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 12 April 2012
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Call to Order
o At 10:03pm President Cindy Zhang called the 21st 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
Open Forum / Shoutouts
o NRHH cards thanking Public Safety, Facilities, and Mail Services are in
back, so sign them!
o Nick Rangos thanks his hall council for their hard work
o Can Will present an updated budget next week?
 Yes!
o Pick up posters for Beach on the Beach after the meeting
 The event is this Sunday!
o Happy birthday to Kate! (tomorrow)
Hall Reports
o Anderson
 Getting back on track
o Centennial
 Breakfast for Dinner event last Tuesday
 Was a huge success
 Planning an advocacy event
o Hughes
 Who’s Who in Hughes Dessert Buffet this week
o Leonard
 Bridge on the McLeo Bridge
 Cookies and Coffee on April 25th at 8pm
o Letts, Clark, and Roper
 Security Forum
 4 PSOs came and 6 HDP representatives came
 LeCrowning
 Cindy and Rory judged
Beach on the Beach
 This Sunday!
o McDowell
 Tie-Dying event this past Wednesday
 With Panera desserts
 McDweller competition on Monday at 8:30pm in the McDowell
Formal Lounge
o Tenley Campus
 Tenley Superstar to find their representative for the American
Banquet
 Planning Tenley Barbeque
 Planned Event in a Bag
Executive Board Reports
o President
 Helping Fiona transition
 Combined CONGO and the Presidents’ Roundtable
 Drafting a resolution
o Vice President of Advocacy and Community Coordination
 A lot of resolutions are being worked on
 Construction for next year
 Looking for ways to make it fun
o Hardhat decorating?
o Meet and greet with the construction workers?
 “Right to Party” Party
 April 24th from 12-3pm on the Quad
 About making students more aware of their and others
actions when they are drinking
 A party on the Quad
 Hall Wars
 Wildcard category
o Anything that you, your RAs, or your residents plan
o You need 2 E-Board members at your Event in a Bag
events
 Email eboard@aurha.org and
aboard@aurha.org with your event time
 Lobby Decoration
o Take pictures!
 All American Contest
o 20 points for having an event electing a candidate
o 10 points for having a candidate at the competition
o 20 points for spirit at the competition
o Vice President of Finance and Administration
 Only 3 more line items to update with the budget!
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Approved 2 RA committee fund requests
 Gave $206 to the Multicultural Committee for a screening of
The Good Hair
o In McDowell formal on Tuesday at 11pm
 Gave $400 to the South Side Pride Bucks Exchange
o Vice President of Programming
 Ordered food for Event in the Bag events
 Register for RHA’s Relay for Life team!
 Email paige@aurha,org
 17 people on the team!
 All-American Banquet / Grill on the Hill
 Competitions for the hall representatives
 Student judges: Tim McBride and Liz Richards, Cindy
 Barbeque food
 Bring as many people you can in their Hall Wars shirts!
 Working on a Spring Fling
 A week of events with a free luau
 Final Perk on May 1st from 7-9pm
o National Communications Coordinator
 Committees are wrapping up
 Completed a rough outline of the regional plan
o Chief of Staff
 Ordered awards and plaques for transition
 Re-Re-Re Organizing the RHA Network Drive
 Getting our Resolutions posted to the RHA website
 Made new laptop theft poster to go up on South Side that will be
distributed tomorrow
 Make sure you RSVP for Transition!
 April 29th at 1pm at Maggiano’s
 Email RSVP@aurha.org
o Advisor
 HDP is looking for ideas for giveaways for fun items during the
construction
 Send us ideas if you have any!
New Business
o Fund Request: Hall Discretionary-Tenley Blowout Barbeque
 David and AJ present
 April 28th from 11-4pm on Tenley Campus
 See attached document for event details
 Motion to extend the presentation time by 10 minutes
o Seconded, passed
 Questions
 Why is your Event in a Bag so expensive?
o It’s a secret! It has a bonfire!
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Is it possible for non-Tenley students to donate swipes?
o David will check.
 What will Lindsey be doing during the event?
o She’ll be touring WMP around Tenley and Main
Campus
 How much do we have in the Hall Discretionary line item?
o Not $609.26
 Tenley Campus Hall Council exits the room
 Discussion
 Motion to move $400 from the North Side Collaboration fund
to the Hall Discretionary Fund
o This would leave $100 in the North Side Collaboration
Fund and $615 in the Hall Discretionary Fund
o Seconded, passed
 Motion to grant Tenley Hall council $609.26
o Seconded, objection
 Pro: This is an expensive, but fantastic event.
Tenley deserves to throw a big event too.
 Con: Why are they spending so much on Event
in a Bag? It’s an irresponsible use of funds.
 Pro: Tenley is combining their Event in a Bag
stuff with another big secret event. They’re
just using the Event in a Bag supplies at this
bigger event.
 Con: We do have the money, but we need to
make a distinction between spending and
spending wisely. It’s a huge event for not
enough people.
 Pro: This event does service a lot of people,
including prospective students.
 Con: This is an awesome event, but they
shouldn’t be requesting so much money if they
knew how much their Event in a Bag would
cost. It seems like poor planning.
 Pro: With every large-scale event, halls have
asked for money from RHA. This is Tenley
Campus’s big event. Since it’s the end of the
year, we won’t be getting many more fund
requests.
 Motion to call the question
 Seconded, passed
o Vote: 17-3-5, Tenley Hall Council is granted $609.26
o Resolution 11-12-014: A Resolution to Promote Food Composting in the
Residence Halls
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Nihal Krishan, Centennial Hall Green Eagle, presents
Questions:
 Where would the compost go?
o The compost would be taken to TDR’s composting
facility.
 Have you spoken with Bon Appetit to make sure their
facilities can handle the increase in compost?
o Yes. They can.
 Is RHA allowed to tell HDP to work with Office of
Sustainability and the Green Eagles?
o We should make a friendly amendment.
 Have you spoken with Aramark about the contract changes
this would require?
o Yes. Meetings are ongoing.
 How will you be tracking whether this is a success?
o We’ll be measuring ourselves against peer
institutions—seeing if our program compares to theirs
 What happens to the contents of a compost bin if the bin is
contaminated?
o That happens as it is with paper and plastic recycling.
Any negligible amount of contamination
 Motion to amend the last clause to read: Be it further
resolved that the Residence Hall Association and members of
American University’s Housing and Dining Programs shall
collaborate with the Green Eagles of the Office of
Sustainability to educate residents in the practice of
composting, including but not limited to the reasons for
composting and the best way to do so.
o Seconded, passed
 Motion to change any instances of “Centennial Residence
Hall” to “Centennial Hall”
o Seconded, passed
 Motion to change any instances of “dorm” to “residence hall”
o Seconded, passed
 Motion to amend the second to last clause to read: Be it
further resolved that this pilot program shall include the
placement of a compost bin in a addition to the pre-existing
trash can in each kitchen within Centennial Hall, and;
o Seconded, passed
 Motion to change all instances of “Housing and Dining
Programs” to “Housing & Dining Programs”
o Seconded, passed
 Motion to call the questions
o Seconded, passed
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 Vote: 26-0-0, Resolution 11-12-014 passes
Resolution 11-12-015: A Resolution to Ensure the Timely Use of the Hughes Hall
Formal Lounge to the Benefit of Hughes Hall Council and its Residents
o Carter Lowe presents
o Questions:
 Motion to waive first consideration
 Seconded, passed
 Who is the point person right now for booking the Hughes Formal
Lounge?
 It’s currently University Event Scheduling
 Motion to extend the period of questioning by 5 minutes
 Seonded, tertiaried, passed
 Has there been a history of clubs reserving the spaces and not
showing up?
 Yes. Quite frequently. Not just in Hughes.
 How would this change anything, since it would still be a first-come
first-served type of thing
 Just having a point-person is a step in the right direction.
 Why can’t this resolution encompass all of the halls?
 It would be more favorable to start this in one hall as a pilot
program.
 Motion to call the question
 Seconded, tertiaried, passed
o Vote: 25-0-1, Resolution 11-12-015 passes
Adjournment
o At 11:45pm the 21st General Assembly meeting of 2011-2012 is adjourned