The Residence Halls Association Operations Committee met Monday night to discuss and vote on two funding requests and legislation regarding the Hall Presidents Council. The legislation requires RHA to continue organizing the council and fine residence halls whose presidents do not attend bi-weekly council meetings.
The first funding request presented at the meeting came from representatives of Gillett and Hudson Halls, who were seeking $310 to help cover the costs of the annual Engineering Week Shamrock Scavenger Hunt, which took place March 14. Open to all students living in MU’s residence halls, the scavenger hunt, which highlighted MU specific venues, was intended to provide a resident-specific engineering week event.
The Gillett and Hudson Engineering Community governments and the Rollins General Council also contributed funds for the event. However, after the Mizzou Engineering Student Council declined to fund the event as they had in the past, the event’s organizers turned to RHA for funding in order to keep the event fully residence-hall funded.
The Operations Committee approved the funding request for the full $310.
Also on the agenda was a funding request from the University of Missouri Mock Trial team, which sought $1,000 to help finance travel costs for the team to compete in the Mock Trial National Championships in Washington, D.C. The discussion included some debate about whether it was appropriate for RHA to put so much funding toward something that would only benefit the members of the Mock Trial team, particularly when the organization usually aims to sponsor events that will cost between $5 and $7 per student attendee.
After some debate, the organization allocated $499 to the organization. This figure was chosen to keep the amount allocated under the $500 threshold so it would not need to be approved by the entire RHA congress.
The Operations Committee also approved a bill that would add to the bylaws a requirement that RHA continue to sponsor the already existing Hall Presidents Council, a council of residence hall presidents led by the RHA vice president. The council, which was created this year, promotes communication between hall governments and RHA and promotes educational and leadership experience among residence hall presidents.
During the bi-weekly meetings, presidents have the opportunity to share and discuss ideas that could be implemented in different hall governments. All hall presidents would be required to attend all council meetings. Those who are not in attendance and fail to send another officer from their hall government as a proxy will be subject to fines of up to 5 percent of their total hall government allocation.
“I am seeking to write this council into the bylaws because I think it will be beneficial for presidents to be able to share ideas with each other,” RHA President Zack Folk, the author of the bill, said. “It will also allow for hall presidents to keep in constant contact with RHA.”
Operations Committee Chairman Lane Adams participated in the council during the fall semester and voiced support for the bill.
“I was involved with this during first semester and it was really beneficial,” Adams said. “I think it is a good idea to make this mandatory and give hall presidents an incentive to go.”
The full RHA Congress will vote on the bill next week.