DormCon GBM Minutes 10/24/2024

Date: 24 October 2024
Location: Next House TFL
Attendees:

• Presidents
  • Baker - Camila
  • Burton Connor - not present
  • East Campus - not present
  • MacGregor - proxy
  • Maseeh - not present
  • McCormick - Jyotsna
  • New House - David
  • New Vassar - Michaela
  • Next - Geoffrey (proxy)
  • Random - Bianca + Lauren
  • Simmons - Gabbie
• Exec Members
  • President - Jordan
  • VP - Ananda
  • Secretary - Lauren
  • Treasurer - not present
  • Underclassmen Rep - Eugenie
  • Dining Chairs - Daniel
  • Tech Chair - Temkin proxy
  • JudComm - Geoffrey
  • Housing Chairs - Temkin

note

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

TL;DR (will be created after the meeting)

• Important notes for presidents:
  • send dorm dining chair info to DormCon dining chairs (Daniel + Gabe) - there will be an email!
  • apple-picking is $20 per person! based on allocated spots, not how many people actually showed up
  • maybe talk to dorms about MIT PD events?? but this is quite unpopular so likely to not happen/only happen in extremely limited cases
  • reach out to DSL if you want funding for inter-dorm events (apparently they’re excited about that)
• Exec updates
  • email housing chairs if there are things they should bring to HRS or RCL meetings
  • paper cups are not coming back in Maseeh :(
  • concord market people will come to a meeting (TBD) at some point
    • current thought is maybe a special-edition GBM right before Thanksgiving?
  • dunkin rewards program will starting :) and then maybe a teado one too??
  • responses from Stata food survey will be discussed with dining chairs
  • SaveTFP event is likely to be next semester!
  • DSL wants to fund inter-dorm events
• Apples
  • $20 per person, 351/500 showed up
  • considering running centrally in the future, like emails/communications straight from DormCon instead of going through dorms
  • considering solutions for no-show problem
  • in the future - have a set spot for every dorm to line up (lots of morning-of confusion)
• MIT PD events
  • DSL wants to assign police officers to dorms and have in-dorm events with them 😭
  • fairly unpopular, though a couple people were in support - very different views between dorms
  • should not happen in living spaces (e.g., lounges) - better to happen in public areas or better, outside, or even better, on campus instead of in dorms
  • Jordan and Ananda will take our thoughts back to DSL and things will continue in discussion
• Presidential updates
  • generally good! events are happening. apples happened.
  • random is thinking about discord moderation, simmons really HAD to think about discord moderation over the summer…

Full minutes

Exec Updates

• Housing
  • meeting with HRS next week, RCL (residential and community life!) the week after
    • they’re above the area directors
    • Amanda is RCL - it’s Amanda up to Helen
    • GRAs are technically RCL, they’re under HoH - weird org chart
    • they do things with dormspam, etc. - general residential life things
  • email housing chairs with anything they should to talk to HRS about!
• Tech
  • join-dormspam.mit.edu is working :)
  • Gabriel is extremely powerful and figured out a way to have people add themselves to mailman lists w/o going through the terrible UI!!!
• Dining
  • no longer paper cups in Maseeh :(( - e.g., can’t take out tea
    • it’s HERE TO STAY - intentional
    • They have a “china” program meaning people are supposed to use real china, paper cups are only if you’re using a green box
    • if you’re not using a green box you’re not supposed to take anything with you :/
    • Geoffrey has a Ziploc bag ready 😭
    • you can sometimes get CODed for stealing things from dining halls 0.0
      • someone took a bag of bagels and MIT came after them for stealing MIT property
      • someone in EC
    • can direct comments and concerns => tech chairs, but they’re “very dedicated to their plateware”
      • people are stealing the plates
      • there are stolen dishes in Simmons lounges (and on loop… in random…)
      • every living group has stolen dishes lol
    • Ananda - are there plans to include reusable cups? what about late-night?
      • late night works that way because of logistical reasons - trying to move to plateware
      • Mark and Heather want it to be plateware
      • late night is green boxes and take-out
      • logistically better to have paper things for late-night
      • they want late-night to be green boxes only, instead they’re putting out paper boxes/paper plates, issue is that there aren’t enough green boxes
      • reusable to-go cups?
        • another program similar to green boxes with metal containers, different components (mug, box, silverware) - each one has a QR code lol - you rent it for 3 days - has a dollar amount and is on your MIT account - if you don’t return, you get charged a late fee - library book policy (yikes?)
        • Camila: 3 days seems short, would forget, sometimes go to dining hall not from room
        • Jordan: disincentivizes people who don’t live in dining dorm - it’s a pain to go between your non-dining dorm and a dining dorm to drop off reusable dishes
        • Daniel - will take this feedback back
        • not through dining, through policy
  • want to schedule concord market people to come talk
    • having them come to a GBM?
      • sounds good!
    • what would they talk about?
      • answer questions about concord market, give their pitch
    • ananda - could they bring in pastries?
    • jordan - it would be cool if they brought the catering to a dormcon meeting…?
      • daniel - asked if they could cater, but mark wasn’t sure it was feasible, pastries would be portable
    • scheduling - wanted to give them a few days, when to do?
      • two more this semester, one in Random, last is elections
      • take to immediately after meeting (random and mccormick should stay!!)
  • dunkin rewards program coming to stud, and mobile ordering!!!
    • *cheers all around*
    • before, could only use techcash rewards system
    • if it goes well, will roll over and maybe use at teado?
    • will be self-pubbing (could put it on a dorms@?)
    • hasn’t started yet, will likely show up in dining digest (emails to people w meal plans/otherwise connected to dining)
  • needs dorm dining chair info!!
    • look out for an email to gather contact info from dining chairs - want to start scheduling meetings
  • cup thing was not communicated
    • they don’t really Want to communicate that also… not a way to effectively communicate reasoning… “so normal to want to take warm beverages with caffeine to class”
    • apparently people were sneaking entire meals out in the cups LOL
• Underclassmen rep (Eugenie)
  • looked at Stata food availability survey
  • lots of people wanting to have meal swipes usable at Stata
    • secondary concern
  • hoping to reach out to appropriate people
    • dining chairs
  • meal swipes at Stata was not mentioned in survey?
    • it was a secondary question (would you eat more at Stata if you could use your meal swipes)
    • in comments box, a ton of people commented about it
  • will chat with dining chairs
• Advisor
  • none
• Felicity
  • talked to SaveTFP people
    • could do an event this semester, would have to be Saturday event, no guarantee that SaveTFP members will be there (the rolling commitment is Friday events)
    • could do it next semester - would need to propose before semester planning meeting in February, would have time by then
      • what meeting would involve
      • what students would do
      • funding - how much SaveTFP and how much DormCon
      • time + location - probably 9-11 in wellbeing lab
      • someone in dormcon would need to spearhead
    • person to spearhead - Felicity will be out of DormCon next semester
      • Jordan - if you want to do this, you could; also fine if you don’t want to
      • will keep thinking about point person
    • Ananda - does SaveTFP have a usual budget on their side
      • “theoretically yes” - no hard limit?
      • precedent from other partnerships? Felicity will ask
• Underclassmen Rep (Guy)
  • keeps emailing Keith
  • Temkin says it worked today? so list does exist?
• JudComm (Geoffrey)
  • no updates
• President/VP updates
  • “APPLE APPLE APPLE”
    • congrats on surviving apples
    • there are so many apples!
      • random had an apple-baking competition 🙂
      • mccormick is going to run an event this weekend (great mccormick bakeoff!)
    • “only slightly traumatized by the experience, which I call a win” - ananda
  • talking to mccormick/ec/bc about groupchat for renovations! sharing knowledge about renovation meetings, etc. - dormcon hopes to support dorms, move forward w renovation conversations with respect/relevance
  • met w suzy et. al. last week
    • one of the biggest things that came out was that DSL is interested in support inter-dorm events with money 0.0
    • if your dorm is planning an inter-dorm formal or some such…
    • unclear if next simmons mccormick are having their formal or not??? maybe mccormick not in it :(
    • DSL is interested in giving money!!! email Helen Wang or talk to Pres/VP

Apples Apples Apples

• $20 per person, based on original allocation
• significantly fewer people showed up than allocated - includes the $5 everyone paid - significantly lower than previous years
• 351 people showed up
  • “you may notice is significantly less than 500”
• write a thing for next year to tell people NOT to buy more than 400 spots
• making sure who pays the $5 is the dorm’s responsibility
• mccormick had 3 people who didn’t show… “baker is a very different story”
• resolutions for no-show problem?
  • increasing amount people pay (some people don’t care about $5)
    • were also midterms
  • allocating fewer spots
  • over-allocating (airline moment…)
  • could tell people that the dorm is paying $ for people to go, and that they will be costing money…
    • this was done to guilt-trip people about disorientation lmao
    • “be aggressive and funny”
  • more centralized communication?
    • historically dorm-based
    • query from jordan: is it worth it for it to continue to be on a dorm-by-dorm basis
      • people think yes
      • easier to estimate
      • I do think random attendance might go down…
      • Guy: making it AdMIT One - can put a cap on amount of people from given dorm, doesn’t think lopsidedness is a problem
      • “Random’s interest is high, baker’s is very very low” - head of the charles and sports were a problem, only 3 people actually went - baker might just not participate in future
    • if centralized - dormcon can’t pay for it. so if it’s centralized, how *do* you pay for it?
      • maybe still have dorms pay for people
      • logistically, have one massive list?
      • doing AdMIT One through engage? can sell things straight through engage
      • registering on atlas, getting approved through engage, have some sort of centralized thing, or dormcon makes 10-11
      • collect dorm information in RSVP, can restrict to dorm residents by importing dorms@ list to Dorms engage group…
      • could be useful to think about, in the future when the new people for next year are actually here lol
• day-of logistics feedback?
  • in the morning, when everyone meets
    • having set spots for dorms (so true)
      • in past years - taped signs to kresge - forgot this year
    • random put people in a line and had them group up and they made their own line :)
      • if everyone had a line…
  • other comments? no.

MIT PD

• DSL had this idea that they’re referring to as a “neighborhood policing concept”
  • what?
• they want to have one designated police officer assigned to dorm - not like how AD is in house, but would be same officer
  • not like emergencies, but small things
• MIT PD has bad reputation and relationship with students, hasn’t always been the case
  • have the “best police officers” build community and trust in the dorms
  • police-themed study breaks 😭 in the sense of safety
    • event for freshmen on living in the city
  • Gabbie - there was a really nice police officer during orientation, talks to all OLs, all the first-years love him, he’s so nice, nice to get info from source that you’re going to have to give information to
    • more free food study breaks are good
  • Bianca - our AD has historically had an event where a police officer comes and talks about safety
    • people felt fundamentally uncomfortable about police officers in living space, also because Foo is a living/dining space, uniformed police officer with a gun…
      • Jordan - should be in plainclothes with NO GUN
    • lots of community backlash, doesn’t happen anymore
      • consider this to be a success
      • when reporting incidents, police have to come, which is bad
      • people have had bad experiences with police, lots of emphasis on not having police with guns there
      • some of this mistrust is what they’re trying to fix, but not sure that is the answer
      • Gabbie - how else do you make people comfortable?
    • Amanda - Random event was a longstanding thing, didn’t help relationship
    • Guy - thinks there is a use in having people get to know each other, nonantagonistic relationship, wouldn’t want to see cop in lounge, but like in the first floor of Baker, it’s a public area, not an expectation of privacy, fine to see a cop talking about public safety/getting to know community
    • Camila - how often would officer be there?
      • Jordan - maybe twice a semester?
    • Jordan - outdoor event could be more agreeable, better at grills than in the building
    • SROs at Camila’s high school did Not play basketball with them, very different experience than Guy
    • Farin - agrees with all the thoughts, can do outreach anywhere else, can do it at the station in the Infinite, give students the choice, people coming from different backgrounds, people shouldn’t have to have positive opinion of cops, give people the option and plenty of space, they have a job to do, has a bit of an iffy feeling toward cop events, would rather have it on campus
    • Ananda - their logic is that when there is an event, and police have to come, reaction might be less negative
    • “is it their personal feelings?” - farin - not clear on where the motivation comes from
    • Gabbie - had police officer at high school, say there’s a police officer who comes into your living space, more comfortable if you do know who they are over not
    • Farin - comfort is good
      • they’ll pick and choose cops, right? will they make sure that the same cop always handles issues for a given dorm?
      • jordan - understood it as “when possible”
    • could be useful to have an info session
    • cops are chronically getting lost in random and then wandering around on the wrong floor
    • camila - go back to dorms and ask?
    • geoffrey - will letting them in the dorms twice a semester make them come more often
    • farin: dorms are supposed to be like homes/apartments and there aren’t usually cops in homes/apartments
      • ananda - better if it were out front?
      • farin - would want to check with dorm
    • if this did happen, it would be one dorm with one person - what kind of process would you want to before?
      • reaching out to exec, who can reach out to students
      • letting house teams know
      • go through students, not house teams
    • daniel - don’t want them to try in one dorm and say then it will work in every other dorm
      • for this to go ahead in random, would need 100% of randomites to say yes
    • geoffrey - while in dorm, would they have law enforcement powers
      • guy - don’t do a line of coke in front of them…
      • daniel - can see it happening where someone gets uncomfortable, acts out
        • what happens when someone protests the cop meeting…
        • or what if an underage student has alcohol and the cop sees it…
      • guy - have it in a public space, “random has no public space, so maybe give them a break”, if I have a beer in my hand in a public space that’s a problem, do it in places where kids already know not to do illegal things
        • “getting closer to the Andy-Griffith-type cop”
    • jordan - interested in people interviewing the cop?
      • farin - could do a “cop town hall”
      • interviews - could find someone who’s a good fit for your dorm
      • “simmons culture is quirky” - gabbie “not like other girls?” - ananda
      • felicity - is it they’re getting feedback and will do it either way, or they’re getting feedback and then will decide whether to do that?
        • if jordan told them that students would riot, they wouldn’t do it
        • specific instances in which it might work, would need to be very careful, only for specific communities, intentional and careful, could potentially be feasible? but it’s a risk
• intentionality and care.
• ANYWAY

Dorm Updates

• simmons
  • house retreat, apples are cool
• next
  • no formal with mccormick, but want to have a basement party, internal bike lottery, lotterying unused bikes, next haunt, pumpkins, house team good at running social events, AD brought up having election night surprise snacks for election night >.< - grill ventilation still broken for several weeks, still can’t make burgers
• new vassar
  • 17/35 people showed up for apple-picking
• mccormick
  • talking to hrs about community survey about renovation
  • loosely planning an event this semester, one each semester, lots of money to use up before they go under
• baker
  • no major events, camila is sad about apple-picking
• macgregor
  • planning halloween event, making progress towards space
• random
  • apple-picking went well, apple-baking went well, only 6 or 7 drop-outs, house team is doing a good job of regular events, good b/c they’re new, people like them
  • dormwide discord, presidents moderate :(, we’re realizing that community moderation can’t be done by 1-2 people, surveying community about better discord moderation, if people have thoughts/experience
    • lots of screaming!
    • simmons discord almost got taken over by DSL because of a series of events?? went VERY high up? over the summer? we won’t put all this in the minutes. but yikes. now the random hall discord feels calm.
  • simmons made a policy with community standards and such - people who live in simmons have moderation power - temkin will screenshot and send to us
    • tech chair, president, house chair?
    • random thinking of also expanding list of moderators
    • have to check a box and agree before they can talk in the server
  • new
    • also planning formal, internal, laundry/dryer repairs, area director is away for something (OOO), have a covering AD