Residential Council

Present: Ben Lowell (Chair), Andrew Tran (Policy Chair), Rachel Kahn (Program House Chair), Jillian Robbins (Lottery Chair), Courtney Mannino (Secretary), Greg Anderson, Sam Barney, Jerry Cedrone, Evan Holownia, Sara Slama, Sara Sunshine, James Williams

Absent: EJ Chung

Reminder: Margaret Klawunn, Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services, is coming next week.

Lottery Update:
After talking with ResLife, the one significant change that will be made this upcoming Spring is: after the second night of lottery, we will be sending an email to all those who were unable to choose at lottery and allow them to come to ResLife (on a first come, first serve basis) to choose one room triples and quads.
Hopefully this will get more people off the summer assignment process, while allowing groups time to think if these one room triples and quads are what they really want.
*Group members do not need to stay together - any assortment of people who were unable to pick at lottery are able to participate in this process.
This will be available to anyone in the lottery who does not have a bed at the end of the second night.
Should we offer another suite dating event before this occurs to facilitate more group formation?

New Update:
UCS is interested in looking at how the housing fee is applied to student accounts.
As of now, there is a standard rate and a suite rate.
Should we look at other ways of charging housing fees based on what amenities are in the room (common room, sink)?
This might allow for more proportional charges across residents.
Is this going to create more hassle during group selection process (before lottery)?
2 Big Complaints: 1) Students don't want to pay the extra money because this potentially limits their availability to choose housing and 2) the cost of suites is not exactly fair, considering the vastness of accommodations (Young Orchard Suites should cost more than VQG suites because there are more accommodations).
Is this worth looking into? Yes.
ResLife will have to collaborate with the Office of Financial Aid to prevent financial costs from preventing students from being able to choose certain residencies.

End meeting.

Submitted by Courtney Mannino, Residential Council Secretary, Fall 2009.