sam and Fiona for coming up with the idea for
shoutouts.
o Sam: Thank you to Paige for such a successful event this past
Wednesday.
Fund Request: Leonard Hall Council
o Steven Elliott presents
 Taste of Leonard, THIS SUNDAY, April 1, 2-5pm
 Requesting $400
o Questions
 How large is your budget and how much are you planning on
spending on this event?
 We currently have $1200 left
 A little over $1200
o Members of Leonard Hall Council leaves the room
o Discussion
 Motion to grant Leonard Hall Council $400 with the stipulation that
they provide advertising materials to all halls on campus
 Seconded, tertiaried
 Objection
o That’s a lot of money when you look at the aggregate
spending on this. Money spent per resident is way
too high.
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o $400 is a lot of money. Some form of the event will
happen no matter what amount we give.
o Do we usually have this many requests from Hall
Discretionary this late in the year?
 No. Not from Hall Discretionary.
o Don’t a lot of halls request money for their hall finals
events?
 Last year we didn’t.
o How much is currently in the Hall Discretionary Fund?
 $615
o This isn’t just open to Leonard residents. It’s open to
all residents!
o The $400 is going to Pinkberry.
o Even if we advertise in all of the halls, the event is
this Sunday, so not many people will see the
advertisements in time.
o Their cost estimation is a bit extravagant. Why do
they need $140 for marketing? How could they spend
$300 on plates and knives?!
o TDR is gross on Sundays. Most people would rather
go to Leonard than TDR.
o This has a legacy! All of campus is talking about it!
 The lavishness of it is a huge aspect of why so
many people want to go.
o It would be nice to have this on Palm Sunday.
o Many of the Abroad at AU residents are marginalized
and isolated and this event brings them into the light.
o There are still things they could cut. $175 towards
prizes?! We could cut $100 and it would still be a
great event.
o Tenley also has a lot of international students. This
event would encourage them to come to main
campus.
o Reducing the amount of money won’t take away from
the success of the event.
Vote: 18-11-2
Hall Reports
o Anderson
 Planning a NCAA Finals event in the Perch
o Centennial
 Planning a Centennial’s Going Green series of events
 Planning a “Breakfast for Dinner” event on all of the floors
 Tentatively April 10th
o Hughes
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 Open Mic Night was a hit
 Tabling in the Hughes lobby about mice
 Working on Hall Wars programming
o Leonard
 Excited for Taste of Leonard
o Letts, Clark, and Roper
 Look at the security video we posted!
 Beach on the Beach
 April 15th
 Wear swimsuits!
 South Side Formal, a somewhat fancy pants event
 April 22nd
o McDowell
 Make graffiti a positive thing
 Decorating lobby with graffiti
 McDweller competition
 Award to floor with the biggest turnout
o Nebraska
 Super Happy Fun Time ice cream socials
 Sunday at 7pm
 End of year barbeque
 Week before finals
 Planning Hall Wars decorations
o Tenley Campus
 Had 2 polling station on Tenley campus today
 Dye your own t-shirt event
 Mr./Mrs. Tenley competition
 April 10th
 Barbeque with WASA
 April 22nd or 23rd
Executive Board Reports
o President
 Working on Transition
 Let Cindy know if you didn’t receive an invitation
 Please RSVP by April 22nd
o Vice President of Advocacy and Community Coordination
 Shoutout to McDowell for being gender sensitive in their McDweller
idea
 One Card meeting
 Trying to get all of the vending machines equipped with
swipe access
 Resolution from office of sustainability regarding composting
 Working with HDP
Smoking resolution advocating for designated smoking areas on
campus instead of the smoke-free campus
Vice President of Finance and Administration
 Budget records are up to date through January
 Granted $450 to the Hawaii club
 VPAF’s finally have their budget information!
Vice President of Programming
 Thank you for helping with Hall Wars Kick Off yesterday!
 Don McPhereson is speaking
 See Hall Wars schedule
 Jess Pettit is speaking
 See Hall Wars schedule
 Ordered supplies for events in a bag
 Don't call your events Mr./Mrs. Somethings! Make them gender
neutral!
National Communications Coordinator
 Constitutional Forum
 Got a bunch of great ideas for what needs to be looked at in
our policies and governing documents
 Rory will send out the list to GA
 Regional Committee
 Will have a grant request ready for next meeting for the POY
Matching grant
 DC Leads
 Almost ready to present a line item budget
 NACURH
 Will be reviewing program proposals
Chief of Staff
 Hall Wars “poster schedule”
 Should be printed tomorrow, posted ASAP
 Window “Letters”
 We have some tonight! Take one and put it in your window.
We don’t have too many, but if you’d like one, just let Brian
know and he’ll have some more printed.
 Transition invitations sent out
 Look super fancy
 Election advertisements (Rory made them)
 Facebook cover photo and profile picture will be attached
 Help get out the vote!
Advisor
 RecycleMania
 As of week 6 we are in 1st place
 89.45% recycling rate
 Second place is at 78%
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 There are 2 days left!
All candidates running for an E-Board position should stay after and
talk to Sarah
Line Item Reallocation
o Motion to reallocate $725 from the General line item to the Grant Request
Fund
 How much would be left in the General line item if this were to go
through?
 $1266.20
 Seconded
 The budget line items will be reallocated accordingly
Announcement by Rory Slatko
o Nominated for Regional Director
 Process will be complete by April 18th
 Needs a letter of support from HDP (for emotional and financial
support)
 Seeking a deputy
 Asking for our emotional and financial support
 Motion to move this to an advisory vote
 Seconded
 Objection
o Discussion
 For the betterment of our organization and our
residents, it would be better if Rory stayed.
 Motion to postpone adjournment by 5 minutes
 Seconded, passed
 That’s true, but Rory won’t leave his position in
bad hands.
 If Rory appoints a deputy now, it leaves out
the entire group of incoming freshman who
might want the position.
o Does Rory have your support for going to the
Regional Board of Directors?
 In the eyes of the chair, Rory has GA’s support.
Adjournment
o At 11:49pm the 19th General Assembly meeting of 2011-2012 is adjourned
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Minutes recorded by Brian Weinstein
Chief of Staff
American University Residence Hall Association