Staff Editorial: The RHA exception

The past two years have not brought good tidings for students in university housing. The shortage of beds has become more acute, and ever-greater numbers of juniors and seniors will be denied the convenience and social advantages that come with living on the campus.

Given that situation, housing priority is undoubtedly the most sensitive issue for students on the campus. It is also the most sensitive issue for those who represent those students - the Residence Hall Association. As it stands, the students who occupy the top eight leadership positions in the RHA are all but guaranteed a place to live on the campus. These RHA leaders are not the only exception to the rule: Resident Assistants, upperclassmen who are varsity athletes and students in certain living-learning programs also receive guaranteed on-campus housing. Given the RHA's representative function, though, its exception is rather questionable.

The reasons given to justify the exception, while seemingly reasonable, simply do not hold enough water. One expressed by RHA President Sumner Handy is the claim that it would be unfair to limit the pool of candidates for RHA leadership to those who receive on-campus housing. The simple fact is that the demographic of students receiving housing on the campus is changing. It consists in great proportion of freshmen and sophomores, and the RHA leadership ought to reflect this reality, even if its positions are filled by elections. Even if this deters certain individuals from running for office in the RHA, it is a necessary sacrifice to have leaders be drawn directly from the pool of those they represent. There are undoubtedly many students capable of doing a fine job representing their peers among those who are awarded on-campus housing.

The possibility that there are those who would run for RHA leadership solely to receive a guarantee of housing must also be considered. It is probably true that existing RHA leaders would be able to detect this sort of motivation in members of the organization. Nevertheless, the fact that it is possible is a difficult perception to shake off.

Ultimately, eight spots guaranteed to upperclassmen are statistically inconsequential. But where representation is concerned, appearances are often just as, if not more, important than reality. If it appears the leaders of the RHA receive preferential treatment because of their status, it is likely to decrease the organization's ability to represent students. At the same time, students are likely to become more cynical about the RHA, even if its intentions are noble. The individuals in leadership are simply not indispensable enough to justify such a unique exception.