Present: James Reed (Chair), Greg Anderson (Policy Chair), Mark Fuller (Program House Chair), Ben Lowell (Lottery Chair), Jillian Robbins (Secretary), Sophie Asher, Al Carter, Jerry Cedrone, EJ Chung, Paige Hicks, Chaz Kelsh, Adam Lewin, Mike Sokolovsky

Tardy: Christine Sunu

Absent: Mannan Jalan (excused), Jane Zhang (excused)

Guests: Dean Tom Forsberg

Overview:

1. Updates from each of the Committee Chairs
2. Senior Numbers Update
3. Card Access Proposal (Paige Hicks)
4. RPL Notification System about when Students Move Dorms (Jillian Robbins)

Lottery Committee Update (Ben Lowell):

• The potential dates we discussed for lottery have been submitted to Natalie Basil - we do not expect her to object to the dates we have suggested (therefore the dates below are not definitely correct, but they are very likely to be accurate)
• This will make Super Deadline Day March 3, 2008
• On Monday, March 9, 2008, the lottery applications will become available at 8:30 am
• These applications will be due Sunday, March 15, 2008 at 11:59 pm
• The housing lottery will occur Thursday, April 2, 2008 and Monday, April 6, 2008
• The first-pick competition will be held in early February
• What should the first-pick competition consist of this year? Should it be a video competition? A talent show?
• We would like an 'event' to occur to create excitement for the housing lottery
• At this event, Program and Greek houses should have tables set up to inform students about other housing options

Senior Lottery Numbers:

• It is proposed that the practice of releasing senior priority numbers before the housing lottery applications become available should be abolished
• This motion passes 7-1

Program House Committee Update (Mark Fuller):

• Program Houses have received review forms
• On Monday Nov 14, 2008, from 3 to 5 pm, the Program House Committee will meet to review the information collected from the Program and Greek Houses
• We have asked each house to submit their bylaws, members lists, and information about their advisors, housing meetings, community service contributions, and participation in Program or Greek Council
• We have asked the university for their members list for each house (for comparison), what events each house has registered with the SAO, and information about the university's relationship with each house
• We will ask each house for more information if they do not answer the questions sufficiently
• If any review form is severely lacking, the house will be asked to come before ResCouncil December 1, 2008 so that we can receive more information from them

Policy Committee Update (Greg Anderson):

•  Paige has drafted a Card Access proposal
• this proposal is a way to show ResLife that students are talking abut card access and that students would like to expand card access
• this proposal does not have to emphasize particular details, because we do not expect ResLife to make any actual changes to the current card access system
• however, this proposal shows that our opinion is on record
• This proposal would allow for sophomores, juniors, and seniors to each choose 5 people to have access to their dorms
• This proposal also calls for an increase of regional card access for all freshmen
• Hopefully, this proposal will decrease tailgating
• Should we conduct more research into how the card access system works before we make a proposal to ResLife? Are changes to the existing card access system feasible? Do we expect ResLife to change the current card access policy or is this proposal just meant to serve as a notification of what students are talking about?
• Should we address issues of responsibility? If a dorm is vandalized or damaged by someone who does not live in the dorm, is the person who gave this individual access to the dorm held accountable? How would this be enforced?
• How can we clarify the exact methods by which someone would be held responsible?
• How will we define increased regional card access for freshmen?
• What would these changes mean for DPS and overall campus safety?
• How can we more directly link our proposal to the current card access system?

RPL Notification System of Students Moving Dorms:

• RPLs are currently not notified when students move into or out of their housing units or regions
• We should suggest to ResLife that when students move rooms, the CAs, RCs, or WPCs should be identified
• these RPLs should be notified when there is any change in residence
• Therefore, students could be welcomed into their new dorms, added to Listservs, and included in programming

Status of the Bike Room Cleaning Proposal (Dean Forsberg):

• All rooms have been scheduled for a day of cleaning
• We are waiting for confirmation from DPS
• Then, the information about when each room will be cleaned will be publicized to all students

Further Discussion of First-Pick Competition (Ben Lowell):

• Should the first-pick competition be a video competition with a screening party? Should the screening party be the 'kick-off' when the videos are announced/released for initial viewing or should it be when the winner is announced (after the videos have been made available for viewing online)?
• The video competition held in years past encouraged campus involvement, but did not adequately inform people about the lottery
• Last year's talent show could have educated people about the lottery, but low attendance prevented this from occurring
• how can we combine maximum campus involvement and education about the lottery?
•  If videos are posted online, will students attend a screening event? How can we have readily available information about the lottery included with the videos online?
• How can we make video cameras available to all students?
• Was the video competition so popular because it was so accessible (via the internet)?
• If we host a screening, we would provide food and door prizes (for example, top pick in your class)
• then, Greek and Program houses could attend the screening, set up booths or tables, and advertise
• We need effective publicizing for high attendance

End of Meeting

Submitted by Jillian Robbins, Residential Council Secretary 2008-2009