William Engels Called the Meeting to Order at 4:35 Pm

USRH Minutes

02/16/2017

Call to Order

William Engels called the meeting to order at 4:35 pm.

Roll Call

Donster (1,1)Evans (1)Gruenhagen (1,1)Horizon (x)

S. Scott (1,1,1)N. Scott (x)Stewart (1)Taylor (1,1)

Guests in Attendance

Aaron Wojchiechowski

Dylan Bram

Maddison Warde

Proxies

Sam Nawrocki – S. Gruenhagen

HonestiRunde – Stewart

Cortney Mullen – Evans

Approval of Minutes

Motioned by: Shannon Mousseau

Seconded by: Anna Schilcher

Motion passed/failed: Passed

Approval of Business

Motioned by: McKenna Arians

Seconded by: Alec Heaton

Motion passed/failed: Passed

Guest Speakers

RUB – Winter Carnival

Really trying to get halls more involved in Winter Carnival it is the first weekend of March, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Offering some incentives, there will be a trophy and a pizza party for the winter hall for the participants in the event and $250 towards your last hurrah event.

Elliott: Is Greek life included in the incentives?

Maddison: No. Halls and Greeks are two separate divisions and I’m pretty sure the Greeks have their own incentives.

Kyla: Donster hall gov. did it last year, do it, it’s a good bonding experience.

Aaron Wojchiechowski – Tobacco Free Campus Initiative

Here to talk about creating a tobacco free campus initiative. I’m on a policy committee. There would be a big boundary map to indicate the tobacco free area. Right now you can smoke within 25 feet of buildings. It’s becoming a bigger issue with the students which is why we’re bringing forth the initiative now. Working on a sustainability aspect with keeping cigarette butts off the ground. It’s a peer to peer enforcement. We are trying to make this a campus wide student initiative. Throughout this year we’ve been meeting with OSA to get their input and we’ve met with the Chancellor to get his input. Now we are working on getting it on the March ballot for the referendum.

Honesti: Have you done surveys for smokers and nonsmokers to get inputs?

Aaron: We haven’t but we’ve held the meetings with OSA and assembly and independent meetings. We’ve encouraged students to come to the meetings. We did a survey last year about smokers and nonsmokers on campus. One thing I’ve been telling OSA is we’re here to communicate with you. We’ve talked about a survey and it’s possible one could come up.

Alec: I know there’s a 25-feet from the building rule, is there specific designated areas?

Lori: No, technically it’s just 25-feet from the building.

Sarah: Do you have plans to help people quit smoking?

Aaron: One thing they’re going to offer is lots of resources, we’ve been offered a mini grant for initiating this.

Shannon: If employees are caught it will be handled through work, what about students?

Aaron: We don’t want to give fines to students, we are really trying to focus on a more social change.

Elliott: How will this affect guests? How will this make smokers feel?

Aaron: We will have resources available and we will make people aware we are a smoke free campus. The goal is not to marginalize them but the goal is to make campus a healthier place.

Lori: Are student employees included? Would we be expected to enforce this in our residence halls?

Aaron: That would be up to residence life, we don’t know how it would be specifically impacted.

Lori: For commuter students you can go home and be comfortable doing what you wish, if CA’s are going to be held to a different standard because where they live is where they work.

Aaron: It’s a tricky situation that we’re trying to work on

Shannon moves to extend discussion by 5 minutes, Alec seconds

Alec: What are the specific resources?

Aaron: I don’t know specifics, Juliana Khars would have more specific information.

Elliott: Is faculty affected as well, have you gone to the faculty senate? Will this affect them?

Aaron: The way employers enforce the penalties would be up to them, we’ve been in discussion with all four bodies. A previous professor has brought something similar, so for the most part they seem on board.

Maggie: What tobacco free campus initiatives have you used to model off?

Aaron: 24 schools in Wisconsin who have initiated this, UW-River Falls has had this for about four or five years now and they all seemed to go through the educational route rather than.

Natasha: What about putting ashtrays around campus?

Aaron: We want to create a position where we can monitor to what’s happening on campus.

Kyla: Do we think this would discourage students from coming?

Aaron: I think there would be some students who would be discouraged. I think promoting a tobacco free

Matt S. moves to exhaust the speakers list, Clara seconds

Elliott: Why are e-cigarettes not an allowable substitution for helping people quit?

Aaron: The government organization recently listed vape pens and e-cigs as nicotine products. Students can request exceptions and go to the student health center to discuss this.

Hall Funds

Items for Information

Meetings in the Horizon Study Lounge

Feb. 23rd, March 9th, April 6th & 20th

Items for Discussion

Items for Action

Elections

Emergence Elections N/WCC Nominations, Speeches, Q&A, Discussion, Voting

Alec Heaton: I’m Alec Heaton, I believe that I will do well in this position and be an asset to the exec board, right now this is my first year at UWO, communications major, currently with 14 credits, I believe with my communications major I think I can bring this to the executive board, I’ve attended leadership conferences in the past, and I think with all of this combined I would be a great add to the executive board.

Maggie: How good are you checking your email?

Alec: Pretty proficient, usually I do it first thing when I wake up, sometimes not til midday.

Shania: What do you see is the biggest problem residence halls/students face and what would you do to try to fix that?

Alec: Not sure I’ve been here long enough to notice big issues.

Elliott: You are the liaison between these conferences, how do you promote open communication between are residence halls and their residence hall associations?

Alec: I think just maintaining an open form of communication at each conference and each meeting, listening to what everyone has to say.

Sarah: Are you planning on staying in USRH next year?

Alec: Yes.

Elliott: What is your time commitment? Credits?

Alec: About 14 credits, and I understand there’s a required five office hours.

Shania: How do you handle stress?

Alec: Truck on through it.

Shania: Can you name a strength and weakness?

Alec: I’m a great people person, I enjoy meeting new people and learning about them. As for a weakness, my organizational skills aren’t the best.

Matt: Do you have plans for recruitment?

Alec: I think just trying to make an appearance at hall government meetings and talking to CA’s.

Kyla: What skills do you think from your communication major would help you?

Alec: I’m just starting the major but I think overall personable skills and just being able to listen.

Jenni: Other leadership roles?

Alec: Whenever a new person came in I would train them and show them the ropes at my old job.

Sarah: How do you make a PB&J

Alec: Jelly first and then peanut butter

Elliott: Are you able to sit down for a long time and focus?

Alec: I can manage that.

Matt moves to exhaust speakers list, Shannon seconds

Maggie: You’re a transfer student, why did you choose to transfer here?

Alec: Affordability, campus is beautiful, everything is really close together, it’s got that big university feel.

Discussion:

Shannon: I think he’d make a good NCC it sounds like through his education and his credentials he’d be good at conferences and communicating the goings on in Oshkosh. I think this would be a good opportunity for him to development his organizational skills.

Sarah: re: pb&j question. The more you explain how you make a pb&j the more open you would be. He said “just throw it on there” and if you say what kind of bread, jelly, etc. how you make it means you are more open. If you just say “throw pb&j” take it with a grain of salt .

Clara: I feel like he was really nervous right now, I think we just have to take into consideration that he’s nervous and some really hard questions were thrown at him. I think it would be a good growing opportunity.

Jenni: I liked what he said about recruitment, I think his idea of going to hall gov and CA’s was good.

Shania: I ask that question to everyone and even though he didn’t have a set problem, he’s a transfer student, he knows his stuff

Darinka: I think they were throwing hard questions at him to help prove he was a good candidate, we just want to make sure it’s the right person taking over

Honesti: I think he handled the questions really well, he thought about his answer, he didn’t wing it, he seems excited about the position. He actually seems interested and I think it would be helpful for his major.

Sarah: I like that he’s planning on being in USRH next year

Shannon moves to end discussion, Matt seconds

Voting:

For: 7Against: 0Abstain: 0

Voting Rights

Hall Reports

Donster(Kyle Beinlich, Shannon Mousseau): Hall gov didn’t meet, Flashback party is next Tuesday at 6pm-8:30pm

Evans (^): Talked about how we are doing tie blankets next Wednesday and donating all the ones we make to Childrens in Madison

South Gruenhagen (DarinkaLechuga,^): Talked about Cabin Fever, similar to Destress Fest, going to be here and will be in March, we don’t know specifics yet

Horizon (^, ^): No Report Submitted

North Scott (^, ^, ^): No Report Submitted

South Scott (Matt Quist, Daija Newman, Eryn Schlotfeldt): Crush for a Crush program raised around $30 for Red Cross

Stewart (^): Valentine’s Day party last week went really well, this week we talked about doing a replacement for Pub Crawl since we are a Freshman hall

Jenni: I think a replacement event is a good idea

Taylor (McKenna Arians, Alec Heaton): No Report Submitted

Committee Reports

Constitution (Kyla Brown): No Report Submitted

Food (Matthew Semrad): No Report Submitted

Programs (Clara Hewins, Maggie Vacula): Still planning banquet, any event pictures send them to Jennifer Depew ()

Safety and Security (^): No Report Submitted

LDC (Shelby Mcllheran): No Report Submitted

Paid Assistants

Social Media Director (^): Hoping to have this position filled next week

Junior Advisor (Elliott Verkuilen): Getting rid of the application process for eboard legislation

Student Organization Representatives

National Residence Hall Honorary (^): No Report Submitted

Oshkosh Student Association (Stephanie Garcia-Orozco): No Report Submitted

Reeve Union Board (Margaret Cobb): Winter Carnival meeting tonight at 6pm and this weekend is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Reeve Advisory Council (Sarah Wilson): No Report Submitted

Sustainability Council (Anna Schilcher): Commuter survey, we’re gauging interest in zimride, please take this so we know if we are reupping this contract, SSRT-sustainability projects on campus, first meeting is March 1st at 5pm in Polk Library 2nd floor

Executive Board

President (Shania Williams): Shamrock Shuffle is still happening, everything is due February 21st, our team name does not have to be USRH.

Vice President (Will Engels): Committee Chairs please send in your end of semester reports by the end of February. For the Tobacco Free Campus Initiative we have Aaron and Juliana’s emails you can send them to myself or them. This week go back and discuss with your halls and then next week we will have a discussion and voting on it

Director of Internal Affairs (Jennifer Depew): Interested in Executive Board? Contact Jenni and she can give more information on the positions.

NCC/WCC (^): Alec Heaton is the new NCC

Treasurer (Sarah Stefaniak): Care packages are done

Secretary (Natasha Zwijacz): Please make sure office hours and reports are done/sent in to me by 11:59pm every Sunday night

Advisor Report

Announcements/Concerns/Discussion

Adjournment

Motioned by:Anna Schilcher

Seconded by:Elliott Verkuilen

Motion passed/failed:Passed

Respectfully Submitted by,

Natasha Zwijacz

Natasha Zwijacz

USRH Secretary