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Residents on Campus held its first meeting of the year Monday evening. During the meeting, representatives discussed a new policy on alcohol consumption in residence halls, funding for student groups, and internal issues.
A new policy on consumption of alcohol within the residence halls was laid out by Anne Marie Reed, adviser and associate director of ROC. The changes prohibit students in residence halls to display bottles of empty alcohol in their rooms. The policies were described as being “much tighter” by Reed. This was attributed to a large spike in the amount of UVAC transports and in alcohol-related incidents on campus. Reed also sought feedback to design an evaluation form for Hall Governing Boards and Resident Assistants.
The monetary situation of ROC is seen in an optimistic light through the eyes of Vice President Justin Labonte, who is currently a second-year business major.
“If I had to guess the difference between this year and last, I think it is probably better,” said Labonte. “We have $8,000 in programming and $7,000 in the General Assembly.” ROC largely uses the programming funds to sponsor their popular trips to Quebec and Boston in the fall.
“The Quebec trip is really popular, and that’s just one of the programs we do to try and tie the community together more,” said Labonte. The Quebec trip is among one of the most popular with many of the students on campus, the Boston trip a close second. “The Quebec trip is such a super fun event; I did it last year, and will be doing it every year that I’m here,” Lee said. “It’s so generous of ROC to provide such an expensive trip for students at an affordable price.”
In addition to popular events, ROC programming funds are also used to support other less-known services such as the ROC movie channel on the cable TV lineup on campus.
ROC considered a request from the Peer Tutors of the Writing Center for funding to attend an annual conference. The group staffs the writing center in Neville Hall and is responsible for helping students with paper editing and writing. The Writing Center Peer Tutors seek money every year to attend a national conference with writing centers from all over the country. This year the conference is in Michigan.
“They request money every year,” said Erin Tripp, president of ROC. “Last year we gave them $750, this year they are requesting $1,000.” The General Assembly – composed of members of the Hall Governing Board who are ROC representatives -will be able to vote to lower the amount if deemed necessary.
“They need help financially, so that’s why they come to us,” said Rebekah Lee, a second-year Spanish major and ROC representative for Hart Hall.
Confidence remains high on many other levels within ROC, from the executive board to the ROC representatives. “We’ve had some problems in the past getting HGBs in the halls involved, but the goal is to try to get everyone involved this year,” commented Labonte on participation within residence halls and their governing boards.
The ROC meeting was much shorter than the average length. Lasting only about an hour, the meeting was adjourned after a round of questions directed at the executive board members.
“There really wasn’t much to do since it was our first meeting. HGB just started up and we have nothing to talk about thus far.” Lee said, “However, I think the executive board did a fine job in explaining their positions and responsibilities to the new members, but in due time there will be more to discuss.”
Bangor Daily News