At Taylor Place, the Residential Hall Association is responsible for planning events, helping community assistants and acting as the voice of student residents.
While all four of ASU’s campuses have one, the Downtown campus RHA is unique in that it serves as both hall council and residence hall association; the organization in Tempe consists of multiple halls, each with their own council.
Each resident at Taylor Place is a member of RHA. Upon moving in, students paid a $20 fee that ensures their membership in the association. While any resident of Taylor Place can vote in elections and participate in the organization, RHA has had trouble recruiting active members.
“I think our largest hurdle so far has been (a) lack of active members and knowledge of our organization,” said RHA President Alexandra Flamini. “We’ve been small and we’re still building, and I would really like to see an increase in the residents’ participation in the upcoming spring executive board elections.”
Community assistant Jacqueline Gutierrez can attest to the effort RHA has made at Taylor Place.
“You can tell they really take the time to plan out their events,” Gutierrez said.
While RHA advertises its events and tends to have sizeable turnouts, residents often do not know who is putting on the festivities.
“I’ve been to events there, but did not know who was sponsoring them,” said Hannah Jane Nunez, a Taylor Place resident, who also said she had never heard of RHA.
Though RHA may exist in relative obscurity for some, Flamini said the organization has been responsible for a lot of positive progression at Taylor Place. According to Flamini, RHA is currently in the process of allocating whiteboards for each floor per the requests of community assistants.
RHA was also instrumental in facilitating the kitchen that is now open on the first floor.
Through student feedback, the organization has recently been helping to develop a program with Taylor Place to survey elevator use. They soon hope to have a type of express elevator that runs more efficiently.
Flamini said the next bi-weekly RHA meeting will be today. Plans are currently underway for a Spring Luau.
“We’re really trying to establish this as an annual blowout event that a majority of residents will attend,” she said. “Plans are in work and most definitely include Hawaiian Barbeque. Students should be keeping their lookout for flyers toward the end of March.”
Contact the reporter at Anthony.J.Sandoval@asu.edu
