The overarching goal of the Residence Halls Association is to serve its hall residents and act as an accessible resource for students. In order to accomplish this goal, the RHA president and vice president must be approachable, well-known members of the Residential Life community who students are comfortable talking to. RHA should be more focused on outreach and engaging students on campus than on improving internal relations within the organization.
Sometimes, new ideas and new perspectives need to be brought forth. It is for this reason that we, as an editorial board, endorse the presidential slate of freshmen Billy Donley and Rachel Thomas for RHA.
First, it is important that we mention that both sophomore Steven Chaffin and freshman Nina Ruhe are former staff members of The Maneater. Chaffin left his positions as copy editor and staff writer in early 2014 to run for RHA president. Ruhe left her position as a columnist last October in order to focus her time on other projects, such as RHA. Neither Chaffin’s nor Ruhe’s association with The Maneater played a factor in our endorsement decision.
Donley and Thomas have shown that their focus is aimed toward being relatable and approachable executives for students living in residence halls. We also believe their age helps them understand the problems that many freshmen residents deal with, and thus they will be more equipped to deal with potential problems more than their opponents.
Chaffin has plenty of experience as RHA president, and has proven to be an administrative and well-connected leader for RHA in 2014. However, RHA is by and large an organization designed around leadership training, and that is yet another reason we feel Donley/Thomas should be elected. In RHA, there is room for minor mistakes and inexperience, since the majority of their members are freshmen or new to MU. Since they are closer in age, Donley/Thomas will be able to learn the ropes of campus leadership along with the rest of RHA.
What struck us most about these two slates was the abundant amount of similarities they had with one another. When entering the 2015 RHA election season, we expected to see a disparity of ideas between the former RHA president’s slate and the slate of less-experienced freshmen. Chaffin’s biggest mistake was not having better developed ideas than those of a freshman stepping into this role for the first time.
In their platform and at the Monday night debate, Chaffin/Ruhe appear to have focused a great deal of effort toward improving mostly internal functions of RHA. Over the past few years, the majority of RHA’s time has been spent brainstorming and creating new positions for cabinet and organizing the association to make it function more efficiently. At this point, RHA is efficient and well-organized in its internal functions. RHA’s efforts should be focused on programming and bringing more events to hall residents that they will care about and participate in.
When the topic of gender-neutral housing options came up at the Monday night RHA debate, we saw both slates fall flat. Along with improving RHA’s outreach to residents, we wanted to see more of a strategy for handling the new gender-neutral housing options coming to campus in the fall. RHA advocated for these options for the past several years, and we hope they will continue their efforts to encourage tolerance among the residents.
Both Donley/Thomas and Chaffin/Ruhe have exhibited passion to tackle important issues in RHA, and we urge both of these slates to continue working with RHA, regardless of the outcome of the election. But Donley/Thomas have the fresh perspective and relatability necessary to make their time on the executive board as effective and meaningful as possible for this upcoming term.
