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DormCon GBM Minutes 9/26/2024

Date: 26 September 2024
Location: New House
Attendees: Jordan (President), Miguel (MIT Vote), Bianca (Random), Diego (Simmons proxy), River (EC), Farin (McCormick), Camila (Baker), David (New), Leo (Next + treasurer), Guy (underclassmen rep), Felicity (i3), Daniel/Figgis (Dining), Gabriel (tech chair), Eugenie (underclassmen rep), Brendon (MacGregor VP), BC rep

note

If you find any issues with the meeting minutes, please email dormcon-secretary@mit.edu

TL;DR (will be created after the meeting)​

  • MIT Vote
    • they are emailing house managers, but potentially presidents as well, to get information out about a new election mail notification system in StarRez
  • Relevant exec updates
    • Concord Market now opening in February
    • join-dormspam.mit.edu is live - reach out to Gabriel if you don’t want your dorm’s mailing list on it!
  • Apple-picking information
    • Presidents should collect interest lists and get them to DormCon by Tuesday!
    • both buses and apple bags will be purchased by DormCon and then charged to dorms
    • Dorms should charge their residents $5 per person
    • The trip will be about 10am-3pm
    • Non-students can’t take up the original 400 spots, but could join day of (or take their own transportation)
  • Communication between DSL and students
    • They want feedback, particularly as they rethink dining
    • Admin might come to one or two DormCon meetings
    • Potentially creating a “design MIT dining” class, like previous “design the first year” class
  • Relevant president updates
    • Next is struggling with facilities issues and maybe wants to discuss problem of understaffing/deferred repairs/etc. more broadly
    • Random is working on updating the cat policy so that another floor can become a cat floor
  • Funding
    • ABC party - we agreed to fund $850
    • Next Haunt - we agreed to fund $1750

Full minutes​

Agenda​

  • MITVote
  • Apple picking
  • Budget request for ABC
  • Student-administration relations
  • Community support

Miguel from MIT Vote - starting​

  • lots of people registered to vote out of state
    • people miss their ballots in the mail. no one checks their mail.
    • New mechanism in StarRez for desk workers to mark election-related mail!! avoids issue
    • all desk captains have been emailed, and should update desk workers, but for at least one dorm this wasn’t done 🙁
    • thought is for presidents/other dorm people to bump the desk captains/make sure desk workers know this is happening!!
    • word doc abt election mail procedure needs to go to all desk workers
    • Farin: every dorm has a desk worker mailing list, so dorms could provide those to him
    • Miguel will email dorms-prez and we’ll send back lists of desk workers
    • Jordan: get a print-out to put near desk?
    • Figgis: contact house managers
    • contacting house managers vs. desk workers directly? both is good, more power from Above (house manager)
    • not all desk worker lists are great - Next House desk worker list can only be done if you’re On the list
    • makes the most sense to get it to house managers - there’s a list online
    • hmgr@mit.edu
    • implemented in StarRez - HRS initiative so can go through StarRez
    • okay to go to each dorm and put it there? that would probably be fine - desk workers will know what to do
    • both ways - maybe hand one to each dorm and then also put it in email to house managers and can put it up themselves too
  • MIT Vote thinking of storming residence halls and having voter registration events at them
    • happened at MacGregor
    • who to contact?
    • dorm presidents. they’ll be in contact with dorm presidents about this, have materials and things dorms-prez@mit.edu
  • yay voting!!

Exec updates​

  • Guy (underclassman rep) - emailed Keith about giving anyone tap access to dining dorms, which would be great!
  • Leo - thanks to DormCon collecting more house taxes, we are increasing event funding + for food for GBMs (!!) - $2000 event cap was voted on last semester and has now been updated on website, and dorm presidents can now spend more on GBM food - we will have to vote, exact amount not yet set?
  • Farin - not a lot of turn-out for meetings
  • Felicity (I3) - talked to SaveTFP people - needs someone from DormCon to spearhead event - the hope is to do a collaborative DormCon and SaveTFP event - giving them time to think
  • Figgis - Concord Market got delayed and will be opening in February - possibility of small open forum with head chef from Bon Appetit? would have to pick dorm rep - nods with interest
  • Temkin
    • meetings with housing scheduled - 2-3 hour HRS branding meeting (??) - W59 - guide to residences used to be mailed to you, they wanted the pictures, Ashley in HRS wants to loop in OFY, mit dining, REX welcome committee, and Everyone. DSL is having fun with design. WHen elections happen in December - good to pick people with “Opinions On Palettes” (color palettes)
    • residential life visiting committee
    • if any dorm here uses mailman and has Feedback - communicate after
  • join-dormspam.mit.edu - website to join dormspam!!!! someone else should spearhead advertising
    • yay!
    • talk to Gabriel if you don’t want your dorm’s list on it!
  • Secretary
    • Mailing lists updated w/ new officer positions
    • Website updated
    • Guest list up to date for meetings
  • Eugenie (underclassmen rep) - is here
  • President updates:
  • ananda not here :(
  • met with Suzy Nelson and other senior DSL - discussed priorities for the year, DSL’s priorities for the year
    • first priority: dining and food security - it’s bad and no one likes it and it loses money :( - they want Buy-In From The People
    • thinking about implementing recommendations from Student Organization working group - from last year, just released recommendations
    • thinking about dorm renovations
    • thinking about student well-being
    • concord market opening end of January/early February
  • working on onboarding new exec members
  • finalizing details for APPLE PICKING!

Apple Picking​

  • things to discuss
    • way to buy apples: allocations to dorms for number of people, and you’re responsible for working w AD to order apples for the number of people, allocations working in the same way, but they might buy the apple bags centrally
      • Option A: every dorm buys for themselves w/ AD’s P-card
      • Option B: Amanda buys them all.
        • need to have hard allocations of people
        • buses are already charged centrally
        • last year, EC got extra spots last minute and then it cost more - want to make it clear to the dorm that the cost is on a per-spot basis
        • two ways for empty spots: not enough people sign up, and then the spots can get re-allocated, otherwise we allocate the spots but then MIT students are flakes and don’t show up :( - and then, dorms pay for what they agreed to pay for, independent of whether your people show up
      • Decision - DormCon fronts everything and then charges dorms
      • We charge $5-10 per person (gets people to commit)
        • the charging part is up to dorm presidents, and send the money to DormCon in one way or another
        • thoughts from dorms on how much to charge people? $5
      • Last minute empty spots can happen and we’ll do what we can to fill them
        • should a bus stay behind? stagger them just a little?
      • Dorm presidents should collect interest lists by next Tuesday!
        • interest is not lower in Random…
      • Non-students?
        • we don’t want current MIT students to not be able to go
        • on day of, dorm can vouch for them - they shouldn’t take up the original 400 spots though (unless we don’t have enough interest)
      • apple options!
        • small bag - split between 3 people, $25, about $8.33 per person
          • quarter bushel (10 pounds) - 3.33 pounds of apples per person
        • large bag - split between 5 people, $38, about $7.60 per person
          • half bushel (20 pounds) - 4 pounds of apples per person
        • $25 per person if you also want hayride and donut
        • decision: 5-person bag! more apples!!!!!!
        • so many apples.
      • timeframe:
        • last year, left at 10am, got back around 3pm

Budget Request for ABC​

  • https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KiG3ERDLAQagQnNevkys7gjqkugSjZiF9nLiR9hj8Es/edit#slide=id.p
  • requesting $850 for campus-wide ABC event
    • going toward decor and publicity
      • publicity not allowed, so will actually go to other things (decorations - have to fill the Porter room, balloon arches, wall decor, something to block lighting, large print wall for photos, tape mural on the floor
    • what they ask for every year
    • also getting money from DeFlorez
    • cap should have been $500 but this wasn’t communicated so we’re relaxing that rule
    • capacity 432, typically 700-800 people show up through the night

Pushing community support discussion to next time​

  • “change management” from Suzy
    • making changes that people are involved in and don’t get mad about
    • currently thinking most about dining - no decisions made yet, but they’re thinking about it
    • they want feedback
      • when DSL has made decisions, what has made you mad?
      • how to prevent people being mad in the future?
      • ideas related to improving student feedback in DSL decision-making?
    • Farin: already asked for a lot of feedback from students about dining?
      • Jordan: have already asked for a lot of feedback about dining, especially about concord market, no decisions have been made yet, they want More Feedback
    • Guy: more in-person feedback - trickles down student gov pyramid, “scary to face the wolves of college students”
    • Let us know plans they’re making, MacGregor was told a month or two before summer that DSL was getting rid of all the stove tops :((( not the MacGregor stove drama…
    • ways that would be helpful to know about this?
      • no one reads mass emails
      • sending an email to dorm government!
    • DSL might come to DormCon GBMs? one or two throughout the year?
      • who do we want to see? e.g., Helen About Dormspam
      • dormspam, DSL in general, DEI things (town hall), housing price changes/plans around housing tiers - lots of uncertainty, we want to know what They want to talk about (so we know what they’re planning), future renovations longer-term, summer renovations (we don’t tend to know about them till late)
      • Jordan: ask DSL to Do Self-ReflectionTM on why their decisions in the past have gone poorly
        • Housing license - had the wrong date, people forgot, got fined :((, they’re Working On It, $250??
        • If you don’t fill out your form to get housing by the end of the year, you lose housing, there should be a Process to get back in - there is, and then you’re on a waitlist and it’s very sad. HRS solves their housing crisis by means of people forgetting their forms…
        • improving Quantity and Quality of communication from HRS (so true)
          • need to be way more aggressive with emails
          • especially with deadlines… especially with the deadlines that will get you kicked out…
    • there was a class: designing the first-year, and out of that came P/NR. what if we had a class on dining? O.O
      • could be cool…
      • questions about size, how often it’s run, whether it’s a HASS, who runs it, enrollment/positionality - how are you building the group of people who takes it? avoiding bias?, self-selecting
      • not a waste of time to think about!

President Updates​

  • Baker - first dorm-wide meeting, yay, starting gym renovations!
  • New - doing well :) - nh-laundry list? for laundry emails
  • Next:
    • in the last two weeks, a significant number of facilities issues have gotten worse :((( - >=1 shower broken per wing, an elevator out of service, emails to HOM, HOM’s boss, HOM’s boss’ boss…
    • ten bathrooms affected? approaching minimum number of toilets per resident, leaks are leaking into apartment, HRS is under-staffed, HOMs are overworked, need more house managers!! decades of deferred maintenance
    • should compile complaints and ask for structural changes
    • running election, struggling to get people to vote, they have an elections site?? requires certs… Google Forms + Google Sheets, there’s also Helius - it’s a voting platform
    • if you are a Simmons or McCormick rep, please tell Your social chair to respond to My social chair 🥺
  • McCormick - not a lot of turn-out to renovation meetings - even with fancy food, desk organization
  • MacGregor - VP is standing in - polling and painting event! registering people to vote, social chairs meeting tomorrow with AD about game room?
  • EC - doing Awesome - onboarding community liaison, to give money and run study breaks - what’s a community liaison? we don’t know. GRA for a closed dorm. but has a lot of money! next Tuesday, EC dinner with MIT faculty and staff.
  • BC - updated constitution, some people wanted to opt out for room assignment, but they got them to opt back in - staples are hard, buying stuff for makerspace
  • Diego - proxy for Gabbie - bought an expensive server - planning a formal in addition to the Next formal! - social chair working on it, planning stages, they’re roommates… - first house meeting is the longest non-election house meeting ever, 2:17 - Helen Wang was there!! - lots of people with Queries
  • Random - first house meeting was smooth but we couldn’t get all the JudComm members :(( - there will be JudComm elections from now till the end of time, budget next week
    • we have cats and are continuing to have cats. we’re working on the new cat floor process (HoH are spearheading? the process kind of doesn’t exist? 2004 dormcon page… so the vague idea is we say “This is the cat policy.” and then that’s the cat policy). everyone on the floor has voted yes/doesn’t have allergies - HRS doesn’t have a person to submit cat registration to
    • we have Always had a pet chair… so we have better continuity than HRS…

Next Haunt!!​