State of RHA: Restricted, Hindered, Aimless

To all IU students who currently live on campus: the Residence Hall Association elections are today.

Don’t feel ashamed if this news comes as a surprise to you. RHA does an excellent job of keeping its existence a secret, and these elections might be the only time you will have any interaction with it.

RHA is a campus-wide governing board made up of students from all the different residence halls. Is someone on your floor a governor or senator? That person is your representative for your local branch of the association.

These elections, however, aren’t for your local representatives. These are for the executive positions. The two main tickets this year are (RED)efine and Naked! Both tickets are comprised of current RHA vice presidents and directors alongside individuals who have served in residence hall governments in various capacities.

(RED)efine claims its name exemplifies its platform. Whether this means a redefining of the way student government is handled on this campus or simply a renaming of the status quo is yet to be seen.

The Naked! ticket has decided to make transparency its main concern. By publicizing where it allocates funds, it seeks to keep students knowledgeable about where their money is going. Of course, just because you know where money is going doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have any control over it.

Many of the campaign topics for both parties overlap, like campus safety and transparency. It’s hard to tell whether each ticket came up with these issues independently or if it’s another case of the chicken and the egg.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, the baby steps proposed by both sides are not what this University needs. No one can effect the kinds of changes on this campus that are truly necessary without changing the way student governments are regarded and overseen.

Any time a new piece of RHA legislation calls for anything more than a simple funding allocation — like the introduction of condoms into the C-stores or the addition of recreational facilities in each neighborhood — it must have the support of various campus offices, any one of which can derail RHA’s efforts.

Our student representatives should not have to operate under this kind of restrictive leadership. Theirs should be an independent body that can only be stopped by President McRobbie himself. When we determine a move to be in the best interests of the students, campus administration should be there only to help us clear the red tape.

So get out there and vote for the ticket you feel is best. Then tell McRobbie that we’re not going to put up with this token voice any longer.