Campus residents approved the new RHA constitution and elected the 2007-2008 RHA executive board - Dorothy Mejia as Residence Hall Association president, Jeffery Bloom as vice president of finance and administration, Jackie Buente as vice president of programming and Christine Felty as vice president of advocacy - current RHA President Jeffrey Hanley, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, announced Friday.
Mejia, current Leonard Hall president and a sophomore in SPA, won her contested race against Heather McAuliffe, a freshman in the School of International Service, and Cynthia Purekal, a junior in the Kogod School of Business, with 67.65 percent of the vote.
Buente, current Leonard Hall vice president of programming and a freshman in Kogod, won her contested race against Chris Ashton, current Hughes Hall vice president of programming and a sophomore in SIS, with 51.84 percent of the vote.
Bloom, a freshman in Kogod, and Felty, a freshman in the School of Communication, were uncontested in their respective races. The new RHA constitution was approved with 87.5 percent of the vote.
Mejia said she was happy her campaign produced a good result and that she wanted to build on the successes of the current RHA board during her time in office.
"For instance, this year RHA worked a lot with other groups on campus to bring better programming to people," she said. "Before, there were times when different groups would put on very similar programs. So this year we've tried to do a lot more collaboration, and I'd like to continue that."
Buente said she wanted to make sure the Student Government and RHA improve their relationship during her time in office.
"If we can possibly get these groups to work really well together, I think that programming within American University could be taken to the next level," she said.
Hanley said the RHA began drafting the new constitution on Sept. 29, after they established that the previous constitution was inadequate.
"The previous constitution was downright terrible, and literally a third of the document focused just on how to impeach people," Hanley said. "A constitution is supposed to be something that is flexible, that can adapt as the organization experiences changes. The old constitution didn't do that, so we wrote one that does."
The new constitution, which RHA consolidated to three-and-a-half pages, went through 12 revisions before the election, Hanley said.
"It's nice that this organization is now functioning on sound governing documents," he said.
Stephen Nagle, a freshman in Kogod, won the contested race for Hughes Hall president against Ashlie Cipriano, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, with 55.25 percent of the vote. Leonard Hall President-elect Gina Martino, a freshman in CAS, and Anderson Hall President-elect Michael J. Weiss, a freshman in SPA, were uncontested in their races. McDowell and Letts Halls had no hall presidential candidates on their ballots, although some residents from those halls wrote in candidates. Cara Anderson, a freshman in SIS, received the most write-in votes for McDowell Hall president, while Josh Cook, a freshman in SPA, received the most votes for Letts Hall president.
The election was only open to students who live in one of the six campus residence halls, and 272 students voted in the election, according to information provided by the RHA.
