RHA to hold election for association's leader

---

Tweet

The Residence Halls Association, or RHA, will decide who will retain or relinquish the organization’s top spot Wednesday night.

RHA, MSU’s on-campus student government, will hold its presidential elections at 7 p.m. in Van Hoosen Hall.

The three candidates — RHA President Emma Perot, Vice President Chelsea Satkowiak and McDonel Hall representative Ryan Starski — each will begin by reading a 10-minute speech, said Melissa Hackett, RHA’s director of public relations and advertising.

Each candidate was nominated during a General Assembly meeting and submitted a letter of intent accepting the nomination and a brief statement about their goals, Hackett said. The statements can be viewed on RHA’s Web site, rha.msu.edu, she said.

“These elections are important to campus because the RHA president serves as the main voice of on-campus students,” Hackett said. “Administrators go to the RHA president because he or she represents a unified voice.”

The speech will be followed by a period where any tax-paying member of RHA will be able to ask the candidates questions, Perot said. There is no time limit, she said.

“Last year, I was questioned for an hour,” Perot said. “The other two candidates were questioned for an hour and a half and two hours.”

She said the meeting then will move into closed session where assembly members will debate which candidate to elect. Candidates must be elected by a two-thirds majority vote.

“Whoever chairs the meeting — usually the chief of staff — calls on (a member) and they have a chance to speak,” Perot said.

There is no set order, but Perot said each member has two opportunities to speak for 10 minutes.

“Last year, we finished at 3 a.m. and started at 7 p.m.,” Perot said.

Hackett said students should participate in the meeting because RHA handles many on-campus functions such as concerts and residence hall concerns. The narrower scope provides a focused voice, she said.

“When ASMSU chairs are elected, they are representing all of the undergraduate student body,” Hackett said. “This is more on-campus.”

Sociology senior Allison Stephen said she has been happy with the way RHA has handled its resources in the past.

“I like the movie office and campus movies,” said Stephen, a resident of Mason Hall. “They brought Will Ferrell, and I liked that.”

She said the only thing she wanted more of was recognizable musical performers.

“I would like more concerts,” Stephen said. “It would be nice to see some more well-known, bigger bands.”

---