How to be a Fifth-West Hall Chair --------------------------------- December 18th, 1997 Ed Olson (eolson) Sarah Rothberg (scrothie) I. About the Job ---------------- A hall chair's job is to be an agent for the hall. If the hall wants something, it is your job to make sure that that something happens. A hall chair has no actual authority; all expenses incurred by the hall chair must be appropriated by the hall at a hall meeting. [Suggestion: request an operating budget, perhaps $50, for miscellaneous expenses incurred as hall chair. This might cover getting photocopies, buying stamps, etc.] Responsibilities are varied, and will require a non-negligible amount of effort. Spearheading work efforts is necessary-- if there's a hall activity and something isn't getting done, it's your job to make sure it gets done (which usually means doing it yourself.) You also need to attend every housecom meeting. You also should maintain the set of hall archives (old EC constitutions and such.) What do you get out of it? You get the respect and admiration of your hall mates, plus the knowledge that your hall is putting together some fun events. II. Accounting -------------- The most important aspect of the job is to maintain an accurate and coherent log of expendatures and liabilities. I'm no accountant, but I'll give you a basic idea of what to do here: Locate the 5west ledger. It's a book in a binder with many pages of balance keeping. Peruse the pages, and it should be clear what you need to do! Go to the first empty page, label it with the year, term, and your name, and begin making entries. You should receive a check from the previous hall chair in the amount of the balance last recorded on the preceeding page. For every transaction that you generate (income or expense), add an entry consisting of a description, an amount, and the balance remaining after that transaction. That's pretty much it. An adivisable thing to do is to keep an additional list of liabilities, i.e., money that you've promised (for a party, for instance), but for which a payment has not yet been made. This is basically a budget. The list of liabilities does NOT affect the main ledger, but it will help you keep track of how much money you really have. After a liability has been realized as an actual expense, the liability should be checked off. III. Events ----------- Fifth-west is a great hall because we actually do things. But you already know that. Or do you? If it's the year 2050, you might not know what sort of crazy things took place on this hall. Try to keep the traditions going! Right Away: Hall Rush Customarily, this duty is pawned off on someone else. Costs usually about $100-$200. See the hall rush folder. Thursdays: Hall Feeds The hall chair and tutor alternate the responsibility for feeding the hall. This usually costs less than $20. Some favorites include: Samosas, ice cream, cookies, pasta, and anything homemade. We usually avoid pizza due to cost. Fall: IM Soccer We've customarily had a D league soccer team. Often another hall member will organize this. Birthdays/Punishment of PDA: Showering! Grab the offender and drag them into the shower. Turn shower on. 'nuff said. October/November: Toga Party Grab a sheet and wear it like a toga! It's held near the kitchen. Dancing, drinking, and fun for the whole dorm. Weekend before Thanksgiving: Semi-Formal Thanksgiving Dinner This is our hall's biggest event, and the one that will cause you the most grief. Every hall member and alum can invite one guest (non transferrable). See the How-To-Thanksgiving below. This is a big deal. Plan ahead. First real snowfall: Flames over New Jersey The first time enough snow falls in order to make a snowball from the snow on the ledge, you are required to provide spiked and plain cider. (The spiked cider should be set aflame briefly.) The story of "flames" should be recited by a hall elder. It goes something like this: The highways of New Jersey heat with the sun, and with the coming of snow, the snow steams on the hot asphalt, making the state look like it's on fire with billowing clouds of smoke. [Try to be a bit more colorful!] November: Deck the Halls Hall lights, wreaths, small christmas trees! Provide candy canes and egg-nog. (Students provide their own decorations.) Ignore regulations forbidding this! December: Secret Santas This is self explanatory, right? The chairs run it, and we usually set a spending cap of $10. Gifts are given over a period of a week, after which everyone has 3 chances to guess who their santa was. March: Kite Flying Kite flying on 6th West. Usually during spring picnic. March (week before Steer Roast): Spring Picnic Another reasonably big to-do, which will require some planning. Hamburgers, chips, soda, up on sixth west. Deserts should include chocolate covered strawberries. Hall Residents and alums may invite one friend (non transferrable). ???: Hall Croquet Here's a hall tradition we've lost track of, not sure of where it came from or what's involved. Improvise. Make something up and put it here. Spring: 5W/5E "Death From Above" party A GIANT party held in talbot brought to EC through the marriage of 5E and 5W. We've rented multiple sets of speakers to make this a dancing-intensive party. Alcohol is usually handled by 5E. End of Term: Room Wars When a room opens up, students may compete to move into it. Make SURE you coordinate with the housing chair (the Vice President of EC) before any moving takes place. Priorities are determined by how many terms someone has lived on the hall. In the event of a tie, the number of terms spent in a double is used (sophomores ONLY). If a tie still results, dice are thrown and the higher roll wins. There's a folder with all kinds of neat maps and lists of sizes of rooms and such. If people don't show up to room wars on time, they squat (they stay in the same room.) Once a room has been "won" it is permenant and no changes can take place. Encourage people to look at rooms the days preceeding the wars. Day of last final exam: Champagne Feed Come 5PM (or an hour or two after the last final exam), provide lots of champagne (in the past about 9 bottles), strawberries, bread (GOOD BREAD), and cheese. You should provide some non-alcoholic alternatives, of course! Last feed before finals: Hall Elections Hall elections occur by ballot. Usually two or three people run for hall chair as a slate. Two people seems to work best. Freshmen probably shouldn't run, since they don't know what's going on! Anytime: Hall Water fights Learn from our mistakes. We have two rules: student rooms are out-of-bounds, and no metal weapons are allowed. IV. How to do Thanksgiving Secure utensils, pots, pans, chairs, tables, and TALBOT, at least a month in advance. Send invitations to all alums. Jobs to delegate (of course, you have to pick up where other people fall short, plus hold people's hand as they attempt to cook for the first time): Turkeys (preparation, cooking, basting, and gravy) (2-3 people) Bread/Muffins (1 person) Pies (1 person) Other Desserts (2 people) Shopping (3 people. They usually help do other things too) Setup (4 people. Get good, reliable people.) Mashed Potatoes (2 people) Stuffing (2-3 people) Cleanup (4-5 people) Sweet Potatos/Yams (2 people) Veggies (1 person) Punch (1 person) [make jobs more verbose]