Students recently elected a new Residence Hall Association executive board for the 2019-2020 academic year.
Freshman Haiman Wong was elected president. She previously served as the chair of the Rules and Oversight Committee and as a general assembly delegate for Anderson and Centennial Halls.
“A lot of different people approached me and encouraged me to run or consider running, so I went back and forth on it for a really long time and ended up doing it because I figured if I don’t give it a shot, I am never going to know what is going to happen,” Wong said.
Wong campaigned for more authentic relationships between RHA and the rest of AU’s campus. She said she wants to be able to facilitate relationships with other organizations as well as establish an identity for RHA.
“I think there is a huge disconnect there,” Wong said. “If I were to walk around the freshman halls right now and ask them who's your RHA delegate, I guarantee most people would ask what RHA is.”
Freshman Max Robins, elected vice president of administration and finance, also advocated for building relationships with campus organizations so RHA is no longer treated as a “purse.”
Robins said he will advocate for spending less on costly events such as Founders Day Ball. In 2017, RHA contributed $20,000 to the annual event.
“Is [Founders Day Ball] worth it as far as student funds go?” Robins said. “And is it worth it for what the RHA’s funds are going to?”
Students elected freshman Hayden Schutt as Vice President of Advocacy and Community Coordination. He said while he also wants to build better partnerships, he wants to focus on advocating for better mental health services. He also plans on building partnerships with resources such as the Health Promotion and Advocacy Center and Counseling Center.
“Thankfully, my experiences with these services have been positive, but I know this is not the case for everyone at AU,” Schutt said via email.
Currently, RHA is looking at applications to fill the vacant seat of Vice President of Social Programming.
kcarolan@theeagleonline.com
