Elections GBM Spring 2025

Date: 01 May 2025
Location: 4-163
Attendees:

note

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

TL;DR (will be created after the meeting)

• Elected Positions
  • President/Vice President: Temkin/Farin
  • Housing Chair: Daniel + Haylea
  • Dining Chair: Jackson + Eugenie
  • Treasurer: Gabriel
  • Underclassmen Rep: Andrew
  • Secretary: Paola
  • Tech Chair: Camila
  • Judcomm Chair: Helena + Michaela

Full minutes

• DormCon Intent to Run (Spring '25) (Responses)
• Intent to Run (in person):
  • President/Vice President: Daniel (1), Geoffrey (1), Temkin (1), Farin (1, presumably?)
  • Housing Chair (2): Haylea (1), Jackson (1)
  • Dining Chair (2): Daniel (2), Eugenie (1)
  • Treasurer
  • Underclassmen Rep
  • Secretary
  • Tech Chair
  • Judcomm Chair (<=2)
• Quorum
  • Dorms present:
    • Baker - y
    • BC - n
    • EC - y
    • MacGregor - n, now y
    • Maseeh - n
    • McCormick - y
    • New House - y
    • New Vassar - y
    • Next - n
    • Random - y
    • Simmons - y
  • good enough for quorum
• Elections listed above; will run till Spring 2026
  • Each election will have:
    • nominations
    • platforms (60s for everything except Pres/VP, which is 90s)
    • questions from dorm presidents + general exec
    • questions from everyone (until none remaining or 5 minutes, 10 for pres/vp)
    • candidates go out in the hall, deliberations, and at any point, chamber can ask if we’re ready to vote, no objections => start voting
    • vote, then if no majority, run-off election with top two candidates
    • dorm presidents have votes according to # of undergrads in their dorm

President/VP Election

• Daniel only wants to be considered for VP, Geoffrey, Temkin, and Farin will be considered for both positions
• Platforms:
  • Geoffrey
    • thinks the major general thing to tackle is student engagement in issues and student transparency, not just looking at by default, admin sucks, but more specifically what we can do better as DormCon, in these advocacy issues, so that students don’t hear about things when they’re being implemented/enforced, have more of a say in implementations/negotations, students don’t feel like student gov is important, physical manifestation is that not many people are running for many positions, want to change culture around student advocacy, be less of an in-group, so every student can be a student advocate
  • Daniel
    • agrees with everything Geoffrey says
    • starts from ground-up with events we run, field day, getting our name out there, letting students know DormCon exists and has direct contact with admin, want to stress to admin that these things are important, stress REX is important, want to exist within campus culture
    • wants to support presidents of dorms, students in general, can fit that well and uniquely
  • Temkin
    • has been in DormCon since freshmen fall, has seen many changes happen
    • housing chair every other week, lots of issues that could have gone differently if not involved, wants to keep this running/enhance it, has gotten to know most of us
    • wants to have policy of being open, anyone can talk to them, has been known to barge into admin’s offices
    • hopes to help us all out
  • Farin
    • been in DormCon for 2 years, was CPW/REX chair, was Housing Chair with Temkin, cares a lot about the dorms, and the students, open to being president or VP
    • agrees with Geoffrey, needs to be more engagement in student gov, what we do is super cool, get to talk to admin, avenues for change, wants to see more people in DormCon, have a lot of people leaving :(, need to fill up
• Questions
  • Jordan - how would you handle a disagreement with an administrator which they simply won’t budge on?
    • Farin - has happened quite a bit, most recently rooves, tap pad access
      • part of job as student leader is to see exactly where line is, communicate to other students, HRS wasn’t communicating to students directly, told them students were really worried, that they needed to address
    • Temkin
      • agrees roof thing was something they wrestled with with admin
      • REX and blackout times, other things admin doesn’t want to budge on
      • once there’s a problem identified, working with them to find a solution
      • if it’s about putting a slot in the middle of REX, or pushing HRS to have town halls of students, show HRS that their solution won’t work
    • Daniel
      • working on creative solutions, once identified where line is, how to go to where the boundaries of the problem are
      • solutions that aren’t just how things have been done or a band-aid, some new solution
      • remember people are just people with jobs, many of them want to just go home at the end of the day knowing they’ve kept students safe, want to communicate we want the same thing
    • Geoffrey
      • all previous answers were great, to not repeat, knows when he’s worked on undergrad issues, big thing that seems less on the collaborative side, but also important, is increasing the leverage in negotiations, like actually involving more stakeholders and people who might be affected by changes being implemented
      • easy to just say no, say change will affect these people in this way, but important to actually portray directly that the change will affect *me* in this way, *my* undergraduate experience
      • issue isn’t just between DormCon and HRS, between DormCon, HRS, and the whole student body, which is a piece of the puzzle that’s missing
  • Ananda - how have previous experiences in previous student leadership prepared you, how have you grown from them, what’s been most helpful?
    • Temkin
      • on this campus, there’s so many opportunities to do something, hard to narrow down, frequent culprit
      • has served many roles in DormCon, out of DormCon, CPW chair, going to office the day before CPW is going to start and asking them to please not cancel 70 events 5 days before it’s going to start
      • agrees with brining in external stakeholders, everything affects so many people
      • dorms aren’t just where you live, it’s also where you meet people, have personal experience, not just current residents but also everyone who’s lived there in the past
    • Farin
      • has also done lots of exploration on campus, doesn’t do everything but has tried almost everything
      • has given lots of perspective, really enjoys learning about people, the things they enjoy
      • has enjoyed student gov a lot, has learned a lot about issues facing students, can use that in DormCon meetings, or with HRS, etc., thinks all that experience has given familiarity and comfort when talking to admin; start to realize how admin sees things, what they’re trying to accomplish
    • Geoffrey
      • increasing engagement/transparency in policy processes
      • because was JudComm chair, and has been on many working groups, has seen how different organizations have enacted changes, e.g., changing of open campus policy at start of freshman year
      • catalyst to major shift was broader engagement of entire community on this issue to change levers, the position of admin on this policy changed, big success
      • even from something as small as being in a student group/org, communicating with SOLE, when can’t reach agreement 1:1, bring in faculty advisor, general thesis of answers is bringing in advocacy strategies from outside DormCon
    • Daniel
      • has worn many hats, Dining Chair, CPW/REX chair, briefly part of ASA, has interacted with Housing through EC reopening committee - well-rounded view of division of student life infrastructure, how things work differently, everyone works differently
      • taking everyone as an individual, having connections built up
  • Jackson - are there any specific issues you’d prioritize as president?
    • Daniel
      • has had experience in dining, not end-all-be-all, high-level dining committee will be impactful, but DormCon will be focused on REX, rooftop access, etc., things that affect every student, housing will be very important, housing is going through lots of changes, not already someone dealing with it
    • Temkin
      • something spoken about a lot is “shared governance,” but it’s not working the way they say it has been… decisions they “make together” as a community - but really it’s just faculty and staff, wants to ensure student representation at a lot of these tables, people need to be in the room, sometimes students just Aren’t… there’s so many students - can be easy to negate a stakeholder in a process
      • is a Course 11, where they talk a lot about stakeholders, someone talked to every single business owner on a street about how to change the street
      • sometimes you just have to talk to people, students aren’t talked to, things happen, we should be there
    • Farin
      • shares these goals of increasing student representation
      • wants to make student rep more representative, it’s a small group of people who gets involved, hasn’t seen initiatives to address this systemically
      • as DormCon President or VP, things happen - hard to say what major challenges will be - wants to feel confident that past experiences will help address things that come up, so being flexible is very important
      • lots of interest in increasing student rep, happy to see
    • Geoffrey
      • going to be quirky and attack the premise of the question
      • pretty common trap for people running for leader positions to say “I’m going to solve this issue, attack this issue” for entire year - while that’s definitely nice and appealing when trying to win a student-body-wide election, in the long term, it’s a thing where issues start and stop when people are there to pick them up
      • focusing on continuity of issues we’re attacking/advocating for is much more important, making progress on one thing in one year, imagine what we could do in 2 years, in reality, student administrators know advocacy is a very deliberative process, if you start something one year, unlikely it’ll be finished by the end of the academic year, want admin to see DormCon as a continuous body that will attack things for more than a year
  • Gabriel - what role do you see the UA in in the bigger picture, collaborations with DormCon, how do you see the UA?
    • Geoffrey
      • another party in lots of issues we face, roofdecks don’t only face undergrad events, REX doesn’t just have dorm events, also club events, etc.
      • in some issues, UA is relevant party, increasing engagement and # of stakeholders, looking to people who have co-jurisdiction over issues, having a united front because for a lot of administrators on contentious issues, not having DormCon and UA on united front weakens position
    • Daniel
      • also on UA
      • DormCon and UA are going to want to go on different paths sometimes, that’s okay, should show admin strongest front, bring UA in on things, might be disagreements
    • Temkin
      • on council, hopefully for not much longer
      • DormCon has a specific goal, student life in dorms, lots of expertise on that, advocate on that very well, but there’s so many things, and we as a group can’t do it all
      • can involve others in our discussion/loop them in, on the shuttle committee, piloting a shuttle between MIT and Harvard, has been working on it all semester, it’s an undergrad issue, should get other people involved, affects everyone
    • Farin
      • UA is undergrad association - students who want to get involved in government will end up at the UA, it’s a big thing for funding stuff, etc., DormCon also does a good job with advocacy, can expand influence, work on things that touch people outside of just dorms, lots of people on DormCon that do things outside of just dorms, good experience being on DormCon, but UA is also important (big and Seen on campus), the more communication, etc. that we have can bring more people in

Housing Chair

• Geoffrey, Daniel, Haylea, and Jackson
• Platforms
  • Geoffrey
    • spoke a lot on last one, wants to reiterate, would apply all those points as housing chair
  • Daniel
    • also yapped a lot - also thinks housing will be a big deal
  • Haylea
    • new to DormCon, not new to student gov, dorm issues, if had to quit every extracurricular, couldn’t quit dorm gov, coming to Boston from rural town was hard, and finding a dorm was instrumental in making MIT great, a big part of that is student autonomy, everything has mattered a lot to a lot of people, wants to sway people in a way that helps students
  • Jackson
    • President of Simmons, has already realized that HRS and Housing have an important impact on students, especially in discussions over roof access, has been involved in discussions over that for Simmons, important to see where people are coming from, be able to compromise, might not be able to change minds, but there’s openness on several aspects of restrictions, able to negotiate on specifics + bring in students to give feedback + advocate
• Questions
  • Camila - relationship with admin? how do you deal with issues?
    • Jackson
      • talked on this a little, important to really look at their perspective, see the gap between student and admin perspective, might not be able to get option everyone is happy with, but can maybe get one everyone is at least somewhat happy with, house chairs proposed buddy system for rooves, being able to think of alternate solutions, and being willing to compromise, getting student feedback
    • Haylea
      • a lot of it is being creative
      • has worked more with DSL
      • on HoH committee, done a lot with floor government + BC exec, not as much experience with general admin, has worked with other large groups, what they can do with their jobs, what we can do with what we’re advocating for
  • Ananda - ranking of positions?
    • Geoffrey - might run for Dining, nothing else
    • Daniel - first choice
    • Haylea - first choice
    • Jackson - first choice

Dining Chair

• Eugenie and Jackson
• Platforms
  • Eugenie
    • looking to continue what she’s done as UC rep, has done lots of dining stuff, talked with dining admin, wants to work with them, wants to have bigger role in DormCon, dining aligns
  • Jackson
    • haven’t done a lot of work with admin specifically on dining, experience negotiating on housing issues, will see things from their perspective, think of alternate solutions, reach compromises, will work well as co-chairs, since co-presidents of Simmons, on dining-specific point, will complement well on negotiations
• Questions
  • Gabriel - How do you see dining halls and CFY communities co-existing?
    • Eugenie - “don’t they already co-exist?”
  • How to divide attention?
    • important to reach out to people in CFY dorms about their needs, since both of them are in a dining dorm
    • even though CFY dorms don’t tend to have dining/kitchen chairs, will try to stay in touch with presidents
    • has wanted to bring unity between dining chairs, reps from dorms, surprised there wasn’t a committee that met regularly, something students care a lot about, would bring students closer to admin

Treasurer

• Gabriel Gomez
• Platform
  • not that much of a platform, has experience within MacGregor’s house gov (VP), did lots of stuff for CPW+REX, and some stuff with their constitution, has worked a few times with financial systems, not that much treasurer experience, but willing to learn
• Questions
  • Leo - financial experience?
    • some was approving RFPs, most was from MacGregor’s ski trip (Buy2Pay) - >$6000
  • Gabriel - how to choose food for DormCon meetings?
    • will ask our opinions!
  • Temkin - merch?
    • not for treasurer to decide, “will support with the money part”

Underclassman Rep

• Andrew
• Platform
  • is a 28, has been coming to some GBMs for a few weeks :), appreciates how much DormCon does behind the scenes to make lives better, or big changes, wants to be involved with it, has no experience in leadership, but could learn some things
• Questions
  • Geoffrey - who brought you to first DormCon meeting and why?
    • Eugenie for free food
    • has heard about the ongoings of student government, Eugenie rants a lot

Tech Chair

• Camila
• Platform
  • Baker’s president and Baker’s webmaster, no more Google Sites this summer
  • is a 6-3!!
• Questions
  • Temkin - favorite distro?
    • booted Chromebook in Ubuntu (??) and it broke it?

Secretary

• no secretary no transparency >.<
• Paola
  • likes my notes :DDDD
  • WPM is 80-90 - pretty good!! honestly mine is pretty bad!!

JudComm

• Helena, Ananthb (mystery MacGregor resident)? Michaela
• Platforms
  • Generally thinks voting systems at MIT, esp at clubs and student govs, has suboptimal voting algorithms, prefers 2 party system, when people have to choose, votes can be wasted, have to use consistent voting algorithm, have to switch from one choice to ranked choice and combine every possible pairwise candidates
    • SO TRUE
    • this is the Condorcet method
  • Helena
    • was not prepared and can’t top that, relevant experience, was a Maseeh justice and helped amend constitution twice!!
  • Michaela
    • no platform, has been coming to DormCon since freshman fall, when wasn’t president, helped write New Vassar constitution O.O
• Questions
  • Jackson - would be willing to continually/regularly look at Constitution and make sure it’s up-to-date
    • mystery phone person - yes?
    • Helena - has helped amend Maseeh’s constitution twice, way they were operating was unconstitutional (so true…), made constitution match most efficient way to operate, representing residents
    • Ananth (over the phone) - amended how MacGregor’s voting system works
    • Michaela - yes
  • Jordan - opinion on DormCon outside constitutional minutia
    • Michaela - DormCon does a lot of great work, especially dining chairs, have taken a lot of feedback, implemented what people are thinking, housing, etc.
    • Ananth - only really familiar with CPW and REX and field day, given funding relative to UA and thinks DormCon does, thinks we’re more efficient than other student orgs, should investigate some of the UA’s procedures
    • Helena - since being Maseeh president, has participated in DormCon meetings, not always the most vocal, but for topics she’s passionate about, tries to voice those things, and could do the same for JudComm, representing student body and not just personal views