House Meetings...

[wxman1]

Okay so my girlfriend lives in a house where the CA always says every meeting is mandatory and that attendance will be taken and action will be taken against you if you don't go. Her and her roommate never go to meetings and went last week when the CA said it starts at 9:00 sharp and didn't show up till 9:30 herself, and has called another meeting this week to talk about the same stuff, not to mention she meetings usually go for two hours or so and the CA claims they never go over a half hour.

I told them not to go because there is nothing they can really do against you especially at this point in the year and if they want to complain about it to e-mail the department of residence to voice their concerns. I know of at least one person on here that is a CA so I was wondering is there anything that can actually be done if you don't go to a "mandatory" meeting? Did any of you attend these meetings regularly?

 

[bluestarcyclone]

i dont think i went to half of those 'mandatory' meetings, even if i was in the room that night.

 

[cyclonedave25]

wow, sounds a bit too much for me.
I only went to house meetings when there was free food. I believe the very first meeting, where everybody shows up, they said that they were mandatory, but nobody ever went after that unless there was food.

 

[Clonefan32]

Two hour house meetings? I think she's cheating on you, man

 

[st8]

I think the only major action that the CA can take is removing your girlfriend from her World of Warcraft guild. I know this seems a bit extreme, but CA's aren't going to be pushed around anymore.

 

[ornryactor]

Two hour house meetings? I think she's cheating on you, man

Yeah, I call BS on 2-hour house meetings. That would never happen even with the most long-winded CA and cabinet. Most houses consider 30 minutes to be fairly long. I've lived in the res halls for five years, and have never seen nor heard of any house meetings that even broke 90 minutes, much less two hours.

That said, this CA sounds ridiculous. No, there's nothing they can do if you don't attend meetings, except for the last meeting of the year- in that case, they can require you to meet with the hall director before you can check out. You'll get the same information as given at the meeting, but you'll have to explain why you weren't there, and probably answer some other questions. Not a big deal at all, but it's easier to just go to the meeting. They only ask you to be there once a semester; it's not that hard.

 

[wxman1]

Two hour house meetings? I think she's cheating on you, man

haha if she is cheating on me with 50 other women then I'm not sure if that's good for me or if I am just sol...

 

[clone2011]

This was a few years ago, but the longest meeting we ever had was 20 minutes...sometimes we'd hang out for 2 hours, but never had a meeting that long. My CAs (had a switch at semester) were awesome and knew that we had other lives that we'd rather be living than sitting in a boring meeting.

 

[Tedcyclone]

my opinion is that if you dont want to live with other peoples rules, move out into your own place. or change houses.

 

[jdoggivjc]

my opinion is that if you dont want to live with other peoples rules, move out into your own place. or change houses.

You mean rules that the RA/CA, even though they made them, are unenforceable? The RA/CA is NOT a parent or a babysitter. They are simply there to enforce University policy (as in making sure the incense that is being burned isn't hippie-lettuce scented), be the point of contact in the case of emergency (like someone poking their eye out), or to be there to dispense advice to house members if it is needed. They are not there to be militant Nazis forcing house members to sit through 2 hour meetings, and every single person from the DOR in charge of RAs/CAs that I ever knew would take serious issue with this kind of behavior.

And while I was never an RA/CA myself, I interviewed for it one semester and the job was mine if I wanted it, and I probably would have taken it had I not already signed my apartment lease.

 

[aeroclone]

Ha, that is too funny. Yeah, I spent a couple years in the dorms, and I actually made it a point to not attend house meetings. Other than the first and last meeting of the year, there really isn't much need to be there.

 

[ianoconnor]

I was a CA, and no... there is nothing you can really do if people don't show up. The only meetings that are truely "mandatory" are the beginning and end of semesters, when people are moving in and out and are new to the floor.

I only had a few meetings per semester, and they usually involved free pokey stix and were MAYBE 20 minutes max.

 

[mj4cy]

2 hours? Hell. I went to two meetings before school started and that was it.

There is absolutely NOTHING they can do. Can they pull your grades? no. Can they fine you? no. Can they kick you out? no. In no where in your housing contract does it say you have to go to meetings.

 

[CYdTracked]

I'd like to know what kind of "action" the CA can take if they miss the meeting? I was a RA about 10 years ago and there was no such thing as mandatory floor meetings unless the hall director themself called the meeting and gave notice to the residents prior to the meeting. We only had that happen once because we had idiots damaging our floor every weekend so the only way the floor residents got excused from that meeting was to go talk to the hall director prior to the meeting and give their reason why they have to miss.

Of all the floors I lived on I think our floor meetings ranged anywhere from 10 minutes to maybe 30 at most if it got long winded and we were goofing around which usually was because there was lengthy debate for the weekly s-head of the week award.

As a RA the only way I knew people would come is if my floor officers organized it on 2 for 1 pokey sticks night so everyone would pitch in for the order and it gave everyone a reason to be in 1 place for 10 minutes so they'd get some food and any info that needed passed along. Even then you'd never get everyone but it helped attendance. First meeting of every semester I'd give my famous "I don't write people up because I'm a jerk, I write you up for being stupid" speech. That line made my RA job real easy because I basically laid down what being stupid meant which was if it's against the rules and I can see it you will be written up. If I don't see it you have nothing to worry about because I was not going to proactively look to write people up. I was pretty lax on quiet hours, you'd get a warning to quiet down but my main rule was if you woke me up in the middle of the night there would be no warning. Never once had one of my own residents upset at me when they got written up, most of them knew they deserved it and even appologized for "being stupid." Not always with the case with people on other floors that I had to write up though...

 

[ornryactor]

Ha, that is too funny. Yeah, I spent a couple years in the dorms, and I actually made it a point to not attend house meetings. Other than the first and last meeting of the year, there really isn't much need to be there.

I disagree with that quite strongly. If you're looking to be a total shut-in, then sure, there's no reason for you to come. For everyone else who wants to be involved in what's going on around them, house meetings are a great place to do it. People that regularly attend those meetings are far more likely to wind up in leadership positions, both inside and outside the residence halls. A majority of students eventually look for some sort of leadership experience, and that's a great way to get started.

Additionally, it's also a great way to find out what's going on around campus. People will share events that they've heard about or are involved in; a lot of the time, those are things the average resident wouldn't have heard about otherwise. Plus you get the bonus of immediately knowing that there are other people interested in going, so you don't have to attend alone.

Is every minute of every house meeting in the history of mankind a treasure trove of useful knowledge? Of course not. Neither are the US government's meetings, but we consider those pretty important, overall. In my experience, there's more than enough good stuff that can't be found elsewhere to justify attending house meetings.

 

[Havs]

I disagree with that quite strongly. If you're looking to be a total shut-in, then sure, there's no reason for you to come. For everyone else who wants to be involved in what's going on around them, house meetings are a great place to do it. People that regularly attend those meetings are far more likely to wind up in leadership positions, both inside and outside the residence halls. A majority of students eventually look for some sort of leadership experience, and that's a great way to get started.

Additionally, it's also a great way to find out what's going on around campus. People will share events that they've heard about or are involved in; a lot of the time, those are things the average resident wouldn't have heard about otherwise. Plus you get the bonus of immediately knowing that there are other people interested in going, so you don't have to attend alone.

Is every minute of every house meeting in the history of mankind a treasure trove of useful knowledge? Of course not. Neither are the US government's meetings, but we consider those pretty important, overall. In my experience, there's more than enough good stuff that can't be found elsewhere to justify attending house meetings.

House meetings seem like an attempt to be more like a Greek house, and a lot of people live in dorms because they don't want to be like a Greek house. I'm in a fraternity now and I attend our chapter meetings every Friday, but hardly ever attended dorm house meetings because I thought there was absolutely nothing for me to gain. I just saw it as a bunch of people looking to have a fake leadership position.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I'd like to know what kind of "action" the CA can take if they miss the meeting? I was a RA about 10 years ago and there was no such thing as mandatory floor meetings unless the hall director themself called the meeting and gave notice to the residents prior to the meeting. We only had that happen once because we had idiots damaging our floor every weekend so the only way the floor residents got excused from that meeting was to go talk to the hall director prior to the meeting and give their reason why they have to miss.

Of all the floors I lived on I think our floor meetings ranged anywhere from 10 minutes to maybe 30 at most if it got long winded and we were goofing around which usually was because there was lengthy debate for the weekly s-head of the week award.

As a RA the only way I knew people would come is if my floor officers organized it on 2 for 1 pokey sticks night so everyone would pitch in for the order and it gave everyone a reason to be in 1 place for 10 minutes so they'd get some food and any info that needed passed along. Even then you'd never get everyone but it helped attendance. First meeting of every semester I'd give my famous "I don't write people up because I'm a jerk, I write you up for being stupid" speech. That line made my RA job real easy because I basically laid down what being stupid meant which was if it's against the rules and I can see it you will be written up. If I don't see it you have nothing to worry about because I was not going to proactively look to write people up. I was pretty lax on quiet hours, you'd get a warning to quiet down but my main rule was if you woke me up in the middle of the night there would be no warning. Never once had one of my own residents upset at me when they got written up, most of them knew they deserved it and even appologized for "being stupid." Not always with the case with people on other floors that I had to write up though...

This is exactly the kind of RA I would have been had I taken the offer.

 

[CloneIce]

Okay so my girlfriend lives in a house where the CA always says every meeting is mandatory and that attendance will be taken and action will be taken against you if you don't go. Her and her roommate never go to meetings and went last week when the CA said it starts at 9:00 sharp and didn't show up till 9:30 herself, and has called another meeting this week to talk about the same stuff, not to mention she meetings usually go for two hours or so and the CA claims they never go over a half hour.

I told them not to go because there is nothing they can really do against you especially at this point in the year and if they want to complain about it to e-mail the department of residence to voice their concerns. I know of at least one person on here that is a CA so I was wondering is there anything that can actually be done if you don't go to a "mandatory" meeting? Did any of you attend these meetings regularly?

Haha, where the heck does she live? When I went to the dorms I think we made maybe 2 or 3 meetings the entire year and certainly never went to one sober.

 

[azn4cy]

I disagree with that quite strongly. If you're looking to be a total shut-in, then sure, there's no reason for you to come. For everyone else who wants to be involved in what's going on around them, house meetings are a great place to do it. People that regularly attend those meetings are far more likely to wind up in leadership positions, both inside and outside the residence halls. A majority of students eventually look for some sort of leadership experience, and that's a great way to get started.

Additionally, it's also a great way to find out what's going on around campus. People will share events that they've heard about or are involved in; a lot of the time, those are things the average resident wouldn't have heard about otherwise. Plus you get the bonus of immediately knowing that there are other people interested in going, so you don't have to attend alone.

Is every minute of every house meeting in the history of mankind a treasure trove of useful knowledge? Of course not. Neither are the US government's meetings, but we consider those pretty important, overall. In my experience, there's more than enough good stuff that can't be found elsewhere to justify attending house meetings.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people who don't attend house meetings still had lots of friends in the house and hang out with them. To classify them as shut-ins would hardly be fair. I found the meetings fairly useless (though I did go for the most part, but mostly because the den was right next to my room)... we all just messed around and threw things at each other during anyway. I think if I hadn't have gone, I would have missed out on the announcement of some IM activities, but that's about it, and last time I checked, there's a calendar online for that.

 

[aeroclone]

I'm pretty sure a lot of people who don't attend house meetings still had lots of friends in the house and hang out with them. To classify them as shut-ins would hardly be fair. I found the meetings fairly useless (though I did go for the most part, but mostly because the den was right next to my room)... we all just messed around and threw things at each other during anyway. I think if I hadn't have gone, I would have missed out on the announcement of some IM activities, but that's about it, and last time I checked, there's a calendar online for that.

I would agree with you, but I probably wouldn't know since I'm just a hermit shut-in. I honestly have no idea how I found out about stuff going on around campus without some formally organized meeting to go over it. I'm sure that talking to fellow residents outside of meetings is still strictly forbidden? We used to have to go to secret locations to eat dinner, study, or just hang out together. Those gestapo RA's were just brutal. Thank god for house meetings though, we don't have to worry anymore. Social interaction is out in the open now!

And let me tell you, now that I am out of school I can't even explain how far I have been set back in my career by not having dorm house treasurer on my resume. I have been passed over for a variety of executive positions because of it.

I stand completely corrected. Tell you lazy *** gf to get to her house meeting. There is no more productive way that she could possibly have to spend her time. Those meetings are worth their weight in gold. She will be missing out on tons of things without it.


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