Residence Hall Association

Residence Hall Association

Origin of the Organization:

Arguably one of the most important aspects to college is the community in the residence hall. At Drake University the Hall Association] (RHA) strives to make all students comfortable in their halls. The purpose of RHA according to Sean Walsh (President of 2010-2011 RHA) is, "RHA’s motto is 'making halls into homes,' so we offer diverse programming for the residence hall community, provide a united voice representing the members of our Executive Board and all of the Hall Executive Councils to the University, and we act as a liaison to the Office of Residence Life." RHA was created before 1950, to oversee programs in the residence halls, University programing, and student activities. But the creation of the Student Activities Board (SAB) and [[thompsonl:Student Senate Student Senate]has driven the RHA’s main focus on programming in the residence halls. The RHA were initially known as Interdorm Councils and there were separate Interdorm Councils for men and women, because the dorms were segregated by gender. In 1969 the name of the residence council was the Women's and Men's Residence Association. Then in 1972 they were combined to create the RHA that is still active on campus. The RHA has a specific week each year that is dedicated to hall programs and help raise awareness for the residents in the halls to get out and get involved in all of the fun activities happening in the halls.

RHA Board:

The RHA board is a board of elected or appointed members; these members are elected in the spring prior to their year that they will serve on the board. The elected positions are; president, vice president, campus communication coordinator, environmental chair, service chair, and publicity co-chairs. The elected officials interview and appoint the remaining positions; secretary, treasurer, and historian. Also included on the Executive Board are eight hall presidents, two Resident Assistants (an upper classman hall RA and a first year hall RA), the National Residence Hall Honorary President, and the National Communication Coordinator who serves as the contact to the Midwest Association of College and University Residence Halls. The RHA Board meets in Olmsted and the resource office for RHA, Office of Residence Life, is located in the lower level of Olmsted.

Residence Halls Executive Councils:

Each residence hall on campus has an Executive Council that is elected with in the first three weeks by the residents of their hall. The members of the hall’s executive council meet with the elected officials on the RHA board to discuss all of the events occurring in the residence halls. Each hall has an elected council that is made up of at least 15 members.

Positions/Expectations:

President- oversee planning and execution of hall projects, oversee EC meetings Vice-President - preside over EC meetings in the absence of the President, accept additional duties assigned by the President, be a permanent member of the RHA Programming Board Finance Chair - responsible for all monies collected, serve on the RHA Finance Committee, coordinate with EC members when spending funds Secretary - record all meeting minutes, distribute minutes, and submit a copy of the hall's minutes to the Historian Hall Communications Coordinator - submit monthly articles for RHA publications, submit OTMs each month, responsible for maintaining the hall's webpage Historian - compile detailed documentation about events, create the Hall of the Year Bid Publicity Co-Chairs - responsible for publicizing, serve on the RHA Publicity Committee Programming Chair - present new ideas to the EC, chair the floor representative committee board, attend RHA programming board meetings Environmental Chair - plan and coordinate environmental action projects, oversee the hall's recycling program, serve on the RHA environmental committee Service Chair - responsible for coordinating community service projects, serve on the RHA service committee Floor Representatives/Intermural Chair - monitor the circulation of the Stallseat Journal for their floor, responsible for creating intermural teams

The Executive Council (EC) creates programs for the hall. EC’s have to create the programs, finance the programs, and publicize the events. These programs can be social, alcohol alternative, educational, diversity or service. The purpose of the programs is to bring the hall together and to create community. Also it gives residents from different floors a chance to get to know one another. The EC also takes care of the recycling for the hall. Each Sunday night the EC goes around and collects all of the resident's recycling. There are six residence halls on Drake’s campus. The first year residence halls are Stalnaker, Crawford, Carpenter, and Herriott. Morehouse also has a few first year floors, but the rest of the hall is sophomores. Jewett, Ross, and Goodwin-Kirk are the other sophomore residence halls. Each of the halls has their own special annual event.