Dormcon Elections Minutes

Date: May 5, 2022
Time: 6:30pm
Location: UA Senate Chambers
Food: COME TO FIND OUT!!!!

[RUN FOR A POSITION: DormCon Exec Descriptions for Elections 2022]

[ELECTION ORDER:

President (1)
Vice President (1)
Housing Chair (2)
Dining Chair (2)
Underclassmen Rep (1-2)
Secretary (1)
Treasurer (1)
JudComm (1-2)
Tech Chair (1)]

[zoom setup]

shuli: let’s see who’s here so we know if it’s time to get started. baker. bc. ec. macgregor? no. maseeh. no. mccormick. new house. new vassar. next. random. simmons. excellent.

caragay: hi everybody. we’re gonna get started with intro spiel. shuli and i will be running because judcomm is on zoom. summary of process. [insert order]. going through 8 positions. i’ll announce what position is. short description. the number of people who can be elected. then nominations. you can nominate yourself or others. every candidate if this is first position. they will have 90 seconds to introduce. discuss interest in exec and platform. if they’ve already run for position we’ll give them 45 seconds. any questions on that? once we’ve heard from all candidates. questions. for all candidates unless you say otherwise. please make sure questions are significant such that they are impacting your voting decision. if you have other things you can talk with candidates afterwards. after questions candidates will leave the room and we’ll have open discussion about candidates. keep track of time during deliberations. talk until natural time to take vote. then someone will ask if we’re ready to vote and if no one objects we will. votes. candidates have to be elected with majority. if no majority, rerun with top 2 candidates. if there are two slots we will elect first person first then second. not pair. population vote. every president casts votes. number of votes in number of residents in dorm based on hrs numbers. give fractions if possible and they go into spreadsheet. after presidents vote then residents can cast their own vote. if we get to election where it seems white ballot. then pres can motion to white ballot. if no objections then we move on. we can’t white ballot while candidate is in room. we’ll be reminded of these rules as we go through. any questions?

shuli: quick note the food is on its way. is maseeh here? i can ask emma if she can text nicole. ec do you know if theo is coming? oh is here.

caragay: we are now electing presidents. this position is held by one person. the president of dorm con runs dormcon. meet with suzy nelson every two weeks and organize dormcon exec. anyone nominate themself for president?

zawad: i’ll nominate myself

jordan: i’ll nominate myself

caragay: if the two candidates would like to stand in middle of circle.

[zawad and jordan come to center]

[insert dialogue trying to organize positioning]

caragay: if you each could introduce yourselves. general interest in running for dormcon exec. 90 seconds.

zawad: i can start. i’m zawad. been on dormcon exec since freshmen year. over that seen strengths and limitations of dormcon exec. want to work on those things. was housing chair this past year. was cpw/rex chair. was esp chair which was huge organization and had to lead huge team. like working with people and thinking high level on things.

jordan: hey yall i’m jordan i’m the other dormcon housing chair right now. crazy which choices you get for president. i’ve been judcomm and tech chairs. enjoyed time on dormcon. want to run for president because like organizational aspect and interfacing with admin in advocational role. some experience that both of us bring to table are talking and working with admin and more importantly giving feedback to admin. working with suzy nelson. took meeting with rich hilton from cvs on my phone because it was important.

shuli: questions from previous position holder?

caragay: what do you see as dormcon’s priorities? and how you want to shape?

zawad: over the past couple of years we’ve built collaborative relationship with admin. sometimes this can be with individual people. think about how we can institutionalize this. have that be built into admin’s process. another thing is how people work in dormcon. two positions that speak directly to admin like housing and dining chair. distribute work more fairly. and people on dormcon can feel like they are doing work but not being too hosed.

shuli: sorry to cut off but when you reach approximate end we’ll make hand motions

jordan: i don’t have specific vision. want to advocate for individual residence halls. advocate for bc and ec. move forward on initiatives caragay and shuli started like tier 1 finaid. want to be more active for exec members. so that when they’re in times of stress they can feel ok.

caragay: any presidents or exec want to ask questions?

someone: have vision for what you want to do with that role. any specific projects?

jordan: the one i specifically mentioned is tier 1 finaid. suzy has said that will start in fall. so i think that will be very important. organizing the general idea of renovations and how we can better support as dormcon.

zawad: i think some of my projects would be distributing work. and institutionalizing dormcon’s power position in the face of admin. other project is that renovations is something that works long term. learned lots with bc. gonna learn lot with ec. not to be a full scramble all the time. having things passed down. and admin knows some things are principles.

caragay: any other q’s?

mohan: favorite colors?

jordan: lavender

zawad: purple

michelle: as president what do you think your relationship with admin should be?

zawad: i think one of the things is talk with suzy nelson. have collaborative relationship with her. also in general with most administrators prez/vp should be people they can speak truth to. grow level of trust and comfort with them. important as any student that you need to speak up for yourself and other students and not just acquiesce to admin.

jordan: not sure what more i can add to that. he and i already have very good relationships with people in housing. and building that relationship with suzy nelson. beyond that having relationships with other positions within admin so they know who we are. our dining chairs work with mark hayes so we should know who mark hayes is and how we can help with that. we are an advocational kind of role. we should not be pushing our own personal agenda but that of the students at large.

caragay: final questions? any presidents? or non exec?

meghana: how do you plan on navigating leadership with fellow dormcon exec members?

jordan: i have some experience with that as simmons president right now. generally nudging and getting to understand where they are at. helping exec members to do their work. if they need to shift a bit of work off i want to help.

zawad: i have experience with this as esp chair. try to understand what people are going through. to understand that this is a tough time for you and ask for help and encouraging that. and building this culture of collaborating on stuff and not just working alone just because a position title says something.

caragay: so we’ll end questions there. is food set up? [mohan: one minute]

shuli: you guys grab food and leave and the rest of us will do something.

[insert transition music]

shuli: let’s make a little line

[FOOD BREAK]

[DELIBERATION ABOUT PRESIDENT - not in minutes because this is a private conversation!]

[voting for president…]

shuli: we have elected zawad for president!

[we wait for zawad and jordan to return]

[oh no zawad and jordan are MIA]

[election music is played wooo]

[jordan is missing???]

caragay: next election

shuli: we will now do vice president. any nominations?

sunmee: i nominate jordan [accept]

zawad: i nominate alan [accept]

alan: hi i’m alan. as many of you probably now. currently dormcon judcomm chair and next house president. running for 3 main reasons. care a lot about dorm communities at mit. i think dormcon has affective way of making change. i think i do a good job of organizing things. platform wise. i don’t have a lot of specific policies. but i do have values on the way i view dormcon. i believe in the power of designing a system well. for example underclassmen rep amendment. finally believe in power of communication. between dorm execs. between admin and students. those are main things i value and think about a lot.

jordan: specifically. take everything i said for president and apply to vice president. up to zawad but hope it’s in the co-president vibes. otherwise idk if i’d enjoy much. one idea is how our interactions with ua should work. good relationship with shruti and david. esp bc idk if zawad has those connections.

caragay: questions?

shuli: you talked a bit about what you want to accomplish. particular ways you want to guide dormcon? (already asked jordan and zawad)

alan: supporting dorm execs and dorm communities in the way they want to be supported. listening to dorm execs. collecting advocacy. as people who already work a lot with admin. one priority is improving communication between students and admin. one thing that has been hard to accomplish. establish trust between what makes people work better.

mohan: what are your favorite colors?

jordan: still lavender

alan: teal

zangi: back with favorite question. what projects what goals do you have for yourself as vice president.

alan: one goal is to make sure dormcon exec is a well running system. because of the way dormcon is structured we have biweekly meetings. one is exec meetings and one is presidents meetings. and making sure nothing gets lost between those. advocate where necessary between students and admin.

jordan: i answered already

caragay: other q’s

sarah: what are your other responsibilities for the next year

jordan: main responsibility outside of simmons president. also be taking a light load.

alan: will continue to be next house president. have a capella group. and priorities with things they are not a priority.

shuli: other questions?

caragay: open to anyone for one question. candidates leave zoom and the room.

[insert deliberation for VICE PRESIDENT]

[voting time]

shuli: we have elected alan

[mohan goes to get jordan and alan]

caragay: we are now moving into housing chair. we elect 2 housing chairs. housing chairs are people who interface with housing admin. if you have housing issues or housing projects housing chairs take care of it. any nominations?

hannah: i nominate arthur

zangi: i nominate mitali [accept]

zawad: i would like to nominate mateo [considering]

shuli: any additional nominations?

meghana: i nominate jordan [decline]

mohan: i nominate jordan again [still decline]

mateo: i decline

caragay: any final nominations?

mitali: i nominate sunmee [decline]

caragay: i nominate fatima [accept]

shuli: any other nominations? closing nominations

caragay: each have 90 seconds to introduce yourselves. please say domr and year. we’ll give you wave at 80

mitali: hello everyone i’m mitali. i am 24. i live in ec. i am interested in housing chair because housing in this school is something i care a lot about. first joined dormcon as i3/rac chair. because wow dorms are so cool and then i lived in dorm and it was pretty cool. then i was underclassmen rep. being on exec helped me understand how dormcon functions and relationship between students and admin. realizing how important that is for the students here. having good housing is something that’s important. would like to advocate for that for everyone here. i care a lot about housing and want to be someone who can get good things for people. and interacts with people in lots of different contexts and bring all needs to admin.

fatima: i’m fatima 25 live in next house. i am dormcon cpw/rex chair. been on dormcon for past semester. it’s been very fun. very supportive group to start leadership position with. want to continue doing something for dormcon. mitali also said dorm life is very important. and communities in our living groups are very important here at mit. trying to work with admin to make sure that is the best possible community. housing chairs have been working on multiple projects some of which are ongoing so would like to continue.

zangi: i’m arthur junior 23 live in ec. have been ec rac for past year and half. have seen how important housing is to students. seen how big of a role housing plays for students. advocating for students. and i think it is best route for me to do this. seen a lot go wrong in process and i want to be the one advocating for it officially through dormcon housing position. it is as we all know a mess right now and it can be better. and i think this is the best way i can do that. ideally want to make housing process around rex better. is long process but that’s why these are for a year so you can start things and pass off to successors.

caragay: q’s from current housing chairs?

jordan: one thing that i found a bit challenging in working with housing at times is removing myself from my own dorm and being advocate for dorms at large rather than trying to advocate for what i think is best (simmons in my case) how would you navigate that?

zangi: that’s gonna be very difficult much of housing work i have done has been in my dorm specifically. recently tried to talk with other dorms and about how their processes work. will try to reach out before i go into discussions. see if what i think is correct is going to be best for their lives.

fatima: as dormcon cpw chair. i’m also on exec for next house. so that’s something i was consciously thinking about. i was doing work as cpw chair i am dormcon exec member not next exec member. but perspective from dorm can help. personally really try to make sure i’m being impartial to all dorms and trying to make sure i’m talking for everyone

mitali: my perspective as someone who lives in ec is going to affect what i want. i’ve been getting better at understanding where they’re coming from. and i think that is something that is not that difficult to do. even if our specific dorms might want different things. to try to understand that and use that to inform how i present things and pick up course of action.

zawad: sometimes housing can come at things with skewed perspective and have defined list of priorities. how would you communicate wiht housing when they say “oh we can’t do this because some people would be sad”

fatima: i think informal surveys. ask presidents. dormspam survey. essentially showing that this is not the case. in general formulating whatever your case says. these are the reasons we think this is the case. trying to cater to what they think is important as housing while also advocating for students

mitali: i definitely agree with that. important to see where they are coming from but also have a list of things i know about my perspective and the students around me. i also think one thing i like about dormcon exec is that we have lots of internal discussions about things and also with presidents in gbm.

zangi: having that data to back you up. one other thing is they put to you a situation which is bad to a certain group of students but you can also turn that around to how that could be good to a larger group of students and walk them through.

jordan: one thing zawad and i have gotten better at is giving constructive feedback not just about our working but communities working with them. how would you give feedback?

zangi: i have tendency to approach these conversations. i have honesty. i will try to explain situation from my perspective. flush out where my perspective is coming from. but also frame it in a way that so this is how your actions impacted me and this is how i would appreciate if you took it differently. if you’re honest with people they understand generally

fatima: i think after a certain project for example. these are the things we did. these are things that were good. these are things that aren’t good but this could be more differently. i think this is more constructive criticism and formulate in a way that admin actually understands.

mitali: definitely echoing what you have said. constructive feedback is the way to go. actionables be better. how you could do this better in the future.

caragay: open up to exec and presidents?

michelle: on a scale of 1 to 10 how excited are you about this position?

[organizing who will go first]

mitali: 8. one reason i take two points off is can be stressful position to be in. and sometimes i get hosed.

fatima: 9. also taking one point because it is a bit intimidating position.

zangi: ngl at a 7. i have been in this for 2 years now. i want to do this work so deeply. i will continue to do work for ec. these things they take time they take effort and i know what it’s going to look like. built relationship with admin. want to continue doing this work.

mohan: what are your favorite colors?

zangi: red

mitali: blue

fatima: actually also purple

meghana: are there specific projects you’re interested in continuing or starting

fatima: i think mural project and rex timeline are important projects. want to continue working on those and making sure that happens.

mitali: also excited about mural pilots. people who missed housing intent form. and the way we think about housing. the idea that all of housing is going to migrate to tier 1 and thinking about financial implications about that. vibe about how to make housing better for everyone.

zangi: big thing is housing timeline around rex. have some ideas on how to shift to make easy on freshmen and racs. mural pilots exciting stuff.

fatima: also be cool to make streamlined process for dorms that undergo renovations.

leo: as various racs must know this semester. maybe a next house problem. housing this semester has not been the best w.r.t. communication. last minute changes. this semester put our next house rac under inordinate amount of stress. look to dormcon to communicate better to housing. what in the past has prepared you to or what do you think is important when communicating with housing. such as last minute changes to the roster. or even getting roster of residents in the house.

fatima: a lot of the problems this year was because housing was understaffed. a lot of the problems on the dorm rac side was because of housing understaff issues. but still advocating.

mitali: esp going into situations like this. i would try to approach prioritizing getting racs their lists on time. actionables. is there anything i can do or anything you all can do to make this go smoother.

zangi: all of this has been happening because there is one person running all of undergraduate housing. one biggest thing we can do is establishing timeline early and making sure we take all steps we need to take. getting contact info out to racs early so if there is a problem they have our info ready to go. they can be like oh i have an issue i need help advocating for and they can immediately go to housing chairs.

caragay: one more question?

jordan: just clarification that we do have a rac chair that is more responsible for rac chair things.

[candidates step out]

[enter deliberations for HOUSING CHAIR]

[voting for HOUSING CHAIR, first person]

[enter deliberations for second HOUSING CHAIR]

[voting for HOUSING CHAIR, second person]

shuli: we have elected arthur and fatima as our housing chairs.

[jordan and zawad and meghana exit to get candidates]

shuli: we will get nominations for dining chair. their job is to work on everything related to food. cook for yourself and dining halls and other sources of food on campus. mark hayes and peter cummings. nominations?

sunmee: i nominate rebecca. [accept]

caragay: i nominate mitali [accept]. any other nominations?

caragay: any other nominations?

jordan: what dorms?

mitali: ec

rebecca: simmons but moving to bc

jordan: i nominate mohan [decline]

fatima: i nominate leo [decline]

jordan: i nominate mateo [decline]

mohan: i second mateo [accept]

shuli: for context we often take one cook for yourself and one dining hall chair.

rebecca: i’m rebecca. sophomore. i live in simmons but moving to bc. initial interest is that dining plan made me very unhappy this year. want as few people as possible to feel like that. would like to work with pricing and inclusion of plan. dietary restrictions. food security aspect of this position. i’m on the ua student support and wellbeing. on food security team. interested in working on expanding impact in that area. i think this is a position i can do a lot of good.

mateo: i’m mateo. also sophomore live in new vassar. in terms of dining. i pretty much exclusively eat in dining halls and it’s not very consistent. other dining halls i don’t seem to find consistency. dining chairs in dormcon. lots of issues with the way food is handled at mit. particularly with meal plans. that is one thing i would like to work on. i think this is one of the things that can be improved.

mitali: you all know me. i’m very interested in dining chair. another big aspect of campus is food and food security. don’t eat in dining halls as much as some of you. recognize that there are lots of structural issues in dining. want to be someone that advocates for food security on campus. so everyone has access to food they will enjoy eating.

shuli: q’s from current dining chair?

meghana: specific ideas on improving dining or food on campus that you can pursue?

rebecca: idea of variety in dining halls and how that affects where people eat and live. shouldn’t be a mark against where you want to live. working around things like that. food inclusion and overall consistency.

mateo: i think consistency is important for meal plan. for food security. there were some pilot programs this year that i think were very good. they gave people dining dollars. would like to see more types of those programs on campus. not only people on meal plans but also cook for yourself.

mitali: food selection in dining halls is something i would like to work on. pilots went well. seeing what the community needs. is a lot more prevalent that we realize.

meghana: a lot of our work this past year has been about incorporating student feedback into the process. a lot of student feedback for a lot of the other projects dining works on. hours and locations of techmart. shuttle routes. what was a time you asked for feedback to be incorporated into decision making or how would you solicit feedback.

mitali: as underclassmen rep. biggest thing was smore welcome. reaching out to different sophomores and seeing what they wanted to get out of that week before i was going to meetings with admin. using that feedback to figure out what i wanted to push for. surveys you set up will be very useful for getting feedback and keeping eye on things about what people have to say.

mateo: i think feedback is very important. reduce barrier to giving feedback as much as possible. not sure how i can access dining survey quickly. making sure people know where to find that. some direct challenges of communication would be helpful as well. in general.

rebecca: specific experiences. one experience. on solar car team i run the media team. one of the things i need to balance from that. balancing interests of people on my team. majority freshmen who are excited. and balancing interests of the team and what needs to be prioritized. balance is very important and needs to be emphasized by the dining chairs.

meghana: one last question. the main contact is with mark hayes mit director of dining. a lot of what we run up against are supply chains. very long timelines sometimes for making change. what are your thoughts on working with admin on that. maintaining long term goals. and logistics of executing. how will you keep track of year long goals given that they will be very long time scales on some of these things.

rebecca: you’re doing it with another dining chair and keeping track with each other. coming into it with another standing is very important. things like compromise and moving forward in talks. and being diligent in that sense.

mitali: having other people. setting up good organizational system at very start of the year and keeping track of those long term goals and setting up timelines. as supply chain issues come up having timeline and next steps in mind. having long term goals in mind. even if it is disrupted being able to know you are working towards it.

mateo: with long term things it is hard to break down . some steps might feel small but are very important down the road. this topic is going to important to discuss. we can discuss now or later. keeping track of those small details are very important in long term.

caragay: open up to presidents. only if it’s a question that would change your vote.

mateo: not essential but favorite colors?

rebecca; cornflower blue

mateo: royal blue

mitali: ...blue.

arthur: dining has really changed after covid. mit isolation meals. food security. with recent changes where do you think you should go from here?

mitali: food security is one of biggest priorities. would look at initiatives done this year. with iap dining the money that was able to be used. different grocery stores. different things going on there that i’m not sure about. people who are food insecure making sure they have access to meal swipes and stuff. and having access to food outside of dining hall hours.

mateo: i think it’s best to work with systems currently in place. reasonably do in the near future. sharing meal swipes. lowering the barrier for accessing food would go a long way. having a way to share meal swipes to make it easier on people who need it. food access outside dining hall hours. go for academics but also eat food because dining halls close.

rebecca; second access to cheap and affordable food on campus. working with potential vendors inside of the stud. there are changes with that. working to make sure those are vendors are accessible in terms of finances.

shuli: any other questions that would change your vote?

[figuring out logistics of new vassar voting]

[candidates leave the room]

[enter deliberation for DINING CHAIR, first person]

[voting for first DINING CHAIR]

[enter deliberation for DINING CHAIR, second person]

[voting for second DINING CHAIR]

shuli: mitali and rebecca are our new dining chairs

[people go to get candidates]

shuli: our next election is for underclassmen rep

sunmee: i nominate leo and fatima [both decline]

shuli: can we skip the election?

[we skip this election]

caragay: now elect secretary.

[questions about underclassmen rep]

sunmee: secretary basically takes minutes at dormcon gbms and exec meetings. you also send out emails to various places and manage dormcon social media.

caragay: i nominate mateo [decline]

fatima: i nominate leo [decline]

zawad: i nominate mohan [decline]

caragay: i nominate random presidents [michelle accepts, bookbinder declines]

meghana: i nominate theo [decline]

caragay: would you like to give a brief spiel?

michelle: no.

michelle: i’m michelle. 2023. i accepted nomination because i will be at all meetings anyways. [we have additional meetings every week]

caragay: any questions?

sunmee: what is your typing speed? [michelle: pretty good]

[enter deliberations for SECRETARY]

[voting for SECRETARY]

shuli: congratulations we have elected michelle.

shuli: job of treasurer. file RFPs for dormcon and get food for dormcon meetings.

jordan: i nominate mohan [i will only do if absolutely no one wants]

zawad: i nominate sunmee [same as mohan]

bookbinder: any actual decisions you have to make?

mohan: no

meghana: i nominate leo [decline]

bookbinder: i am alex bookbinder. 2023. i live in random hall. i would like to be dormcon treasurer because i have so much experience filing rfps. treasurer of lsc. secular society. asa. i know how the mit financial system works.

shuli: any serious questions?

[enter deliberations for TREASURER]

[voting for TREASURER]

shuli: we have voted bookbinder.

shuli: job of judcomm?

alan: judcomm theoretically runs elections. writes constitutional amendments.

zawad: i nominate jordan [come back]

zawad: i nominate mateo [not legal]

shuli: any other nominations?

mitali: i nominate sunmee [decline]

sunmee: i nominate mohan [decline]

zawad: i nominate jordan again [sure]

caragay: i nominate sarah [sure]

sarah: i’m sarah a 23 who is in 3rd time as bc president. been around dormcon for pretty long time. 4 sets of presidents. i don’t mind going to a weekly meeting i guess. i watched ua amend constitution i’m sure it’ll be fine.

jordan: i was previously a judcomm chair. like mohan i will try to do illegal things. i like shitposting. i will call new vassar west garage during elections.

shuli: alan questions? [no]

bookbinder: can you upload judcomm code to dormcon website? [work out later]

caragay: could you both talk about why you want to be on dormcon exec this coming year.

sarah: the thing i wanna see most. working groups and stuff. lost opportunity that renovations working group fell apart. taking institutional knowledge from bc and passing that on.

jordan: much better answer than i think i could give. i’ve been on dormcon for a while. kinda know what’s going on. i can volunteer myself for a lot of things.

[candidates leave the room]

[enter deliberations for JUDCOMM CHAIR]

[voting for JUDCOMM CHAIR]

shuli: both candidates have been elected

shuli: last position is tech chair. tech chair’s job is to make website happen. helping with other tech related things. like rex website.

many nominations for cameron [accept]

shuli: closing nominations

cameron: hi i’m cameron from bc a real dorm now. i’ve been doing this for 2 years. i’ve made the website we currently have. working on a rex doohicky for people to browse rex things. i like random dorm tech projects.

meghana: your plan for continuity?

cameron: lots of documentation for the website. uses markdown. so someone who is fairly course 6 should be able to keep that going. rex is designed to be as simple as possible. python and a bit of html to keep that going.

[candidate leaves room]

[enter deliberation for TECH CHAIR]

[voting for TECH CHAIR]

[we retrieve the candidate]

shuli: this concludes elections. thank you all for staying. concludes dormcon for the year. if you’ve been elected you will hear more shortly. we’ll see you in the fall but you’ll see each other in the fall because we’re peacing out!

[round of applause]

it’s been good

thanks for letting me play type racer every week - sunmee

ALL ELECTION RESULTS COMPILED NEATLY:

President: Zawad Chowdhury
Vice President: Alan Zhu
Housing Chairs: Arthur Zangi and Fatima Nasir Abbasi
Dining Chairs: Mitali Chowdhury and Rebecca Lizarde
Underclassmen rep: skipped, deferred to fall
Secretary: Michelle Guo
Treasurer: Alex Bookbinder
Judcomm: Sarah Aaronson and Jordan Wilke
Tech Chair: Cameron Kleiman