[Dorms] What Are We Doing For You?

[DormCon]

Hi Dorm Dwellers,

Some of you have expressed concern over the proposition mentioned in The 
Tech this past Tuesday about giving all undergraduates access to all of 
the undergraduate dormitories.  We would like to clarify a few things 
and bring you up to date on some of our other projects.

** Dorm Security **
We are working with the MIT Police to ensure better dorm security while 
preserving the welcoming and inclusive community atmosphere we enjoy 
today. Some of our ideas include:
-	Additional training for desk workers to ensure that they have the 
skills to more effectively protect our communities.
-	Stressing "Personal Responsibility" in so much as educating students 
about the dangers of leaving doors unlocked while no one is around to 
monitor who is walking through them.
-	Giving residents the resources to help safeguard and protect their 
community, for example, recognizing and dealing with people who might 
not belong.

The card access idea was brought up at a meeting as a way to allow 
non-resident students to access dorms without creating an undue burden 
on desk workers, however, we did not actively pursue it as a viable 
option after hearing most of our constituency would not support such an 
option.  If you have any ideas at all, please contact us. 
<dormcon-exec at mit.edu>

** Inter-Dorm Social Events **
We continue to fund large inter-dorm events.  We recently contributed 
$3000 toward "On the Red Carpet," an outstanding formal to which all 
dorm residents were invited. If you have ideas and want to improve 
inter-dorm community, please let us know.
<dormcon-exec at mit.edu>

** Improving Dorm Programming **
We recently reviewed the residence-based advising (RBA) program and are 
investigating ways to make it work even better for dorm residents 
currently in the program. The academic resource center (ARC) is quite 
willing to expand the program if another dormitory is interested, but 
does not plan to force it upon us.  If you have ideas on how to improve 
the program or implement the best aspects in other dorms, please let us 
know.  We are always looking to improve things.  <dormcon-exec at mit.edu>

** Planning Orientation **
DormCon plans a big chunk of orientation every year and we are looking 
for a few good people who want to help brainstorm and implement ways to 
better welcome freshmen to our community.  We will send more info out 
soon, but if you’ll be here over summer and want to make a big 
difference, please get in touch with us.  <dormcon-exec at mit.edu>

** JudComm **
DormCon is working hard to ensure that the Judicial process for our 
residents is as much student controlled as possible. The unique 
advantage of a student judicial board lies in its ability to influence 
the attitudes and subsequent behavior of other students through a 
formally constituted judicial mechanism.  There have been several recent 
incidents in which our functioning, trained, and highly professional 
Judicial Committee was not consulted or utilized.  We are your advocates 
and we are working to ensure that you are represented. We have a meeting 
scheduled with Bill Fischer next week, the new Associate Dean for 
Student Conduct. If any of you would like to attend, contribute ideas, 
or get involved please contact us.
<dormcon-judcomm-chair at mit.edu>

** i3 **
DormCon works with several MIT offices to produce the Guide to Residence 
Life and i3 CD, the CD of videos which introduces freshman to the 
different dormitories.  We always work hard to ensure that it accurately 
represents Dorm Life as best as it can.  If you have any ideas on how to 
make this better or how to better welcome freshman, please let us know.

DormCon is your representative, please use us and give us feedback.  We 
meet every other Thursday.  If you blanche yourself onto 
dormcon at mit.edu, you’ll get agendas, meeting minutes and much more.

Thanks much!

Your Friends from DormCon


* The Dormitory Council (DormCon) is MIT's student government body that 
represents all undergraduate dormitory residents.