RHA elections begin Tuesday

Senior Eric Hafner enjoys standing up for students' rights and being the students' voice on campus.\n"I really have a passion for RHA and letting the organization and any other organization know what the students want," Hafner said.\nHafner, who currently serves as Willkie's Vice President of Programming, is running for president of the Residence Hall Association.\nRHA Elections for the 2003-2004 school year will take place Tuesday, March 4. Polls will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. in all residence halls.\nHe is running on the "Impact" ticket, along with juniors Kara Kosowski and Javier Zaragoza and sophomore Jon Greene. The group is running unopposed.\nKosowski, current president of Ashton, is running for Vice-president of RHA Internal Affairs. She was VP of Internal Affairs at Ashton during her sophomore year and says it's something she knows inside and out.\n"What I do now as Ashton president is get feedback from students on what they want to see and go to Board of Governors' meetings to present that information," she said.\nKosowski said the ticket wants to overhaul the RHA constitution.\n"My main individual goal for next year as VP of Internal Affairs is to completely revamp the constitution," Kosowski said.\nThe group also plans to broadcast President's Council meetings on TV, so students can see how their center presidents are voting. \nKosowski said the TV broadcasts will also help administrators see the impact RHA has.\nHafner, former president of Read, said he wants to increase RHA's visibility on campus.\n"One program is called 'Students for Students,' where we want to improve RHA relationships with other student organizations to make bonds stronger," Hafner said. "We want to get a monthly newsletter out to get people information about who we are."\nHe also is proposing a year-long rape awareness program, which includes putting more blue emergency lights on campus. \n"We want to help suggest places for better lighting, especially around the residence halls," Hafner said.\nGreene, current president of Wright Quad, is running for VP of Student Affairs.\nGreene said although each candidate on the ticket will have separate titles and specific responsibilities, they will all share a common objective.\n"We're really stressing that we each hold individual positions, but that we're all working for a central goal of getting the students' voices heard," Greene said.\nGreene said he wants the RHA position because he doesn't want to be just another student lost in the mix.\n"I started off early as a freshman, wanting to get involved and do my part to help make the experience that each student has here be the best one possible," Greene said.\nZaragoza is running for VP of Programming. He currently serves as Director of Campus Involvement. As director, he has tried to gain residence hall support for students to participate in various events, such as IU Sing and Little 500.\nHe has also built relationships between the IU Student Foundation and RHA and helped sponsor a number of events, such as Spirit of Sport and the Jill Behrman Run for the Endzone.\nAs VP of Programming, Zaragoza hopes to help spread diversity.\n"I want to explore diversity and immerse students into the wide variety of cultures that we represent, and help serve as a resource for all the residence hall students to put on quality programs, so that all students can experience things that are unique to the residence halls," Zaragoza said.\nDiversity awareness is the main reason he wants the position.\n"I'm Hispanic, and I'd like to make other students sensitive to the experience of knowing as well as giving them the experience to know how they relate to others on campus," he said.