As the founding Ponderosa Commons President, I’m well-known for being critical of UBC Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) and their inaction when it comes to dealing with residents and their residence associations. This letter, however, is directed at the very organization that I was part of –- the Residence Hall Association (RHA).
The RHA is the student association that represents the residents of all SHHS-operated residences. It’s composed of respective residence council presidents and an executive team of four elected residents. Our councils’ and executive board’s purpose is twofold: to be the unified voice for residents at UBC, and to promote social interaction by putting on events for those residents. As such, we receive a pretty generous budget from SHHS based on the number of residents in each respective residence. That budget is often referred to as “residents’ money” collected from SHHS revenue, and is always advised by SHHS staff to be spent in the best interests of the residents.
So, what’s the problem? I believe the UBC RHA spends too much time and money celebrating themselves, instead of putting more effort into making UBC residences a better place to live.
While councils spend the majority of their money on events, a lot of money from each residence council is fed back to the RHA. This is so that they can send a select few of its many council members to residence hall conferences across the United States three times a year (NACURH, PACURH, and No Frills). Put another way, roughly $23,000+ of “residents’ money” per year is put towards giving approximately ten residence council members and execs a free trip to places like North Dakota or California to indulge in seminars, boardrooms and pep rallies that have given very little back to the residents of UBC.
In my three years within the RHA, no one came back from a conference and relayed what they had learned during their time away. Many were instead more inclined to tell stories about the fun they had at glow-in-the-dark mini golf, social dances or exchanging branded merchandise with other councils.
Another big theme in the RHA is self-recognition –- so much so that there is an entire national conference dedicated to it. The No Frills Conference focuses on writing pleas for awards months beforehand in hopes that the UBC RHA is recognized at a national level. However, even if they win any awards, it brings nothing back to residents -– just a pat on the back for being a good council member, or facilitating a really cool water balloon fight. This single conference costs the RHA more time and money than most singular events their members put on. Heck, they do this internal bid writing process all year, and recognize one another for their efforts by writing page-long essays every month, all for a shoutout on Facebook.
During my time as President of the Ponderosa Commons Residence Association, I was always told to make sure the budget is spent in the best interest of my residents -– yet I never understood why conferences were the exception to this guideline. I’ve sat in RHA meetings where we argued that we didn’t have enough money for big exciting inter-council events, and as a result, we’d have to scale back spending on said event. Yet no one (besides me) has ever stood up to say that the RHA shouldn’t be funnelling over $23,000 into conferences that do not directly benefit residents. The RHA, while being essentially a student-funded organization like the AMS, operates more like a self-indulgent social club that is more concerned with having a weekend away in Delaware, as opposed to putting on a great collaborative event that hundreds, potentially thousands, of residents could enjoy.
Residents are getting virtually no return on their monetary investment, and are instead facilitating flights and accommodations to conferences that no other RHA in Canada attends.
The RHA puts on some awesome events, and has made great strides in advocating for its residents -– but I never wanted to be PCRA President so that I could write bids to convince myself how great we are, or so I could have an all-expenses-paid trip to Pomona, California. I urge this year’s RHA executive committee to seriously reconsider whose interests they have been elected for –- their residents, or their own.
Jake Mullan is the former Ponderosa Commons Residence Association President and a recent UBC graduate.