Candidates Zack Folk and Lindsay Weber were announced the winners of the 2012 Residence Halls Association presidential election Friday at the RHA Ball.
A record 748 residents cast their votes Thursday, which is more than 10 percent of students living in residence halls. Folk and Weber received 37 percent of the votes, slate Gage Caszatt and Lydia Harvengt received 32 percent and slate Chris Rucker and Caleb Krenning received 30 percent.
Folk, a freshman studying international studies, political science and economics, and Weber, a sophomore majoring in human development and family studies, both have RHA representative and executive experience.
Folk is the vice chairman for the RHA Events and Planning Committee as well as FLAVA Hall Government treasurer and RHA representative. Weber is the hall government coordinator for the executive board and was a hall representative for Defoe-Graham last year. She is also a desk supervisor in Jones Hall. Both Folk and Weber are on the Chancellor’s Standing Committee for Student Organizations.
Folk is a member of Theta Chi fraternity, making him the first RHA president to be involved with Greek Life. He also works at KCOU/88.1 FM and is the first president to be involved in the student radio station since it became a MSA auxiliary. Folk is also involved in the Chinese Language and Culture Association.
“This experience has been incredible,” Weber said after the announcement.
During their campaign, the two went on a hall government tour to publicize their platform and garnered more than 120 “likes” on their Facebook page.
The pair has numerous ideas to increase RHA’s visibility on campus as well as improvements to hall governments and campus dining. Their platform is based on “communication, awareness and progress,” according to their website.
To attract incoming students to RHA, Folk and Weber support more awareness opportunities during the summer and at the beginning of the school year.
“We encourage an expansion of Executive Board duties and more interactions with residents and other campus organizations,” the Folk-Weber slate’s campaign website stated.
The slate plans to reevaluate each of RHA’s programs and tweak them to better benefit residents.
Interaction with other campus organizations is another priority of the Folk-Weber slate. Folk and Weber also hope to increase resident participation in MSA’s Safety Walk.
According to the Folk-Weber platform, the slate would like to pursue healthier dining options at Rollins Late Night and other dining halls. More involvement in bringing social awareness groups, such as Four Front and Sexual Health Advocate Peer Education, to residents is on the presidential agenda, as well.
