The Residence Halls Association voted in favor of allocating funds for four university organizations during its congressional meetings on Nov. 18.
RHA voted in favor of appropriating $2,000 for Mizzou Dance Marathon’s main event, $499.99 for the Hate Wall event by the Missouri Students Association’s Multicultural Issues Committee, $480 for Lathrop Hall’s Holiday Extravaganza and $250 for Jones Hall’s Food Spectacular Diversity Event.
Mizzou Dance Marathon Development Director Kevin McKillion and Sponsorship Co-Chairman Jacob Busker proposed $2,000 for Dance Marathon’s main event at 12 p.m. March 8, 2014, until 1:06 a.m. March 9 at the Student Recreation Complex.
Dance Marathon is the largest philanthropy at MU, [raising more than $152,000 last year](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2013/3/12/dance-marathon-raises-record-amount/). McKillion said this year it hopes to raise $160,000 during the 13.1 hour dance to donate to the MU Children’s Hospital.
Of the $2,000, Busker and McKillion requested $1,000 as a check donation to the organization and $1,000 to pay Residential Life student’s registrations fees.
The request passed congress with a majority vote.
MSA Multicultural Issues Committee chairman Payton Head requested $499.99 from RHA for T-shirts for the committee’s Hate Wall event Dec. 3 at the Shack. Head said the event is MSA Senate’s largest of the year, in which the committee builds “walls of hate,” writes stereotypes on them and tears them down.
RHA Speaker of Congress Lane Adams stressed that the MSA Senate needs RHA funds for the event to take place. The Operations Committee voted in favor of allocating $499.99 for the event.
The Operations Committee voted in favor of giving $480 for Lathrop Hall’s Holiday Extravaganza event. Lathrop Hall President Alexis Carter said that the event will hopefully be a partnership with the Multicultural Center and will feature Ramadan, Hanukkah, the Chinese New Year, Kwanzaa and Christmas. Carter asked RHA to donate $480 for the costs of decorations for the event.
Jones Hall Leadership Advisor Emily Miranda asked that RHA give $499 for Jones Hall’s diversity event Dec 4. The event will offer students an opportunity to try food from various organizations so students can explore different cultures and foods.
The event will also involve a visual presentation recognizing global diversity comparing the differences between the diversity of the world and of Jones Hall.
Only two members of the Operations Committee voted in favor of allocating the full $499 and a majority vote was made in favor of donating $250.
During RHA Congress, Chief Justice Lydia Harvengt and President Jackson Farley presented forming an ad-hoc committee to consider the roles of RHA positions such as the vice president, financial coordinator and outreach coordinator. Farley said that the committee will meet whenever availability permits, most likely after winter break.
The Operations Committee proposed a resolution that would require that the president of each hall government would be fined for not attending hall government meetings. The committee felt that there was a lack of communication between hall governments and their presidents.
Congress passed the resolution with the addition that the president may elect a representative to attend the meeting in his or her place. Adams said the amount varies between each hall.
“Each meeting is valued at a fraction of 5 percent of the hall’s budget,” Adams said. “For example, if a hall president or another representative from the hall did not attend every meeting, then the hall would be fined 5 percent.”