DormCon GBM Minutes 11/07/2024

Date: 07 November 2024
Location: Random Hall Foo Lounge

note

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

TL;DR (will be created after the meeting)

Exec updates (see document for more detail):

Treasurer
- Debits for apple-picking will be going out to presidents
- working on getting house tax from dorms => DormCon
JudComm
- elections in 4 weeks!!
Housing
- ResLife might want a working group around an infographic with resources, dialogue across differences?
- HRS wants to talk about women-only spaces in other dorms, will also be putting some people in Tang
- discussion around personal wheels, no immediate updates
- strong interest in having fire department come and demo smoking up a floor
Dining
- will be part of new HRS website, and will have menu
- Heather is very sold on the metal box program (Usefull) instead of green boxes, has been some discussion of student concerns (e.g., return time)
- working on food waste - Dining is interested in the difference between plate waste vs. overproduction, also in which dorms have compost bins and where
President
- talked to Suzy et. al. about MedLinks not being able to give out medicine, they’re going to talk to MIT Medical
- they’re trying to make the RPM program better
  - suggestion to have RPMs teach life skills?
- Concord Market GBM will be on the 21st, probably?

DSL Visiting Committee:

Question about what presidents would like communicated to the committee?
- PLEASURE is struggling, needs more administrative support
- decline of east-side things and student freedom (the things that make MIT cool)
- things fall on student shoulders (CPW/REX) and are made difficult by red tape - e.g., the RFP system, things like suddenly having to feed everyone during REX, etc.
- placing liability over student well-being

Bike Racks/Personal Wheels Discussion: punted to next GBM

President Updates (re: election, and also just in general):

election-related:
- general forms of support in dorms
- lots of study breaks, free food, watch parties, etc.
general:
- continued facilities issues (Random flooded >.< )
- a lot of dorms are planning ragers

Full Minutes

Exec Updates

Eugenie (Underclassmen rep)
- Met with Mark and Heather for Stata food availability, they explained why there aren’t meal swipes/why it’s expensive - they think Stata is cheap (“all food on campus is cheap compared to other schools/off-campus food”) - students have the perception that it should be cheaper, and they feel like the price is already fair
- talked about sending out new survey
  - idea - could use meal swipes at Stata, but wouldn’t get whole value, e.g. $14-15
  - problem if people eat at Stata and not dining halls
  - “debt”
- they’re concerned because they’re already in debt, don’t want to spend even more money
- another survey question - how much do you normally buy
- need more options - people don’t eat lunch
- everyone is under a union, lots of constraints that make it complicated/expensive
Leo (Treasurer)
- will need to be collecting $ for apple-picking
- hopefully will just debit us - depends on SOLE
- otherwise, dorm presidents might get a form for people to sign
- SOLE is not giving DormCon their money
  - emailing daily asking “where’s the house tax???”
  - concerning
  - Ramon is out of office this week, so emails are not being answered (makes sense)
- will send out how much each dorm owes for apple-picking
  - everything is <$1500
  - you get $ into your dorm’s account however is convenient (e.g., cash deposit slip from SOLE)
- you take cash + the cash deposit slip to the Bank of America
  - “MIT doesn’t bank at the MIT Bank.” “That makes sense.”
- can also make a donation to the dorm (MIT Giving Page) - then treasurer is on the record of people who have given $ to MIT (you get mail from MIT saying you’re a big giver 😭)
- RFPs may be blocked - talk to Leo if this is causing problems
Felicity
- no updates
JudComm (Geoffrey and Tyler)
- no updates
- elections are in four weeks
  - will talk about whether there’s a GBM in two weeks
- prepare accordingly!! and advertise
  - CPW+REX chair (2), i3 rep (1), underclassmen rep (1)
Farin + Temkin (housing)
- Res Life meeting today
  - met with Helen and Tasha, interested in how students “communicating across differences” in dorms
  - want to start a working group around an infographic
    - want house teams to create “conversation documents”
    - where people should go in different domains
    - Temkin showed graph from 2021 with bubbles (from 8.01), about navigating the resources at MIT
      - very fancy bubble graph O.O
      - Navigating Resources at MIT
      - made in 2020 so maybe outdated - “issues with virtual learning”
    - looking for student input - they will follow up
- HRS meeting
  - McCormick renovations
    - issues with transition team (McCormick has also mentioned this)
    - survey closing
    - HRS wants to talk about other dorms will welcome women-only students (bathrooms, spaces, rooming processes)
  - talked about facilities issues
    - Next House elevator is struggling
    - laundry
      - push notification when a laundry goes down for 30 minutes
      - if someone unplugged the router
        
        “that’s never happened before”
    - how many facilities problems do they actually know about?
      - simmons elevators - how many times on their log has simmons elevator been down - 3 in the calendar year
        
        “I said ‘that’s funny.’” - temkin
  - personal wheels
    - BELIEVE IT OR NOT there’s not that much bike storage in dorms
    - grad students also complaining
    - want to put a shed by Tang and West Gate? moratorium is sad :(
      - David was so convinced there was a moratorium (Vice Provost for Space) - but this is a little bit secret?
    - guidelines aren’t very good, posters aren’t very good
    - they don’t want things Blocking Egress
  - at one point they invited fire department and smoked up a floor in EC :D so much excitement
    - to show people why not to block egresses
    - would dorms be interested? YEAH
      - “it’s like an escape room!” - ananda
    - Simmons, Baker, Next, Random, EC (next year), BC
  - student website will be out in the spring! will consolidate information!
Gabriel (Tech Chair)
- SIPB is cool with how-to-dormspam
- they called Gabriel Brandon in an email (???)
Daniel (Dining)
- dining will be part of joint website, including the menu 0.0
- meeting was cancelled due to the election >.<
- alternative to the metal green box program
  - they’re going hard
  - they’re maybe okay with extending return time
  - going to Increase Student Accountability, which will be Great For Everyone!
  - bento box + cup + silverware - all rented out
    - “usefull”
    - https://www.usefull.us/
  - it’s like a library book - if you don’t return in time, you get charged (fined)
    - can extend the initial return time
  - context - they lose hundreds of green boxes, and keep having to order more silverware also >.<
    - “who would steal forks?” “not me. not me. …well….”
  - the charges would be through usefull
    - and also gets charged through your credit card (have to have a credit card on file) - so not enormously easy to sign up
  - needs to be a lot of communication, if the sign-up process is not super intuitive, also means you have to have a credit card
    - credit card or debit card
    - some students won’t have compatible ones with US system, especially international students
  - each piece of ware is $16, so the charge can stack up
  - when will it be implemented?
    - they’re looking at how much it would cost to switch programs - no specific timeframe yet
    - they don’t want to use green boxes anymore
  - weeks, months, or years?
    - heather really wants it, but doesn’t know if her proposal will get approved
    - definitely no earlier than next semester, probably later than that
  - take-away is that green boxes are not sustainable, definitely moving to something like Usefull
    - they belong to bon appetit
  - ananda could see fun events at dining about the new program - new thing
    - otherwise will leave a sour taste in people’s mouths
    - people are salty about no more to-go cups, if they had done something with like reusable cups, people might have been happier, less abrupt and sad
    - makes people feel more positive about dining
    - Q+A or info session, if you argue it’s more sustainable, frame it positively (and explain why it happens)
    - “MIT is doing something cool for once”
  - concern about encouraging people to steal food?
    - benefit with green box - it’s so easy, hypothetically bringing a ziploc bag to dining
    - green boxes are more convenient than that
    - if you increase activation energy of borrowing food, encourage people to go around the system (bring their own Tupperware)
    - their response would be “we have people Watching”
    - people are going to steal food regardless
    - once you’ve made an account it’s as easy as a green box
    - “more convenient to have a Usefull box than a Ziploc bag full of chicken”
- difference between plate waste and overproduction (e.g., students throw away, vs. food that is never served)
  - trying to figure out where food waste is coming from
  - composting in CFY dorms
  - waste-watchers also exist
- Maseeh Dining will be closed next Monday
  - they’ll hopefully email to everyone, otherwise we’ll dormspam
  - they emailed dorm presidents asking us to email, doesn’t make sense, asked them to send their own emails please
- “transformational experience of being lied to”
- no update regarding Cnocord Market tour, no meeting this week, sad
- hopefully an 11/21 GBM with Concord Market
  - Mark hasn’t talked to Concord Market, had to cancel the meeting
  - Concord said “we can’t talk today.” 😭
- which dorms have compost bins
  - McCormick, Baker, Simmons have dining hall bins
  - Random has food waste bins
- MIT does not compost but they do something else exciting O.O
- Simmons and Random have them in lounges/kitches
- McCormick and Baker do not have them in lounges or kitchens, only in dining halls
Jordan (President)
- “pay your apple bills”
- met with Suzy et. al. last week
  - email to dining committee about the future of dining
    - let Jordan know if there are people suited to being on the dining working committee
  - MedLinks can’t give out medicine
    - Suzy is really sad about the election :((
    - will talk to MIT Medical about that
    - at training - it’s liability
    - lots of mental health training
    - holding liability over student health + wellbeing!!
    - much safer to have MedLinks give stuff out
    - MedLinks give things out “as friends”
      - but then the cost comes out of their pocket >.<
  - RPMs
    - Helen wants RPMs to “feel like a cohort” and do stuff
    - we’re having a dinner tomorrow at 4:30
      - I have a lab meeting :((
    - how to make the RPM program better?
      - talked to AD - thinks RPMs could be useful for life skills - sewing, cooking, how to remove a stain - sewing kits are cheap, RPM budget is low, low-budget but genuinely useful
        
        so true
      - giving RPMs something MedLink-like
        
        every RPM has a small sewing kit
        
        “I would fuck with an iron. Like for me.” -temkin
      - how to scour a pan
        
        …how to… wash… your dishes…
    - real benefit of RPMs is to exist in spaces where freshmen are
      - could work with GRAs more?
      - they supplement budget sometimes
      - underfunded program
      - $50 per RPM
    - they’re doing a social for all the RPMs
      - there was one in August
        
        I think I was in California?
- Concord Market GBM
  - tentatively planned on the 21st of November
  - unless someone would LOVE to host, will be in a classroom
    - BC could host if they want a host
    - will be in touch
    - BC is CFY, so residents might be interested
    - kind of central on dorm row, in a good spot
  - #1 question will be Prices. but last time they spoke, it was “who knows?”
    - asked about prices in a meeting - not clear if they’ll know
    - will be useful anyway
    - top thing to talk about when they come
    - dining chairs will follow up after the forum
    - dining chairs will have more legitimacy in asking about prices when it happens that Every Student asks

DSL Visiting Committee

MIT Corporation - every two years, they send members of the Corporation to Investigate every department at MIT O.O
- they have a lot of power and listen to constituents (...do they…?)
- from student life perspective, what do they want brought up to Committee?
  - jordan, ananda, temkin on student life, pres of IFC and PanHel, a GRA, Enoch
- what is going well in student life?
- what is not going well in student life?
- what would you change?
- PLEASURE has gone through a lot of administrators, long list of people who were in charge, only one person, bumped up # of trainings that PLEASURE educators do
  - twenty-six fraternities, all the sororities, sports teams, so much for one person
  - new advisor every semester, so much turn-over, everything is a mess, it’s like a full-time job to run all the trainings
  - they’re literally students
  - good that there’s peer education, but there isn’t enough administrative support to make an impact
  - the frats hate them >.< and the frat interfacing chair
  - really difficult and really important - lots of burden on students, better than hiring people (what MIT used to do) - didn’t deliver content that mattered to students, not in touch, need more support from an administrative side
  - Orientation also changing sex education program
  - PLEASURE under VPR, usually both advisors are VPR employees - there isn’t like a specific role - someone got transferred away from PLEASURE, moved to West Coast, still working at MIT, but reduced # of positions for advisors for PLEASURE (2 => 1, not enough with increased trainings)
  - technically 60 PLEASURE educators, actually like 25
  - get a lot of flack for not being able to meet deadlines - sometimes trainings get canceled (not enough educators)
- Slow decline of things that have been inherent to east side culture (murals, cats, toptionality, etc.)
  - Necessary to be reiterated
  - Between 50-90% of what you’re fighting for is what already exists and you’re just fighting for what’s already there
  - something MIT relies on heavily for PR and advertising to incoming students, shouldn’t keep taking it away
  - CPW and REX are exhausting, especially CPW
    - so much burden on students
    - should be fun to meet incoming students, difficult to do every year, at a bad time in the semester
    - day off of school would do wonders for student mental health, not just Marathon Monday
    - REX is less bad, but CPW is really hard for students
    - there was less time during this year’s REX
  - for REX and CPW both, the general point is that student contribution to making the Institute what it is should be valued
    - everything is a selling point, but behind the scenes, it’s a constant battle to let them happen
    - feeding early returns was a struggle for EC (and for Random)
  - what would make you feel more supported?
    - grace with classes could do a lot (for CPW stress)
    - meal swipes?
in general - as a student leader - what would make you feel more supported?
- twin mattresses for kids for CPW would be good - there are always problems
  - Admissions is buying a lot of air mattresses (lol)
  - making sure CPW kids have food is a struggle - not always real food, just boba etc.
- credit to Alan - VP before the VP before Ananda (“my grandfather”) - original creator of proposal
  - major actionable thing - RFP system should be overhauled
  - as Alan put it, RFP system is students making many interest-free loans to MIT to pay for things
  - Next and any dorm that has ever tried to get a card knows it’s very, very, very difficult
  - this goes into a broader point that oftentimes, admin puts a lot of unnecessary red tape (or yellow? no, red) around things we want to do
    - lowering the amount of red tape would be helpful
- meeting with SOLE
  - after poster incident - they hired someone to chaperone the UA (Connor)
    - “they hired me because of David Spicer”
  - there is someone in that office dedicated to actively support the actions of a student group
    - great that they took note of that, a lot of student government is students trying and yelling and hoping for the best, but could use more support
  - SOLE advisor?
    - “a bestie”
  - Someone who can advocate, when students are always expected to be the ones communicating
    - hiding behind student leaders - supposed to be the middle man
  - Connor is a powerhouse - getting the history committee a muraling space, and now the Stud is a muraling space
  - “we need to do something crazy on DormCon so they hire a babysitter for us”
  - Connor didn’t approve RFP for Gucci suits
- seconding the RFP thing
  - tax exemption is really hard, secretary didn’t know how to do tax exemption, losing $10 a week
  - people tipped a driver and lost the money (not on the receipt)
  - so frustrating to lose money on these things
  - so many things require so many hurdles and have to do them over and over
  - MIT as an organization makes some things really accessible, like the Atlas app, so easy to do complicated things - could be way easier
  - digital infrastructure is archaic
  - frustrating because it’s so time-consuming even to submit an RFP and get it approved
    - lol i have so many RFPs i’ve been procrastinating 😭
  - someone else was treasurer before, has floor reimbursements, treasurers are stuck filing a bunch of RFPs, everyone waits till the end to submit them (it’s me. i’m the problem.)
  - get AD to do bigger purchases - ADs get quicker access to p card
  - Buy2Pay is not intuitive, so confusing, no one uses it
    - designed for labs with a full-time administrative assistant
- things that are most difficult about student life are red tape
  - hoops and hurdles
  - RFPs, fighting for student culture
  - offices that are hiding behind student leaders for decisions - reliance on students to do things without support
  - +1 from Camila
    - admin proposed that the UA send out an email to all undergrads abt October 7th
  - we don’t know where the buck stops (?)
    - who has the power to change anything? if it were known? who do I go to, if there’s a committee that needs to be made, an individual administrator, knowing who possesses the power, knowing who to deal with
    - so much bureaucracy, https://orgchart.mit.edu/
  - +1 from Leo
    - I don’t want other dorms to have to escalate to House Manager’s boss’s boss to get showers fixed 😭
    - threatened to report HRS to city
  - last point - hesitant to characterize as red tape, makes it seem reasonable/justified, concerns are hoops and hurdles, obstacles, no safety concern
  - placing liability over student well-being is bad - it’s all liability, all ends up with MIT trying to shirk liability
    - passing difficulties onto students

Bike Racks/Personal Wheels

punted

“Shit’s Rough out here, in the world.” also president updates.

dorms are an important method of community support, with the election and everything else
a lot of students are not doing as well as they were last week
strategies to build community/support the community in dorms?
- East Campus
  - to initial question - weird because they don’t live together, not support avenues in same way
  - exec POV - relegated to house team
  - update-updates:
    - had a stranger come into Stud space, apparently the CAC knew and needed them to take a picture (?)
      - McCormick should be aware it’s a central space
      - rude when people come eat food and leave
    - figuring out who can move into the building when it reopens, figuring out how to make hall placement Not A Mess
    - met new housing manager, seems pretty chill
- MacGregor
  - community support
    - bunch of people had watch parties
    - usually hold discussions over dinner (what they did during David Spicer stuff)
    - figure out with house team
  - normal updates
    - bunch of stuff happened, main thing is last week was Halloween events on Halloween, trick-or-treating, costume costume, scavenger hunt, all fun :)
    - lots of decorations
    - next Saturday, having their MacRager (O.O) - “feel free to pull up”
      - 10pm - 1am at the MacGregor dining room
- New House
  - nothing in particular, did have watch parties
  - regular updates
    - working out sharing bike cage with Next House
    - trying to schedule meeting with HoH, hasn’t gotten back to David…
    - all otherwise fine
- Simmons
  - business as usual for normal updates
  - election-related
    - residential scholars (lots of journalists) held an election study break
    - everyone was stressed (tense)
    - blue flag in a lounge… someone put up a very large Trump flag, then an anonymous individuals put it in a trash bag and threw it away out back, people with flag emailed out, said to give it back or they’d report it, mailing list emailed back, said it was illegal in the first place, then they sent a pic back with a picture of them with a Trump flag
    - they’ve been putting new flags up and HRS has been taking them down
      - …rare win for the HRS flag policy??
    - 😭
    - associate HoH told Helen…
    - election watch party
    - AD put out snacks
- Random
  - Lots of free food from people baking etc
  - HOH event
    - New HOH is pretty popular
  - No concrete plans as exec re: election. People are close as a community
  - Everyone is a bit sad
  - Weird things with the water???
    - Water main went down, basement flooded, no water in the building, people were upset
      - The swipes they gave people didn’t work
    - Shut the water down again today to fix it for realsies
  - Talking about moderating the discord in a better way
- McCormick
  - election-related
    - s’mores on election night
    - taken a pause on celebratory things, open to community-building events, but nothing huge
    - trying to support people in the way they need
    - still in contact with HRS, community survey closes tomorrow
    - presidents planning to take people to see the Wicked movie, something people were asking for
    - DormCon rent a movie theater night
      - sounds of interest all around
- BC
  - election-related
    - we’ve had three dog study breaks, lots of dogs around the building
    - house team’s approach is dogs and cookies
    - “it’s been a really good approach”
    - at least 100 people went on one of the days, people are really there for the dogs
    - nothing directly election-related
    - general support going out
    - not going to be a dorm-wide discussion, but looking to support people, will see if people want to do discussion stuff
  - general
    - party + formal coming up rapidly
    - Burton brass plate, Connor brass plate, going to mount them on a wall somewhere
    - Seamus (house manager) is really cool - painted doors to match floor colors - did it all by hand - “he’s the best and I love him”
- Baker
  - general
    - piano ramp, in process the last few months
  - election
    - nothing has been said, no study breaks or anything
    - “Baker may be more complicated in terms of population, if you know what I mean”
    - meetings every Sunday if people want to come down and chat
  - supposed to talk about having space for McCormick residents?
    - lots of weird communication
    - they told them to ask dorms about it in the spring
    - dorms should “think about how it might work”
    - HRS is tossing it
    - based on most recent meeting - they’ve gotten rid of that idea, and Tang will have floors, especially for religious accomodation
    - expecting a majority of students to be ok with it?
    - trying to see if they can have another meeting with them?
    - no expectation of dorms to “free up a floor”
    - there’s a rumor that BC is freeing up a floor? people have been asking?
      - students are making that up
      - “actually, C5? C for McCormick!”
    - confidential for residents till they release an FAQ sheet?
    - if dorm could vaguely think about having women-only spaces
    - other thing - bathrooms - places where it would be possible to have women-only bathrooms?
      - mixed-gender halls with single-gender bathrooms
      - lots of complications - very different bathroom set-ups between floors?
    - might send a form to dorm presidents
  - conversations have been respectful - positive coexistence
- New Vassar
  - halloween event, ice skating
  - elections
    - haven’t done anything, probably won’t be
- Maseeh
  - cupcakes for birthday celebration
  - elections + constitution ratification at end of semester
- Next
  - AD pulled out a last-minute pizza and cheesy bread order
  - went from stressing in rooms to stressing on the first floor, Together.
  - next is running a next house rager in a bit more than 2 weeks
    - “MIT party culture is so bad”
  - Halloween event, costume contest, bike lottery, talking to New House about bike storage, elevators went from working => not working => working (as of yesterday)
    - “are you sure?” “yes.”
  - “old hydraulic stuff”
  - thanksgiving planning happening, grill half-broken, residents spamming every feedback form that exists

that’s dormcon. eom.

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

Full Minutes​

Exec Updates​

DSL Visiting Committee​

Bike Racks/Personal Wheels​

“Shit’s Rough out here, in the world.” also president updates.​