Former RHA vice president wins presidency
Published Feb. 20, 2007
Outgoing Residence Halls Association President Justin Ginter swore in his former vice president, Greg Davis, as his replacement on Friday at the annual Res Hall Ball. Nate Ballance was sworn in as the new vice president.
"There is no lame-duck period for the RHA president," Ginter said. "The elections were held on Thursday and announced on Friday, and then the president swears them in. Then they're sworn in, and I'm no longer president."
Davis and Ballance defeated presidential candidate BT Daramola and his running mate Scotty Faust. Ballance and Daramola ran together last year against Ginter and former RHA Vice President Jennifer Williams.
"One of the big things we're going to try to do is to get the word out on RHA," Davis said. "A lot of people who you just ask at random have never even heard of us. We want to try to make the organization a bit more well known than it has been in the past."
Davis said he wants to make RHA more visible through its programming efforts. He said he plans to have more programming than RHA has ever had before, including one small program every month, combined with major programming once each semester.
"Our first program under this new plan would be in March because we just spent a lot of time and resources on some programming before this week," Davis said.
RHA sponsored the Mizzou Iron Chef competition, which took place in Brady Commons on Thursday.
"For March, we are looking at a campus-wide Mafia tournament," Ballance said. "But that's not concrete yet. We're having a meeting later this week to hash out details and start planning."
But the programs set up by Davis and Ballance will not be all fun and games, Davis said.
"As far as the programs themselves go, there will also be programs oriented to service to the university," Davis said.
Ginter said there are several initiatives RHA pursued before his presidency ended that the new president and vice president likely would follow-up on during the next year.
"It is vitally important that the new administration does not forget that their organization has put strong support behind the condom initiative," Ginter said. "Beside whatever personal opinions they may hold, they need to stay strong with the opinion of the organization and make sure that it is upheld."
During a question-and-answer session with both Ballance and Faust, the vice-presidential candidates, Ballance said he did not support the condom plan at its inception.
"When it was originally proposed, I was not a proponent of it," Ballance said.
He said his opposition was not for moral reasons. He said college students should take more personal responsibility in their sex lives.
Ballance said with RHA's support of the initiative, he would work to pass the condom initiative in a safe manner for students.
Ginter said strong leadership qualities are necessary for RHA.
"I don't want to sound like a leadership guide or a leadership book, but there are definitely some default qualities," Ginter said. "I think when it comes to being a good leader within RHA, it's really important to invest the power of the organization, as much as you possibly can, in the hands of the representatives."