Category: Operations

This year, the fundamental structure of RHA looks quite a bit different than it has in the past. These differences include: a scaled-down Executive Cabinet, a suspended Judicial Branch, a repurposed Legislative Council, and Hall Councils that are totally new.

Why the Restructure?

At the direction of the Department of Housing and Residence Life (HRL) (which funds, provides professional staff for, and generally supports RHA), RHA is undergoing a process of strategic planning and evaluation to determine the course of RHA over the next 5-10 years. During this process, RHA will accomplish the following:

• Evaluate the role of RHA on Georgia Tech’s Campus
• Identify how RHA can best serve residents
• Evaluate the current structure of the organization and Hall/Area Councils
• Evaluate how RHA supports the mission of the Department of Housing and Residence Life (HRL)
• Evaluate the roles/membership of RHA

In order to make room for the work required to meet such goals, the responsibilities of the RHA Executive Board have been rebalanced. Operations such as Legislative Council, Area/Hall Council involvements, and some Executive Cabinet positions are taking a back-seat this year.

❓ What does this mean for Legislative Council?

RHA’s Legislative Council (LC) has been scaled back this year in order to assess the structure and purpose of it’s operation. LC will meet on a monthly basis (as opposed to the typical weekly meetings) to discuss governance, provide leadership/bonding experience to it’s representatives, provide a forum for resident concerns to be voiced, and for elections of the RHA Executive Board in the spring. The funding typically allocated to LC has instead been allocated to programs facilitated through Resident Assistants, Hall Directors, and Area Councils. At this time, RHA does not offer any funding to student organizations providing programs for residents.

RHA still wants to do everything it can to support the many student organizations that provide community, support networks, and social engagement to our residents. Right now, RHA’s Resource Room houses over 100 distinct items designed to be used to host events big and small. This is open to the entire Georgia Tech community completely for free. Click the “Resource Room” button on the navigation bar to access our Resource Room reservations page (or click here).

Hall Councils ➡ Area Councils

In the past, RHA has facilitated over 17 (but typically closer to 20) Hall Councils. While this was often a greatly successful operation, it was not without fault. Facilitating this many Hall Councils meant that Hall Directors (of which typically have anywhere from 12-20 on campus) who served as Advisors would often be stretched thin between their regular duties and the efforts required to facilitate Hall Councils and mentor Hall Council Officers. Additionally, the burden placed on the 6-person RHA Executive Board to facilitate/maintain financial and operational infrastructure, train Hall Council Officers, and more meant that less time and energy could be given to each Hall Council.

This year, RHA is very excited by the move to a consolidated model! We are currently operating at 6 Area Councils (we don’t love the name, but it fits) which you can read more about by clicking the Area Councils tab above. There are a few advantages of this system:

• Even with the industry-wide shortage of Hall Directors, this consolidated model allows us to sustainably facilitate fund allocation and community building
• Under this model, not all Hall Directors are required to assist with Area Councils while the ones who do are assigned Area Council as their collateral assignment meaning the expectation is that they are investing more time/energy into Area Councils than previous models where they had other collateral assignments in addition to advising Hall Councils
• RHA Executive Board members are able to invest more time into strategic planning while also providing all the same infrastructure and advising to Area Councils

🏡How you can get involved:

Looking to get involved in the second largest student organization at Georgia Tech? Well, its not too late to join in!

Area Council Vacancies

Please take a look at our Area Councils page and find your Area Council. If you live on East Campus, there is likely a position open that you can apply for! Just open up your Area Council’s dropdown and look for positions marked “‼Vacant”. We look forward to seeing you make a difference in your community.

Executive Cabinet

RHA is currently hiring Executive Cabinet members, and we’d love to have you join our team. We have three openings:

• Visual Media Manager
• Resource Room Manager
• Auditor

All positions are compensated between $750 and $1100 per semester. You can learn more about each position, RHA, and our Executive Cabinet in the Job Descriptions PDF. Note that these positions are not open to incoming first-year students.

Applications for the Executive Cabinet will be live through Friday, September 23rd, and an interview period will follow applications. A full timeline, along with more information, can be found in the Executive Cabinet application, here.