RHA to add more members, fund condoms
Leaders say the members would better represent new on-campus students.
Published Dec. 5, 2008
The Residence Halls Association decided not to formally introduce a bill designed to speed up the installation of condom dispensers. After noticing the dispensers were arriving later than promised, RHA members wrote a resolution, but waited until they had more information before presenting it to congress.
President Bobby Wood said RHA wasn't eager to "throw a wrench" at a long-term project such as the dispensers.
RHA waited until after the Nov. 27 Sexual Health and Safety Products Task Force meeting before making a formal resolution for congress. RHA executives decided the resolution wasn't needed because the problems were a result of international shipping issues, not MU's unwillingness to install the dispensers.
"I am satisfied that it is purely logistical," said Blake Lawrence, Speaker of Congress and a member of the task force.
Also at the meeting, RHA addressed the increase in students by passing a bill to better represent the amount of residents with a more proportional representation system.
"We felt like our representation numbers weren't adequate to the amount of students we have," said RHA Internal Committee Chair Ryan Manning, who proposed the legislation and co-authored the bill.
Thirty RHA members represent about 6,000 students, and RHA would like to increase those numbers to better represent students living in residence halls.
The bill was discussed before the break, but RHA members were skeptical that it might be difficult to get more students to volunteer. RHA is a long-term commitment of one's time. Students are expected to be at either the internal or external meeting every Monday for one hour and every bi-weekly congressional meeting. They're also responsible for discussing issues with the peers they represent.
"It made me feel disappointed," RHA Vice President Nate Ballance said in response to those concerns, adding that he doesn't think it should be a problem to get more students next year.
The old system represented halls with two to four representatives. The proposed system, to take effect next year, will have anywhere from two to five, based on the possible capacity of the hall. Not every representative must attend every meeting, but halls with two or three representatives must have one member in each committee meeting and halls with four or five representatives must have one person in each committee in addition to one representative attending either committee meeting.
Ballance felt the system needed to be upgraded because in recent years halls have opened and closed and governments have changed.