Griffin wins RHA majority

Students cast their votes Wednesday in the Residence Hall Association elections, marking the end to a week of being inundated by Griffin and Spark advertisements. Students were voting to appoint RHA executives for the 2006-2007 school years, as well as deciding on a referendum to approve a revision to the RHA constitution.\nIn this year's election there was no sole winner of the executive positions. A combination of representatives from each platform were elected. The Griffin ticket saw the success of President-elect Matt Jarson, Vice President of Internal Affairs Greg Fitch and Vice President of Student Affairs Sarah Clark.\nSpark candidate Meg Palm was the sole candidate for vice president of programming. \nThe referendum on the RHA constitution passed as well, which will bring several changes in the coming year. \nA governing body known as the general assembly will be formed, replacing the president's council, in an attempt to increase representation. Also, a new funding board will be formed to ensure RHA money is spent on RHA needs.\n"The funding board will streamline the process making it so that more residence hall student activity fees stay in the centers," said Adam Wiszowaty, current vice president of programming for RHA.\nAnother change brought about by the new constitution will be a new student drop-in system, which will allow for students who are busy in other campus organizations to stay involved with RHA. Instead of forcing students to commit themselves totally to RHA for an entire year, the drop-in system allows students to select those programs they are passionate about while participating in student government.\n"If a student wants to help with advertising but doesn't want to work on budget, they will be able to work on what it is they care about," said Wiszowaty.\nThe Griffin candidates said they are looking forward to beginning their positions, which will take effect on April 1.\nJarson said he can't wait for the beginning of the term, though his party probably won't do anything major right away.\n"We'll probably start off making sure we have people in all of our director positions," Jarson said. "And I'll be meeting with administrators right off the bat after spring break." Jarson, who currently serves as president of Foster Quad, says he is most looking forward to the interaction that will come with his position. "I'm looking forward to the interaction between students and administrators. \n"I had a lot of fun at Foster and I can't wait to do it again," he said.\nClark, on the other hand, said the planning stage is over, and she is ready for action.\n"Now is our chance to get in there and get things done," Clark said.\nGriffin members said have no doubt that they will work well with Palm, the lone Spark executive candidate elected.\n"Though they campaigned under different platforms, they had some very similar ideas," Wiszowaty said. "One of Griffin's main objectives is to create an annual large-scale RHA event -- Meg has wanted to do that as well."\nThough the Griffin Party came out on top, all of the ideals behind the Spark platform are not lost in the aftermath of the election. Palm's presence in the Griffin administration will help to carry out some of the Spark ideas, Wiszowaty said.\n"I hope that those that did not win the election will still want to be involved," said Wiszowaty. "Clearly all of these individuals are passionate about representing and serving students and I hope that they can all work together and stay involved in the future"