OCR Text |
Show Residence halls adopt updated constitution University residence hall students adopted a Constitution for the new Residence Halls Student Association Thursday. The vote was 747 in favor of adoption, 32 opposed. Final approval must come from the University Student Affairs Committee. The Constitution is designed to unite all residence hall students in setting up educational and social dorm activities. It stresses student involvement in dorm policy making. It also encourages better communication com-munication between students, the University, and the community. Jim Schuster, director of Austin Hall, said the remaking of a new residence hall government was started late last winter. A few students had complaints and saw no structure by which to affect change. They were frustrated by lack of communication between dorms and by dorm-student apathy. Resident advisors in the dorms held a dinner at which interested students tried to find solutions to common problems. They rejected their present Constitution as outdated and rigid and formed the Student Housing Coalition to write a new one. The new Constitution creates a flexible government stressing the legitimacy of student voice. Executives in the new organization will be a president and three vice-presidents. Representatives Represen-tatives to the governing body, the House of Delegates, have already been chosen by the dorms. They are empowered to adopt policy and make recommendations affecting students to University agencies. Each delegate is duty bound to involve his constituency in decision making. Schuster believes this new government will allow students to learn through experience lessons that will be valuable after college. He terms this type of education the main duty of residence halls. |