You’re Invited! A Little Party Never Hurt Nobody!
Towson University
Towson University School of the Year NACURH 2016 at the School ofof Delaware the Year University CAACURH CAACURH
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You’re Invited Dear NACURH, Are you ready to party like it’s 1866? A year-long celebration of the sesquicentennial anniversary of Towson University opening its halls has instilled every student with tiger pride. Every organization and department has been participating in the birthday party the greater Baltimore area is sure to never forget: in true Gatsby fashion.
TU is a public university located in Towson, Maryland, just a light rail away from Baltimore City. Four name changes and a location change later, our institution stands as the second largest public institution in the entire state of Maryland. We Tigers have so much to be proud of, including our D1 athletic teams, being on the Forbes Top 100 Public Universities in the United States list, and, of course, our bee’s knees Housing and Residence Life department. TU has a current total of 13 residence halls with 4,990 residents. We are soon to open two new, apartment style residence halls to our campus, Marshall and Carroll Hall, while taking another, Residence Tower, offline for renovations. HRL consists of 37 professional staff and over 300 student staff. University Residence Government (URG) and National Residence Hall Honorary have been celebrating our beloved campus’ birthday by being bigger, better, stronger, and more united than ever as housing organizations. Our 13, soon to be 15, residence halls have been celebrating our 150th year, as well, and have gifted our campus with positive change and community. URG and NRHH have been working hard and passionately to define the on-campus experience for the next 150 years to come, and are excited to submit our RSVP to you for the NACURH School of the Year award. We are not perfect and we have faced numerous hardships throughout the year. However, we worked through the obstacles presented to us to ensure that we are providing the on-campus experience wanted by our peers. We are excited about everything that we have accomplished since NACURH 2015, and have loved witnessing the long-term benefits our organization’s goals have instilled on our campus. We hope that you choose to attend our party! And don’t forget: dress code is black and gold, every Towson Tiger’s two most favorite colors, our school colors! Sincerely, with Tiger & Cougar Pride & Diamond Love, Towson’s URG and NRHH Executive Boards, Authors of the School of the Year Bid
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Table of Contents Structure URG Executive Board………………………3 Building Councils……………………………4 Committee Councils………………………..4 Budget………………………………………………………5 Purpose…………………………………………………….5 Objectives………………………………………………...6 Resident Recruitment………………………………..7 Collaborative Programming……………………….8 E-Board Programming………………………………9 Council Programming…………………………......10 New Initiatives………………………………..……11-14 Continued Initiatives………………………..………14 Program and Initiative Challenges……….......15 Evaluation Tools…………………………..15 Student Advocacy………………………………..…..16 Service and Sustainability…………………………17 Towson’s NRHH…………………………….…..18-20 Communication………………………………………21 Professionals The State CAACURH & NACURH CAACURH………………………………………………22 No Frills………………………………………….........23 NACURH………………………………………………..23 Exceeding Purpose………………………………….24 Letters of Support………………………………26-27
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The Life of the Party The URG Executive Board President Annika Birthday: 5/02 Chairs executive board meetings, oversees constitutional committee, & serves as On-campus Population Representative
Vice President Peter Birthday: 5/27 Manages social media outlets , recruitment, building council elections, and chairs General Assembly meetings
Secretary Brittany Birthday: 7/13 Takes minutes at all meetings, maintains council rosters, supplies for councils, & Housing and Residence Life contacts
Treasurer Wayne Birthday: 2/18 Establishes budget, oversees all council and eboard spending, oversees treasurers council, & oversees building improvements
Director of Special Projects Kia Birthday: 8/30 Executes campus-wide programming and works closely with other programming organizations on campus
NCC Asante Birthday: 11/18 Communicates with CAACURH and NACURH, leads conference delegations, and oversees affiliation process
Director of Civic Engagement Jamie Birthday: 6/20 Spearheads all service, philanthropy, and sustainability initiatives, and collaborates service projects with NRHH
Director of Resident Advocacy Jeremy Birthday: 8/18 Relays campus feedback to respective departments through the resolution process to enable change
Director of Recognition Dom Birthday: 10/05 Liaison to NRHH eboard, leads OTM education, appreciation days, banquet planning, and bidding process
Director of Residential Inclusion Kevin Birthday: 1/14 Ensures campus is an inclusive community that celebrates culture and differences
Our advisors are the backbone of the URG Executive Board. From Left to Right our advisors are Andrea, April, and Ron. April and Andrea are both Residence Life Coordinators and Ron is the Director of Residence Life.
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The Building Councils At TU, we have three residential areas: Glen Complex, Towsontown, and West Village, totaling 13 councils. Across councils, you’ll find team building, ice breakers, program planning, reflections on the previous week, and strengthening of team dynamics at meetings. Positional Descriptions and Organization of Building Councils President- serves as figurehead of the councils and oversees the team dynamic Vice President- advertise Building Council events and assume presidential responsibilities Secretary- take minutes at meetings and serve as a historian for programs Treasurer- maintain the budget and are responsible for all financial transactions Building Representatives (3-4 positions per council)- attend weekly General Assemblies and serve as the voice of the residence halls by presenting resolutions or proposed changes to campus Active Members (varies)- attend building council meetings and help execute programs RA Liaison (1-2)- provide RA insight and allocate Building Council information to RA staff Advisor (1-2)- provide guidance and support for the Building Councils. The advisors are the Residence Life Coordinators and Graduate Assistants that work in the building. Community Representatives (varies)- much like an active member, but there is one representative per RA to liaison between building council and the floor Mentor (1)- serves as a student advisor and is a member of the URG executive board *Newly added this year and accepted into our constitution* Community Center Liaison (1)- Serves as a liaison for the desk attendant staff of the hall Residential Learning Community Liaison (1)- Serves as a liaison between the residential learning community, such as Honors Community, Alcohol Free floor, etc., and the council. Career Center Liaison (1 for all of URG & NRHH)- Attends Career Center (CC) meetings, shares professional opportunities with both organizations, and gives resident input to CC initiatives
Committees & Councils Committees and Councils are comprised of URG and NRHH members from varying positions and residence halls. Committee members have opportunities to learn skills such as planning, executing an event, participating in professional meetings, executing initiatives, and working as a team. Constitutional Committee- Poll community regarding constitutional amendments and reviews Resident Outreach Committee- Recruit students to join Building Councils and committees Treasurers Council- Discuss and approve of building improvements and budgets Spirit Committee- Produce NRHH spirit wear and spirit items for conferences Resident Advocacy Committee- Attend departmental meetings as student representatives Special Projects Committee- Plan, staff, and execute campus-wide programming Civic Engagement Committee- Collaborate with Department of Leadership to execute events Residential Inclusion Committee- Liaison with diversity-based organizations Service Committee (NRHH rooted)- Plan service opportunities for URG and NRHH members Recognition Committee- Execute campus-wide appreciation days and banquet planning Benefits of our Structure Liaisons enable communication and representation of URG throughout all floors of residence halls, in other areas of Housing and Residence Life, and campus Mentors and Advisors work together to support council members Committees and Councils serve as outlet for resident leadership development and enable residents to execute their visions and hopes for what campus could be
Goal Checker to Fulfill our Purpose of Enhancing the On-Campus Experience
An Extraordinary Experience with URG
Being a part of a committee or council is fun for our members and increases their involvement with URG
Leadership & Personal Development
The students who help plan the programs learn about programming and other valuable skills
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Entrance Fee Allocation
Amount
Our Treasurer, Wayne’s Notes
Building Council Programming Funds
Fall: $14,970 Spring: $19,960
Building Council budgets are allotted based on the number of residents living in the building. $3/resident in the fall and $4/resident spring semester.
$880-$1,500 per semester per council Leadership Development
$12,600
Conferences
$14,100
URG Recruitment & Swag
$11,350
Recognition
$13,706
Civic Engagement Programming
$13,825
Diversity Programming *new*
$12,150
Engagement Programming
$15,000
Building Improvements
$8,000
Discretionaries
$22,197.24
Executive Board Compensation
$18,000
Our budget comes from both Housing and Residence Life and Capstone, the two housing outlets on campus. Each resident pays housing fees to those departments and URG receives $29 from each student, which is then broken in half into $14.50 for each semester. Our total budget is $190,406.24 for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Party With Purpose
$1,800/year with 10 e-board positions
Party with Purpose The purpose of URG is to enhance the on-campus experience for students. We directly target, and represent on-campus students. Even for students who do not remain in the residence halls all four years, as TU’s second largest organization, URG’s presence helps set the tone for our campus. Our Housing and Residence Life’s four core values are Learning & Education, Inclusive & Welcoming Communities, Discovery of Self, Others, and the Collegiate Experience, and Engagement & Connections. Each one of those values, when successfully implemented, better the experience of others and result in students being well-rounded individuals. Our goals, listed below, work to execute HRL’s core values. With the achievement of our goals, we are embodying the HRL Core Values, enhancing the students’ on campus experiences, and fulfilling our purpose. Provide an extraordinary experience with URG Building rapport with all residents we interact with Implementing NACURH and CAACURH conference feel Asking for resident feedback in all that we do to better represent the students Provide leadership and personal development Committees and councils are designed by residents Host a Building Council leadership retreats Have representation within organizations that provide such development Provide meaningful programming with long-term benefits Executing collaborative program that teach useful life-skills Allocating most our budget towards programming and resident benefit Encouraging council programming to have such benefits Prepare future councils and executive boards for success Revamping transition process for executive board members and building councils Upgrading URG and NRHH offices and resources Creating resources and improvement funds Bridge the Gap with Towson NRHH Chapter Combining the Recognition and Service committees of both organizations Greater sense of “us” and “our” Educating the opposite organization about the other
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Objectives Rebranding of URG We redesigned our logo. We surveyed campus over the summer via Facebook and received over 400 responses. The goal was to have a logo that better encompasses what URG does. Our new logo features three different residential houses, to represent the three residential areas of our campus, and the windows are yellow to symbolize that someone is home, as our slogan is “Welcome Home.” Since we determined our new logo by voting, we enabled resident input. Reviewing our Constitution Every three years we review our constitution to make revisions. This is spearheaded by the President and our advisor, Ron. Additionally, we have a Constitution Review Committee, which is comprised of Building Council members from varying residence halls and of varying positions. The review committee also collected feedback for our new constitution by emailing advisors and proposing questions at RA In-Service, which is a monthly meeting for every RA on campus. The amendments were voted on at our last General Assembly of the semester, enabling resident input. Switching Website Outlets Our URG website use to be through the official Towson website, towson.edu. As students do not have access to alter it directly, but must request changes. We switched over to an involved@TU site. This will enable us to access and alter the site whenever we want, and give us more customization freedom. Additionally, we will be accessible the way most students know, since most organizations on campus use the involved@TU site. Revamping URG and NRHH Office and Resources This year is URG’s 41st birthday. As our organization ages, so do our resources. To set up future boards for success, we bought an entire new set of durable office supplies, purchased new, durable furniture for the office, a conference table, storage cabinets, and microphone to use at GAs, instead of renting one every week, saving money for us and future boards. By revamping our office, we made it more welcoming for when council members come to our office hours. Additionally, we communicated with NRHH on this endeavor, as we share an office.
Above Left: Our old logo Above Right: New logo Left: TU’s NRHH Chapter helping us poll our community to receive resident input on our new logo
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The Night’s Young Recruiting Residents with ROC On move-in days, URG’s committee, Resident Outreach Committee, was present at registration tables outside each residence hall .ROC is comprised of 50 students with previous experience in URG. Each station is lead by a ROC Team Leader, a students who oversee that station. ROC sign ups are in May and students move in early for training. ROC members are responsible for giving a description of URG and sharing the benefits of joining our team, give away raffle items with our logo, as well as a quarter sheet with our upcoming programs and Building Council election timeline.
Council Interest Building Council Meetings Elections Each residence hall hosts a Building Council Interest Meeting. The meeting is hosted by RA Liaisons and URG eboard members. A description of URG is given, as well as what positions the councils have, what the councils do, and why you definitely want to join. Following the meeting, election packets go live for that residence hall.
Election packets are made available at the front desks of each residence hall. Packets require 100 signatures of support and answers to questions, such as why your are running for a position. Additionally, candidates submit mission paragraphs to have at voting stations. Potential members are free to advertise throughout the residence halls of their candidacy, with a few limitations. On voting day, residence hall staffs hold a URG tablet at the front desk for residents to vote. Winners are determined by an electoral college vote based off of RAs, meaning you have to win the vote of a floor of a residence hall and that counts as 1 vote in the electoral college. Following elections, the URG e-board gets together to count the votes and make personal phone calls to everyone who ran. Students who did not receive positions are encouraged to be active members, liaisons, and committee members.
Goal Checker to Fulfill our Purpose of Enhancing the On-Campus Experience An Extraordinary Experience with URG
We support our potential members throughout the election process and build rapport via personal phone calls with those who did not win positions to encourage them to fill other roles within URG
Leadership & Personal Development
RA’s are able to gain experience on presenting. ROC Team Leaders gain experience leading a group of peers
Programming with Long-Term Benefits
The interest meetings sell students on joining our organization, so it is the first step towards them receiving the other benefits of URG
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Bring a Date Collaborative Programming Most of our budget goes towards programming because through programming we can achieve many of our goals and provide an experience for residents. We love to do collaborative programs to provide residents with as many experiences, and to connect residents with as many resources as possible.
Event
Collaborated With
Long-Term Effect
Voters Registration Day- Tabling in the Student Union to encourage and enable Towson Tigers to register to vote and learn about political candidates
Towson Democrats Club, Towson Republicans Club, & Office of Civic Engagement and Leadership
Students registered to vote enabling them to be politically engaged individuals and make a difference within their community, state, and nation
Donor Registration Day- Tabling in the Student Union to provide information on being an organ donor and how to register
Towson’s Ward and West Health Center
Students learned about how they could potentially save someone’s life in the future and how much hospitals rely on donors
Veterans Day- Tabling in Freedom Square to have students sign a banner for Vets
Student Government Association
Students got to showcase their appreciation for those who defend our country
Wings and Things- URG tailgated at Towson’s very first home game of the season for our D1 football team alongside other Tigers
Towson Athletics
The raffle awarded a community money towards a catered dinner, where connections were made and community was built
Asian Arts Exhibit- The grand opening of Towson’s very own, permanent Asian Arts Exhibit in the College of Fine Arts
South Asian Student Association & Center for Student Diversity
Students were able to learn about different Asian cultures, increasing cultural competency on our campus
Towsontown CookoutCelebrations of the end of spring semester in the residential area of Towsontown residence halls
Order Up (Towson University’s food ordering service)
Students were able to reduce stress, but also learned about our new food ordering service, enhancing their TU experience
Roomie Weds- Roommates from across campus answered trivia questions about each other in front of a live audience
Campus Activities Board
Residents were able to learn the value of their relationships with their roommates and learned about compromise
Let’s Talk About Sex- Sex educators had activities to teach students about safe sex
Health Center Peer Educators
Students learned how to safely use sex toys and other sex products, increasing their health and safety
Culture Con- Conference to educate about and celebrate various types of cultures. URG talked about on-campus culture
Housing and Residence Life
Students learned about various new cultures, such as deaf culture, Greek Life culture, and many ethnic cultures.
Mind, Body, and Soul- Residents learned meditative and relaxing techniques and practices
Towson Yoga Studio & Student Government Association
Residents were able to learn how to relax and calm themselves to practice good mental health
Safe Summer Send Off- End of the year celebration for residents at Ward and West
Health Center
Students were able to learn about protecting their skin, staying hydrated and other tips
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E-Board Programming The majority of our executive board programming is through the Director of Special Projects, Kia. She also has a committee that helps her with the planning and execution of programs. The Special Projects Committee is comprised of 15 residents. At the beginning of the semester Kia has the committee put together a long list of programming ideas. From there, URG votes on what programs they would like to see URG host. The programs are student led and based on resident wants. Traditional Programs I Love Female Orgasm- 644 people This year is the 10 year anniversary of URG hosting this event. This is fall semesters most popular program that brings out returning students and well as new students. Two speakers create a safe environment to educate students about the female body, sexuality, and orgasms in a humorous way. The presenters also provide students with resources after the program for more information on sexual empowerment. S’mores Galore- 101 people We hosted a social program, bon fire in our campus’s Glen woods, right outside the residential area, the Glen. It brought students from other residential areas to the Glen to explore Holi Run- about 400 people A program planned by our Director of Residential Inclusion and the South Asian Student Association. It is campus-wide Color Run that incorporates the popular marathon’s inspiration, the Holi Run. The program also teaches about the cultures that celebrate the colorful festival. New Programs Welcome Back Cookout- about 100 people At this social program, the URG Executive Board has BBQ and URG swag to give away outside the Student Union to welcome students back to campus Spring Fling- 80 people An on-campus dance for residents that raised money for the Family Tree in Baltimore Tigers Field Day- 50 people Residents were able to relive their glory days of elementary school field day. We had tie dye, Ritas, and raffle baskets. Dash for Democracy- All of campus Competition to see what residence hall can get the greatest percentage of residents registered to vote for the Maryland Primaries
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Council Programming Building Council programming is the root of URG’s in-hall community building. We and the council advisors encourage councils to keep the four Housing & Residence Life Core Values in mind while planning programming: (1) Learning & Education, (2) Inclusive & Welcoming Communities, (3) Discovery of Self, Others, & the Collegiate Experience, (4) Engagement & Connections. Below are just a fraction of the many programs TU Building Councils plan and execute. Learning & Education RichWell Building Council hosted “The Cleanse” where they taught residents about hygiene and protecting yourself against flu season, Prettyborough hosts monthly pancake study nights in their Multi Purpose Room to bring residents together to study, and many councils had final freebies, such as blue books and scantrons. Inclusive & Welcoming Communities Residence Tower hosted “Around the World in 13 Floors” Where Building Council worked with RAs and residents to have country-themed floors to teach residents about other cultures. Tower A hosted “Dear White People” that educated about privilege, oppression, and enabled residents to share stories. Discovery of Self, Others, & the Collegiate Experience Barton House hosted “Canvas Creations,” where residents painted pictures that embodied their identies to be displayed in the lobby and Millennium Hall’s council hosted “Sex in the Lounge” where they discussed sexuality, sex toys, and safe sex practices Engagement & Connections Area-wide programs the councils host help bring residents together within their area of campus. Towsontown hosted a bubble soccer tournament between the halls, West Village hosted “West Fest,” and the Glen Towers hosts “Glentastrophe,” which is a haunted house experience that takes residents throughout the Glen Woods.
Goal Checker to Fulfill our Purpose of Enhancing the On-Campus Experience An Extraordinary Experience with URG
The programs and initiatives provide fun and memorable experiences for those who attend.
Leadership & Personal Development
The students who help plan the programs learn about programming and attendees learn about themselves at events, as well.
Programming with Long-Term Benefits
Attendees learn long-term skills, such as voting, learn about other cultures, sexual empowerment and maintaining mental health
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New Initiatives NACURH & CAACURH @ TU The executive board had our retreat to plan the year starting the day after returning home from NACURH 2015, and we wanted to incorporate as much of our experience as possible, leading to our NACURH & CAACURH @ TU initiative. General Assemblies General Assemblies are weekly meetings for the URG e-board, advisors, Building Representatives, and any welcomed guests as audience members. Our General Assemblies are a time to discuss URG business and build community among the councils. Below are the different ways we incorporated CAACURH & NACURH @ TU. Family Feel- At CAACURH and NACURH everyone becomes your family. We wanted building reps to make more connections. At the beginning of our GAs, the Director of Recognition, Dom, alternates between “getting to know us” activities– activities where the audience gets to learn more about the eboard, such as guessing us by our baby photos– and “getting to know each other” activities– where the e-board, building reps, and audience members all participate. An example activity that was done was a scavenger hunt that required each council to interact with an executive board member. A few interactions included imitating an executive board member to an advisor and singing a song about money to our treasurer. Spirit- CAACURH and NACURH are all about spirit. We had our councils design tablecloths that served as their building’s banner. Our NCC also has a portion in our GA where he shares information about conferences, the region, and even teach cheers. We also begin every meeting by having the entire GA sing the Towson Fight Song. Every week, a different council leads the group in the song. Placards- Our NCC was inspired by the placards used at NACURH and started a placards system to our GAs to use when we discuss resolutions. Our VP, who chairs the GA also has a list with the names of the individuals with their placard color of choice, that way we can still address the building reps by name, instead of “blue Paca House,” for example. The back of our placards also detail Robert’s rules. Themes- Among our GA themes were Halloween, Body Positivity, Disney, Thankfulness, and Passion. Our GA activities reflected those themes. Banquets & Receptions URG and NRHH have combined Winter Reception at the end of fall semester and a banquet at the end of spring semester. At our Spring Banquet, we gave out a lot of different types of awards and each award got a different cheer. Attendees were taught the many NACURH and CAACURH cheers, such as You ROCK, We Are Proud of You, and Standing O. At the banquet, one of the activities we had present in the room was to write on a pin a word to describe someone you admire. Attendees traded pins throughout the night.
“My favorite thing about the GAs this year is that I get to know people. It’s really cool that I know the building reps from other residence halls and know the executive board. Every GA has a surprise and something different to look forward to.” – Chelsea O., Building Rep Towson Run
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Bridge the Gap with NRHH
Bridge the Gap is a CAACURH initiative to bring Residence Hall Associations and National Residence Hall Honorary Chapters closer together. Below are the ways in which we bridged the gap between URG and NRHH to create a sense of “Us” and “Our.” We are excited to continue growing together. Our Director of Recognition serves this position for both URG and NRHH She has a section in our GA which she starts out by asking, “what is the other organization I’m on the eboard for?” (The whole GA then responds “NRHH” simultaneously). She then shares an NRHH fun fact, provides OTM insight, such as providing a past national winning program OTM as a template. She serves as a liaison and coordinates recognition initiatives for both organizations. URG and NRHH share an office. There, both e-boards hold office hours and share office space. Within our office, you will find both logos throughout and remnants of both organizations showing that it is our office. Above our entrance, is our URG/NRHH collage. We hang photos from both organizations and hang up all the OTMs. All awards and recognition are awarded from both URG and NRHH At our GAs, we have a recognition portion where weekly, and monthly awards are handed out. Each award has both URG and NRHH’s logo on it. We also award NRHH based awards to the building councils to encourage councils to implement NRHH values in their programming. Winter Reception and Spring Banquet Both organizations share a Winter Reception and End of Year Banquet. The banquets and receptions are full of recognition. It is very obvious that the reception is for both organizations, as you will find URG and NRHH throughout the room decorations and itinerary. We stray away from having URG and NRHH portions. For example, at our Winter Reception, there was no defined seating; everyone was free to sit with whoever they wanted from either organization. Combined teams for campus events URG and NRHH created combined teams for many campus-wide programs. Previously, they were separate or NRHH would not have a team. Service wise, URG and NRHH had a combined Relay for Life team. We also had combined teams for TigerTHON, a 6 hour dance marathon that raises money for Children’s Miracle Network, and a combined Big Event team, which is a campus-wide day of service. Equal Opportunity for URG and NRHH members to attend conferences Historically, only the NRHH president and one rep could attend conferences, with the rest of delegates being URG members. This year our NCC opened up the application to all of URG and NRHH and attendance was determined by application, not what organization you were a apart of. Combining Committees Towson’s NRHH newly implemented a service committee. URG also has a service committee. We combined committees so that URG and NRHH can execute service initiatives together. Additionally, our Director of Recognition has a recognition committee that is members of both URG and NRHH. Goal Checker to Fulfill our Purpose of Enhancing the On-Campus Experience Bridge the Gap with NRHH
Many of our initiatives are shared, enabling presence of both organizations and collaborative work
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They’re Called Residence Halls The Housing and Residence Life Department underwent many vernacular changes. We really wanted to push the idea of a Residence Hall because of all the growth and development that our on-campus housing enables. We started the “They’re Called Residence Halls” campaign. It began with t-Shirts and also our NCC announcing to the councils to stop using the word “dorms.”
Recognition Recognition is a huge part of URG and especially NRHH. We recognize the time commitment of being on Building Council and we love to make people feel valued. Our recognition initiatives are a part of our Bridge the Gap initiative because all of our recognition efforts are from both organizations. Recognition at our General Assemblies UROCK Award (weekly)- Given to a Building Council who has been rocking it this week Noswot the Tiger (weekly)- Plush tiger given to council who has an awesome upcoming program Residence Life core values the past month Dino-mite Award (monthly)- Council member who has been doing a dino-mite job F.R.O.G Award (monthly)- Council member who has shown growth over the past month Executive Board Member of the Week (weekly)- Voted on by the executive board * New this Year * Diamond Award (monthly)- For embodying NRHH values of recognition and service that month Welcome Home Award (monthly)- Awarded to the council who best embodies HRL Core Values Appreciation Days Executed RA Appreciation Day Community Center Assistant (Desk Attendant) Appreciation Week Supervisor Appreciation Day Custodial and Maintenance Appreciation Day Office Assistant Appreciation Day Recognition at our URG & NRHH Spring Banquet Council President of the Year Council Vice President of the Year Council Treasurer of the Year Council Secretary of the Year Council Building Representative of the Year RA Liaison of the Year Active Member of the Year Advisor of the Year URG Executive Board Member of the Year NRHH Executive Board Member of the Year
Unsung Hero of the Year Programmers of the Year Council of the Year URG Graduation Cords NRHH Graduation Cords URG President’s Pins NRHH President’s Pins NRHH Honorary Membership NRHH Outstanding Member of the Year Council MVPs
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Resolutions Resolutions are proposed changes for campus. If the resolution gets passed with a 2/3 vote at the General Assemblies, our Director of Resident Advocacy goes on, along with the council members who proposed the change and the Residential Advocacy committee, to communicate with the respective departments to make the changes on campus happen. Below details the resolutions from this past semester. Soap and Towels in communal bathrooms Bike rack at 7800 York Road WEPA Print Stations in each hall Lower laundry cost from $1.25 to $1 Use meal cards are the football stadium Coffee vending machines in library 24 Hour Library hours Thurs. – Sun. Lower price of water bottles
Traction pads on pedestrian bridge Donate extra meals to charity Non-TU students on TU shuttle Quarter machine in laundry rooms Increase PAWS dining hours Painting mural in Student Union Renaming Carrol Hall and Paca House Having Asian food options in West Village
Building Improvement Fund The Building Improvement Fund a grant system for councils to purchase items for their buildings, such as ping pong tables or new kitchen supplies. In previous years, a monetary amount of $500 was given per semester. This led to many purchases that were not durable. Newly, the grant system is a single fund for councils to pull what they need. First councils write a proposal to the Treasurers Council and the 13 treasurers read over the proposal and accept it, deny it, or state that it needs more information. If a majority is not reached, then the proposal is sent back to the council to revise for a second vote. If passed, our treasurer works with the treasurer of the council to purchase the improvement.
Transition Process Previously, all new executive board members received was a binder. This year, our Advisor, April worked to redesign a transition process for the 2016-2017 board. In addition to binders, the incoming executive board attended office hours starting mid spring-semester. Advanced room booking and ordering of items occurred and we had a mixer with the upcoming and current board. The incoming board got to run our last General Assembly of the year for practice.
Goal Checker to Fulfill our Purpose of Enhancing the On-Campus Experience Prepare the future for success
Longer lasting, more durable goods for councils and the e-board will save URG money in the future and mean that more groups of students will be able to benefit.
Continued Initiatives Building Council Retreat We enable many leadership development opportunities for members of our organizations. We host a fall retreat where our newly elected members are able to learn about URG, their positions in more detail, and get to know the e-board more. Leadership development takes place at our retreat through our council members learning the ins and outs of their positions and by them gaining valuable knowledge of the other aspects of URG & NRHH URG Executive Board Mentorship Every eboard member mentors a Building Council. Since there are more halls than mentors, some positions mentor two. We do not mentor the council of the halls we reside within, to help widen our circles of who we know. As mentors we (1) Attend all council meeting, (2) Support councils by attending and helping with their programs (3) Providing guidance throughout the year, (4) Allocate information from councils, such as OTM due dates, and (5) Establish relationships with council members.
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I Can Cry if I Want to Program & Initiative Challenges Challenge: Funding All organizations on campus receive funding the same way. This means we are competing with all 200+ organizations funding timelines and purchases to receive money for councils. Additionally, someone cannot request money for two separate programs or initiatives at the same time, which makes it difficult when Directors and Councils are working on multiple initiatives. Lastly, some councils ha excessive funding checked out and did not return receipts and change in a timely fashion. Solution: Our treasurer, Wayne, drafted a Financial Policy document and a funding flow chart to give to all councils detailing all their options to help with problem solving. Additionally, we met with Housing and Residence Life professionals to try and revert our funding process to HRL instead of Student Government Association (SGA) since we are not SGA affiliated, but HRL affiliated. This way, we only have to worry about other HRL based organizations getting funding versus all 200+ organizations on campus. The switch will be made within the next two years. Lastly, Ms. Vicky, our Business Services Specialist cut URG off and announced that nothing URG related will receive funding until all outstanding receipts are returned. This encouraged councils to communicate with each other to get all receipts returned. Challenge: Location Towson is currently working on the TU 20/20 plan, which involves the construction and renovations of many areas of campus. This limited our location options. Near the beginning of the Spring semester every room on campus was booked. Solution: Since the construction will continue into next year, we booked spaces for next year’s traditional programs. Additionally, we communicated with organizations who had spaces booked to see if they had any meetings that were canceled, but still kept the room booked. Lastly, we hosted programs in non traditional locations, such as open fields on campus. Challenge: Transitioning New Ideas We brought a lot of new initiatives at our General Assemblies. Trying to figure out the best ways to execute each one took a couple of GAs. GAs did not go very smooth at the beginning of the year. With that we would lose the attention span of some audience members and we came off as disorganized. Solution: We were transparent about the changes being made. We also took audience and member feedback on new initiatives. Also, if we knew that we would have a particularly difficult GA, we provided food and other fun activities, such as coloring, to ease the transition. Challenge: Executive Board Chemistry Many executive board members were executing brand new ideas that we had no previous information on. With that there was always a lot going on and everyone needed everyone else’s help. That hindered our executive board chemistry since many of us were not on the same page with so many different initiatives occurring. Solution: Our advisor Ron hosted a mid-semester retreat for us. At the retreat we were able to have enough time to go through everyone’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings about what was occurring at our meetings and within our individual positions.
Evaluation tools After every program, the council fills out a program evaluation form. The form asks for how much money was spent, the successes, and challenges of each program. The forms are passed down to the URG executive board to use for the transition binders of URG members. Throughout the year, URG and NRHH asks for feedback from supervisors, campus, and our members. After retreats we distribute feedback forms. Mid way through the fall semester, we did General Assembly feedback forms to see how the Building Representatives feel about our new initiatives. Additionally, we have a Z Drive, which is a compute drive that holds all this information from past executive boards. We upload feedback and ideas to the Z Drive for future execute boards to access. Goal Checker to Fulfill our Purpose of Enhancing the On-Campus Experience Prepare future Boards & Councils for Success
Our evaluation tools, asking for feedback on all that we do, and asking for resident input provides information for future boards
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Student Advocacy Occupy Towson On November 2015, members from the Black community and Black Student Union (BSU) went into the Student Government Association and proposed a bill that advocated for issues they had concerns with regarding Black rights and the lack of representation at Towson. This was shortly following the current events at Mizzou. They wanted “their demands heard and their needs met.” After 20 minutes of protest, the President signed the bill. Shortly after, a representative from the group spoke at our General Assembly meeting of the University Residence Government and encouraged us to better advocate for all students. That Friday, the same group occupied the Administration building from 3pm until 1am protesting the same bill to the Interim President Dr. Timothy Chandler and the President’s Cabinet. After much debate and modifications, the President signed it agreeing to see that the demands were met. More on Occupy Towson can be read in Time Magazine and the Baltimore Sun. 17th,
“The most important thing for myself and URG to do was ensure that students knew that the URG will do everything in its power to continue to advocate for the needs of all students of all backgrounds and will also look into what more we can do from what we already are doing. I met with the Center for Student Diversity to communicate the best method to do this by talking about the incident as a whole and finding ways to further advocate for the needs of black students. I also went to the Black Student Union and told them that if they should ever face a race issue on campus or feel discriminated against in a residence hall that they contact me directly and I would work to resolve the issue. The URG role in the issue was to be the voice of the 4,990 students we represent. Our role was to ensure that we as an organization are there to serve the needs of the students and protect their rights. The black students who protested and felt their rights weren’t adequately represented drove us to make sure no student felt this way and that we as an organization would ensure cultural competency and understanding for all cultures. We promise to stand by our statement.” -Kevin, URG Director of Residential Inclusion What our statement included Statement of no tolerance for discrimination of any kind and full support of the Black Student Union Implementing a Diversity Program Fund that any resident, diversity based student group, or housing staff can ask to pull from to execute a diversity based program within the resident hall starting Spring 2016 URG will execute two collaborative programs with a predominately black student group per year starting Fall 2016 Implementing cultural competency workshop into the leadership training of URG Building Councils starting with our Fall 2016 retreat Renaming Carroll Hall and Paca House In our West Village Residential area, the residence halls are named after a famous Marylanders, such as Harriet Tubman , Clara Barton, and Frederick Douglass House. William Paca House and Charles Carroll Hall are both named after famous Marylanders who were slave owners. We proposed a resolution to change the names of William Paca House and Charles Carroll Hall to non-slave owning Marylanders. Suggestions we provided included renaming the halls after Upton Sinclair, famous Maryland author, and Billie Holiday, famous Maryland jazz singer. Housing and Residence Life approved of our resolution and the proposal is on the President’s desk now. Black History Month in Tower B The Tower B Building Council worked with students of the black community to respond to Black History Month posters being vandalized within the residence hall. Residents made similar copies of what posters were hanging on one floor and hung the same posters on every single floor. These posters helped tell the stories of famous black people and why such vandalism will not be tolerated.
Left: Image from Occupy Towson
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Serving Fun Philantropy All things service and philanthropy are spearheaded by our Director of Civic Engagement. Each year, URG focuses on one specific organization, and the Building Councils raise money for those organizations through programs, such as carwashes. Our philanthropy this year was the Baltimore Family Tree, a local organization that helps families and children who were victims of abuse. URG raised $1,800. Campus Wide Service University Residence Government and National Residence Hall Honorary participated in the following service events as a service team TigerTHON- 12 Hour dance marathon that raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Relay for Life- A walk that raises money for the American Cancer Society. At the Relay, URG and NRHH sold popcorn to raise even more money the night of. Our URG/NRHH team raised over $800. The Big Event- Campus-Wide day of local service. Our URG & NRHH team was placed in Lutherville, Maryland, a town close to Towson’s campus, and cleaned the neighborhood and planted flowers. Scarf & Sandwich Making A member of NRHH taught members of URG and NRHH how to knit scarves. The chapter then donated the knitted scarves to the Jewish Volunteer Connection in Baltimore, Maryland. World AIDS Day- Our Director of Special Projects ordered and distributed World AIDS Day buttons and gave a speech about AIDS awareness at our URG & NRHH Winter Reception. “Hugs and kisses don’t spread AIDs, ignorance does.” –Kia, Director of Special Projects Glen Clean Up – Building Councils of the Glen Complex led the clean up of our on-campus woods
Sustainability Recycling Bins- URG provided stickers for each and every recycling bin for each and every resident on Towson’s campus. The stickers detail what can and cannot be recycled on campus. New this year, we included our logo on the sticker.
Fluorescent Lightbulbs- On move in day, URG distributed the most energy efficient lightbulb to every student who moved in. Banning Styrofoam- New this year, our Director of Civic Engagement issued a ban on the purchase of Styrofoam products for building council programs. Additionally, she added to her budget a fund where councils could pull from if having to purchase non-styrofoam materials made what they wanted too expensive for their budget. Recycling Symbols- On every flyer we distribute as an organization we put the recycling symbol on it. Do It in the Dark- A month long conservation contest between residence halls. Whichever residence hall conserves the most energy, won a chipotle party for their residence hall. Recyclemania- URG participated in a Campus-Wide recycling competition that is between organizations as to who could recycle the most within a month
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Towson’s NRHH Meet the Hosts President Savannah- Responsible for overseeing goals and the service committee, serving as the Parliamentarian during OTM voting, all things constitution based, and being an NRHH voting rep at conferences VP of Membership Dan- Responsible for overseeing membership point system and NRHH families, and spearheading membership education classes and fall and spring semester application processes VP of Administration Amanda- Responsible for keeping attendance, keeping us organized, and taking minutes during meetings and allocation of info VP of Finance Frankie- Responsible for allocation and spending of all monies, as well as establishing a yearly budget Director of Recognition Dom- Responsible for all things OTMs, including OTM education and certificate making, spearheading all recognition efforts of both URG and NRHH, planning banquets, and serving as a liaison to URG Advisors Jerry and Patrick- Help us establish goals at the beginning of the semester and provide HRL, regional, and constitutional insight to our executive board.
Purpose & Goals of Our Chapter The purpose of the White Tiger Chapter of Towson University is to recognize outstanding individuals, organizations, and programs that enhance Towson’s campus in a positive way. The chapter also exists to improve our campus and community through service initiatives that enhance student and community life. The goals of our chapter go as followed: (1) Increase our prevalence on campus, (2) Enhanced recognition and service initiatives, (3) Strengthen our relationship with University Residence Government (URG), and (4) Engage Housing and Residence Life (HRL) professional and student staff. Below details some of the way those goals were accomplished. Increase our prevalence on campus 1. Planning a combined NRHH, URG, and Campus Activities Board (CAB) event 2. Campus-wide appreciation days (RA Appreciation Day, Supervisor Appreciation Day, etc.) 3. Increasing member retention Enhanced recognition and service initiatives 1. Introducing new awards 2. NRHH recognizing organizations outside of Housing and Residence Life 3. Focus on teaching quality of OTMs written 4. “Less Fluff; More Substance.” 5. Of the Year Awards 6. Creating a Service Committee 7. Encouraging family service excursions 8. Having service and recognition based meetings Strengthen our relationship with University Residence Government (URG) 1. Shared recognition initiative and ceremonies 2. Revamping our office 3. URG updates at NRHH meetings and NRHH portion in URG weekly General Assembly meetings Engage Housing and Residence Life (HRL) professional and student staff 1. Presenting about NRHH and OTM writing at Resident Assistant summer training 2. Housing Staff OTM writing 3. NRHH updates at Resident Assistant In-Service meetings 4. Spearheading HRL Appreciation Days
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NRHH Membership Within Towson University's NRHH Chapter, members are asked to earn a minimum of 12 points each semester in order to maintain active member status. These points can be earned many different ways, such as serving on committees, writing OTMs, and attending service events. Members are updated on a monthly basis by the Vice President of Membership as to their current point and meeting standings, and are provided with suggestions as to how they can reach active status based on their standing. In addition, members must attend 75% of chapter meetings each semester to maintain active member status. This applies even if the member achieves the 12 point minimum for the semester. This enables us to maintain presence at meetings. Upon failing to maintain active member status for 2 consecutive semesters, the member will be subject to removal.
OTMs We absolutely love submitting OTMs to the region. Since NACURH 2015, Towson has had 21 regionally-winning OTMs. Of the 21 OTMs, we ranged across 10 categories and nine out of the 11 months. Additionally, 6 of the nominators of regionally-winning OTMs are members of NRHH, so students and staff who are not in the organization write extraordinary OTMs, showcasing the success of our OTM education initiatives. Below is a table that details URG and NRHH based regional OTM winners. The table below that showcases TU’s OTM statistics.
Month
Category
Nominee
Nominator
May
Executive Board Member
Mohammad Q.
Daniel B.
June
Spotlight
15-16 URG Executive Board
Savannah W.
Oct.
Spotlight
Millennium Hall's Building Council
Dominique O.
Jan.
Executive Board Member
Dominique O.
April S.
Jan.
Spotlight
URG & NRHH Executive Boards
Dominique O.
Feb.
Executive Board Member
Annika Philippe-August
Dan B.
Feb.
Advisor
April S.
Dominique O.
Towson University OTM Statistics Average Number of OTMs received per month
60-80
Number of Regionally-Winning OTMs since NACURH 2015
21
Number of NACURH Winning OTMs since NACURH 2015
1
Most OTMS received in one month (A Record High for TU History!)
106
OTM Education Presentations Every presentation was made by members of the NRHH Executive Board. The presentations were modeled after regional resources, such as the CAACURH OTM Taskforce OTM rubric and CAACURH Recognition Resource, for content.
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NRHH Meetings New this year, we wanted our NRHH meetings to be times where we grow as students. As the top 1% on student leaders on campus, we wanted our chapter to learn more about themselves. One way we did this was through activities at our meetings. Below is a list of some activities we had at our meetings. Service Spectrum: One of our NRHH members lead an activity where she read off a social issue and based on how passionate we are about it was where we stood in the room. We then went corner to corner so that members could share their level of passion/knowledge of the social issue. Making Cards for Nursing Homes Making 200+ handwritten cards for the community center assistants
Meet the Service Committee New this year, the NRHH Executive Board started a service committee. At first, the service committee consisted of 3 members that organized monthly service events for our NRHH chapter, however after the first semester the committee worked with the NRHH Executive Board to have more structure. Therefore, we created a service committee chair that would act as the point person for the service committee and executive board alike. Now, within the service committee, there are 3 separate factions, each spearheaded by a member of the committee. The factions include monthly service opportunities, collaborative events with University Residence Government, and group service events on campus, such as Relay for Life. Service activities executed by NRHH this past semester include sandwich making for the homeless, card making for retirement homes in the area, and even one of the service committee members teaching the entire NRHH chapter how to knit and then using that skill to make scarves for the Jewish Volunteer Connection in Baltimore.
Student Leadership Within our chapter, we have a lot of really awesome student leadership. Below are some of the ways we enable our members to use their student leadership to enhance the NRHH experience. Writing Tutors- Within our NRHH Chapter we have 3 students who work as writing tutors. They teach our chapter about good writing skills and grammar to help with OTM writing Greek Life- We implement a Big/Little system and have families that serve as mentors. One of our members who is in Greek Life helped design the Big/Little program and modeled it off of Greek Life’s University Residence Government- Many of our members are in Building Councils. This helps strengthen our bond with the organization. RAs and Desk Attendants- The RA and Desk Attendant categories are always our largest when we vote for OTMs. The many RAs and Desk Attendants in our Chapter help guide the discussion so we choose the OTM that displays the most above and beyond characteristics.
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Communication With Professionals As an organization that makes as many changes to campus as we do, communication is key. Below details different ways we stay connected to campus through communication. Through all these communication outlets, we are better able to represent the on-campus population by enabling their wants and needs to be heard. The following professional housing staff attended our executive board meetings to discuss the pulse of the on campus population and discuss resolutions Vice President of Student Affairs Assistant Vice President of HRL Assistant Director of Business & Administrative Services of HRL Coordinators of Housing Information Technology Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services Director of Civic Engagement & Leadership Guest Speakers URG hosted at General Assembly Meetings Vice President of Student Affairs Area Directors of Housing and Residence Life Representative of the Black Student Union Wellness Club Coach of the Towson Football Team Auxiliary Services Assistant Vice President of HRL Director of Residence Life Towson Health Center
Campus Activities Board Towson Career Center President of Student Government Association Presidential Ambassadors NRHH President CAACURH Delegation Speak Up Initiative U.S. Dream Academy Office of Civic Engagement and Leadership
Liaisons within URG to increase communication Career Center Liaison Community Center Liaison Student Government Liaison National Resident Hall Honorary Liaison Office of Civic Engagement and Leadership Liaison Residential Learning Community Liaison Resident Assistant In-Service Meeting Representative (monthly meetings for every RA on campus)
With the State- Banning the Confederate Flag Over the summer, the president-elect of the University System of Maryland Student Council (USMSC), a Towson and URG eboard alumna, reached out to our URG president regarding the banning of the Confederate Flag on all Maryland campuses. This was in response to the hate crimes occurring in the south. Our entire eboard was in support of pursuing this knowing that there would be complications in regards to freedom of speech with being able to fully ban the flag in the residence halls. We still wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to spread awareness of this issue and work towards racial equality. We released a statement containing the following quotes within: “the Confederate Flag belongs in history books and museums, not in the halls of higher learning.” “Our National Communications Coordinator will bring this initiative to the attention of our fellow Residence Hall Associations throughout the state and invite them to stand with Towson URG.” “This must be but one act in the larger struggle for racial equality and acceptance.” Additional State Communication– Going Local When we order URG and NRHH swag, food, and awards, we use local distributors in Baltimore. Additionally, our philanthropy and service initiatives are for local organizations.
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With CAACURH & NACURH Most of our communication with CAACURH and NACURH is through chats. Our NRHH President and NCC both regularly attend CAACURH chats. We order Leadership and Presidential Pins from the NSRO as a part of our recognition initiatives. We also execute a CAACURH initiative on our campus, Bridge the Gap. We have the following representation on Taskforces: Samantha- CAACURH Summer, Fall, and Spring Regional OTM Taskforces Dominique- CAACURH Summer, Fall, and Spring Regional OTM Taskforces Tiffany- CAACURH Fall OTM Taskforce Dan- CAACURH Summer and Fall Regional OTM Taskforces and NACURH OTM Taskforce, CAACURH NRHH Fall and Spring Taskforce
Andrea Polleys (featured right) is on the CAACURH Regional Board of Directors and she is one of the Co-Advisors for URG. She helps connect us to the region and support both the URG and NRHH Chapter in many ways. Additionally the Central Atlantic Affiliate Regional Director is a TU alumna!
“Being able to vote for OTMs on the regional level has given me so much insight to what universities accomplish. I am so in love with Towson and everything that it accomplishes, and being connected to the region enables me to see that URG and NRHH exist in a world beyond my campus. I am looking forward to TU’s involvement to grow within the Region and NACURH in the time to come.” – Dom O.
Regional Party We had an absolute blast at CAACURH 2015. We took a very diverse group of student leaders within our delegation. Our delegation included members of both the URG and NRHH Executive Board, members of NRHH, Community Center Assistants (Desk Attendant), Building Representatives, Active Members of Building Councils, and a Building Council president. We had 40 people apply to be delegates and were able to take a delegation of 12 with us to George Washington University. We participated in every spirit competitions except for role call. A month prior to the conference, the delegation would meet on a weekly basis after General Assembly Meetings. Our NCC established committees for each spirit project. Prior to the conference, we decided that as a delegation, we wanted to attend as many sessions as possible. We divided up the sessions so that we did not attend the same ones. We exchanged information over dinner and lunch and the car ride home. We left with a lot of inspiration. After the conference, the delegation was invited to the next General Assembly Meeting, where each member of the delegation got to share pieces of their experience at CAACURH and what they learned.
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Thrills & Frills It was an incredible experience being able to represent Towson at No Frills. We were very excited to attend, as we hosted No Frills last year, and had bid for the CAACURH awards School of the Year and Outstanding NRHH Chapter of the Year. We were voted as the winning recipients by our region, which was a very proud moment for all of us. Additionally, the adversity we faced on our way to No Frills called for URG and NRHH to work together to prepare a delegation to represent Towson. Challenge faced: Filling delegation spots Originally, our URG and NRHH President, NCC, and our advisor April were going to attend. Our NRHH President faced a family obligation and our URG President resigned before the start of Spring Semester for personal reasons. Our proxy for our URG president was denied delegation because she would have been a female in a male room. From there we had to go back into our organization to find anther proxy, but no one from URG was able to attend on such short notice. No one on the NRHH Executive Board was able to attend in place of the NRHH President, so we pulled from our NRHH chapter to get two proxies that fit the gender room assignments to represent both presidents. Challenges faced: Transportation We originally were going to rent a car through our university to drive to Ohio. Renting the car had to be done with a student who was attending the conference. Our original delegation and our second set of proxies both had 21 year olds who would have been able to rent a car, but our third and final delegation we were able to assemble did not have 21 year olds. From there our NCC worked tirelessly into the morning to book flights within our budget to fly to Ohio.
National Party NACURH was an incredible experience. Our delegation included everyone from the URG executive board except for our Treasurer and Director of Recognition. Additionally, we brought an NRHH representative and our NRHH president. For most of our delegates, it was their first time at NACURH. The conference also gave our URG and NRHH Executive Boards a chance to develop goals for the coming year, to interact with schools through CAACURH and NACURH, and to get to know the incoming Regional Board of Directors. At NACURH, the outgoing NCC received a Cougar pride pin, which was awesome to witness! We are so excited for NACURH 2016, as with NACURH being hosted in a neighboring state, we are able to use our NACURH funds towards sending delegates, not transportation. Our NCC is hard at work preparing our delegation. We determined our delegation by delegation, not organization affiliation, enabling NRHH and URG members equal chance to be selected as delegates. Can’t wait for all that’s to be learned at experienced!
“One of the most incredible experiences of my life was NACURH. It can be described as a euphoria of positivity and joy as individuals from across different countries come together to express the things they love in NRHH and RHA/URG as well as express themselves. People learn to grow as leaders and people and build long lasting friendships with people they meet over the course of 3 days.” –Kevin, first time delegate
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Last Call Below are some other challenges we faced and overcame. Challenge: Representation in Student Government Association Constitution The Student Government Association wanted to include University Residence Government in their constitution. The language, however, was not how URG wanted to be represented and also was not representative of what a great relationship we have with SGA. “University Residence Government recognizes SGA as the superior organization on campus and will report all initiatives to the SGA. URG recognizes SGA as the primary voice of the student population.” We were not happy with this wording and wanted a language change. Additionally, we wanted to be recognized as the voice of the on-campus population. SGA was not pleased with that suggestion either. Solution: We decided that for this round of constitution revision to not include each other in the other’s constitution because URG is Housing and Residence Life affiliated. Instead, URG and SGA concluded to sign an agreement at the beginning of each year decide how the organizations will communicate with one another, rather than addressing who is superior/inferior to the other. Challenge: Executive Board Resignation Throughout the school year, we had our URG President, Director of Civic Engagement and Leadership, and National Communications Coordinator resign. Each resignation was very difficult for our board, as we all became a family and each resignation was rooted in deep personal reasons. Some resignations came at difficult times, such as our NCC resigning during prime NACURH planning time and our URG President resigning right before No Frills. Solution: We designed a completely new way to find a new president, as our constitution gives us freedom to do so. Our VP stepped in as interim president and from there we opened up application to all of URG. From there we interviewed each applicant and decided on a candidate. We presented that candidate to our General Assembly to be voted on. For our Director of Civic Engagement and Leadership and NCC, there were students in URG who already expressed interest in running for those roles for the upcoming year. Approved by a 2/3 vote from the General Assembly, those individuals stepped into the role and then ran for the position during our elections for the 2016-2017 executive board. Additionally, we added into our constitution a process for resigning from a position, including a two weeks notice with effort of finding another member to step into the role.
Party Review Exceeding Purpose It’s been an incredible year! We are so proud of so many things that we accomplished. The year had so much more in store than what we originally anticipated and we continued to form goals as the year went on. Among our most proud accomplishments include Bridging the Gap with our NRHH Chapter, advocating for the rights of students of color, and overcoming many obstacles. We exceeded our purpose of enhancing the on-campus experience by asking for resident involvement and feedback in every aspect of what we do. We are an organization built for the residents by the residents. In everything that we did, we asked for resident feedback and enabled many opportunities for residents to tell us what they wanted or of their on-campus experience.
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You’re Invited! Thank you! Here’s to the Next 150 Years of TU, CAACURH & NACURH!
Towson University School of the Year CAACURH
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Citation Page Towson 150 Years Logo [cover page and 25]: http://www.towson.edu/creativeservices/standards/brandmark-150.asp Gold background [cover page, 2, 25]: http://pcwallart.com/goldmetal-background-design-wallpaper-3.html
20s themed boarder [cover page, 26]: http://pixshark.com/gatsby-invitation-template.htm Tiger heads [cover page, 26 ]: http://tunews.towson.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2013/08/tiger.jpg Party hats [3]: http://www.papierdamour.com.au/media/catalog/product/cach e/1/small_image/420x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/p /a/party-hat-with-tinsel-gold_1_1.jpg Gold trim on top of pages [cover page, 2, 25]: ://www.etsy.com/listing/223572547/gold-lace-borders-digitalclipart-design Check boxes [4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15]:http://www.hypebot.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b8d11f 2545970c-800wi