2008 Woodie Awards
CUSA in a Nutshell
Greek and themed housing in master plan
Mary Konecnik
Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: News
At the February 4 meeting of the Clarkson University Student Association, advisor Diane Kozak spoke regarding her recommendations for Greek and themed housing in the upcoming master plan. Kozak reported her research to the members of CUSA as well as numerous guests, mainly from the Greek community.
The document that outlines the plans for themed housing on campus is just a working draft. Dean Stimeling and Kozak want to work with the students and their organizations to achieve a result that will be favorable to everyone. "It's very important to me, as well as Dean Stimeling, to have a better understanding of what you need to see in the construction of new residences," said Kozak. "Often times students may feel like they are asked for their opinion and then afterwards nothing happens. Many of you can probably relate to this. That is not our approach in this project."
One of the first questions that students brought up was regarding the recognition of Greek houses. If certain Greek houses do not wish to move onto campus then their university recognition will not be taken away. However, moving to campus will always be an option for them. If a group did lose recognition while living on campus, then there would be a transition period between the school and the organization. If a group were on good terms with the university, they would not need to reapply every year to keep the house.
The current master plan has four themed houses mapped in. In order to decide who will live in the houses, the university would first need to look at what organizations would be best suited for the hill campus and would hold an application process. Different co-ed organizations could also live together. When it comes time to decide who resides in the houses, it would be up to the members of the organization to hold their own housing lottery. This gives each association responsibility for their membership.
Since the houses would be on campus, each house would need a resident advisor. Many groups currently have members that are RAs on campus. They could be the people put in charge of the relationship between the residential community and the organization. However, this is a large amount of responsibility, especially if a harmful situation were to arise. There could be a member from the group that is responsible for things such as health training. In addition, school officials would not be able to show up randomly. There would need to be a justified reason, like what Campus Safety & Security or the RAs do now.
The document that outlines the plans for themed housing on campus is just a working draft. Dean Stimeling and Kozak want to work with the students and their organizations to achieve a result that will be favorable to everyone. "It's very important to me, as well as Dean Stimeling, to have a better understanding of what you need to see in the construction of new residences," said Kozak. "Often times students may feel like they are asked for their opinion and then afterwards nothing happens. Many of you can probably relate to this. That is not our approach in this project."
One of the first questions that students brought up was regarding the recognition of Greek houses. If certain Greek houses do not wish to move onto campus then their university recognition will not be taken away. However, moving to campus will always be an option for them. If a group did lose recognition while living on campus, then there would be a transition period between the school and the organization. If a group were on good terms with the university, they would not need to reapply every year to keep the house.
The current master plan has four themed houses mapped in. In order to decide who will live in the houses, the university would first need to look at what organizations would be best suited for the hill campus and would hold an application process. Different co-ed organizations could also live together. When it comes time to decide who resides in the houses, it would be up to the members of the organization to hold their own housing lottery. This gives each association responsibility for their membership.
Since the houses would be on campus, each house would need a resident advisor. Many groups currently have members that are RAs on campus. They could be the people put in charge of the relationship between the residential community and the organization. However, this is a large amount of responsibility, especially if a harmful situation were to arise. There could be a member from the group that is responsible for things such as health training. In addition, school officials would not be able to show up randomly. There would need to be a justified reason, like what Campus Safety & Security or the RAs do now.
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