By Erin Shanahan
RHA Executive Boards, present and future, after elections. (Courtesy of RHA)
After serving three years in the Residence Hall Association (RHA), two of which were on the association’s executive board, executive vice president Emma Bausert, FCRH ‘17, was elected executive president of RHA for the 2016-2017 academic year. The executive vice president will be Haley Hauge, GSB ’18.
Next year’s executive board of the Residence Hall Association (RHA) was selected following the release of the Under the Tent theme for Spring Weekend last week. Voting took place within the association itself. General board elections take place at the start of the academic year.
As executive president, Bausert plans on enhancing communication between RHA and the other student governments on campus.
“I think the biggest challenge we face is the lack of communication between student run groups on campus,” Bausert told The Fordham Ram. “We each have such vibrant plans and events, and should work together to make each one successful.”
Last year, Bausert organized Under the Tent: “The Last Illusion: An Evening of Magic & Mystery,” as the RHA’s executive programmer.
In addition to her responsibilities on the executive board of RHA, Bausert is a GO! leader having recently led a trip to Haiti. Bausert also interns as the United Nations’ Network for Traditional and Religious Peacemakers office coordinator. She has a double major in international political economy and humanitarian studies.
Hauge currently serves as RHA executive programmer and is organizing this year’s Under the Tent, “Caught in the Cosmos.” She is the co-chair of the Diversity Action Coalition, a student justice leader and urban plunge assistant at the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice and a member of Students for Fair Trade and Smart Women Securities.
Outside of Fordham, Hauge is an associate consultant for the The Concourse Group and a Met college group committee member at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She is currently pursing a degree in marketing and visual arts in the Gabelli School of Business.
John Casey III, FCRH ‘18, Andrew Hof, GSB ‘19, Sara Chesnos, FCRH ’19, Jiyoon Seo, GSB ‘19, and Aya Nukina, GSB ‘18, were voted next year’s chief of staff, chief financial officer, executive programmer, communications director, and publicity director, respectively.
Casey’s platform includes increasing fluidity between individual residence hall boards through document sharing on OrgSync and revising the current RHA Constitution.
In his term, Casey is looking to expand RHA’s presence on campus through more effective, wide-reaching programming. “I think we should work to capitalize on the current momentum,” Casey said.
Seo will manage all the social media accounts of RHA, create the questions for and running the monthly Quizzo contests, facilitate the distribution of the New York Times around campus Residential Halls and attend the weekly Commuting Student Association and United Student Government meetings.
Next year, Seo would like to work on creating transparency between RHA and the student body. “A lot of this can be done through utilizing social media correctly,” Seo said.
As chief financial officer, Hof said his main goal for the upcoming year will be using the budget most effectively in order to expand RHA’s impact through events like the Fordham Dance Marathon, the Trick or Treat Trot, and Under the Tent. Though no former CFO will remain on RHA’s executive board in the next academic year, Hof finds solace in what he believes is a liberating circumstance.
“I think this provides me a unique opportunity to bring innovation to the position and make sure that things are being done in the most practical and efficient ways possible,” said Hof.
Nukina, the current publicity director for RHA, will be retaining her position next year.
The publicity director designs the promotional material and executes various marketing efforts for events that RHA hosts. Going forward in RHA, Nukina said she will shift her focus on digital forms of promotion.
“Although we will continue to advertise through physical promotional materials, posts on social media are becoming the most effective way to market our events,” Nukina said.
RHA’s largest event of the month, Under the Tent, will take place on Saturday, April 30 on Martyrs’ Lawn.
