GW Residence Hall Association

Requirements

Each Hall Council is required to host one event in their residence hall per month. This requirement may be different in months surrounding onboarding, examinations, and breaks.

In order to earn credit for hosting an event, the Hall Council Finance Chair must complete the Event Attendance form and indicate each Hall Council member who participated in the planning, promotion, and/or hosting of the event. The Event Tracking form should be completed after the event is over. If an event is a collaboration between multiple Hall Councils, the Finance Chair from each Hall Council should complete the form.

Note that the Event Tracking form is different from the Event Approval form. Hall Council members will not receive points for events unless the Event Tracking form is completed. 

Event Types

Pre-Planned vs. Original Events

A pre-planned Hall Council event is one based on a sample event provided by the Programming team. Each month, the Programming team provides a sample event, including suggested activities and supplies. Hall Councils may adapt pre-planned events as they see fit or host them exactly as provided.

An original event is one that is not based upon a sample event provided by the Programming team. Original events may be original ideas of the Hall Council or based on inspiration from another source.

Event Categories

Hall Council events generally fall into one or more of the following categories:

• Recreational: events meant to be fun and build community in your residence hall.

• Community Involvement: events that benefit a community besides GW students, such as GW staff or the broader DC community.

• Educational: events that seek to educate residents, such as watching a historical documentary, handing out pamphlets about recycling, or traveling to a museum.

• Advocacy: events that seek to improve the living conditions inside your residence hall, such as cleaning up trash, collecting compost, painting a mural, or making decorations.

Note that event types often overlap. Hall Councils are highly encouraged to host events that fall into more than one category.

Approvals

Hall Council events, including requests for funding, RHA-owned supply reservations, and promotional materials, must be approved in advance. 

Community Coordinator Collaboration

Hall Councils are required to communicate the details of their event with their Community Coordinator before submitting them for approval. Hall Councils are responsible for ensuring that their events do not conflict with any other CLRE programming going on in the building.

Basic Event Approval

All Hall Council events must be approved by the Programming team. To obtain approval, the Hall Council Programming Chair must complete the Event Approval form at least two weeks (14 days) prior to the event. If an event is a collaboration between multiple Hall Councils, the approval form need only be submitted once.

The Event Approval form requests the following information:

• Hall Councils (all that are involved with the event)

• Event name

• Event explanation (activities, goals, etc; be as thorough as possible)

• Timing (start date & time; end date & time)

• Event location (including if a space needs to be reserved)

• Expected participation

• Event type (pre-planned vs original; recreational, community involvement, educational, and/or advocacy)

• Collaboration (Community Coordinator; student or outside organizations)

When an event is approved, all Hall Council members and their Community Coordinator will receive a confirmation email. Hall Councils can also check their approval status via events.gwrha.com.

Catering & Online Orders

RHA provides funding for Hall Council events. This funding must be requested at the same time that an event is submitted for approval. To request funding, on the Event Approval form, select yes when asked “Will you need RHA to order any supplies or food”. As prompted on the next page, the Hall Council Finance Chair should make a copy of the Budget Request Template spreadsheet and fill it out according to the provided instructions. After completion, paste the link to the spreadsheet on the Event Approval form and submit it.

RHA-Owned Supplies

RHA owns a variety of supplies for events, including decorations, culinary machines (cotton candy, popcorn, snow cone), food supplies (paper and plastic plates, bowls, and cutlery), and more. The Hall Council Finance chair may reserve these supplies on a first-come, first-served basis via gwrha.com/supplies. For more information on the supply reservation process, see the supply reservation guide.

Promotional Materials

Hall Councils are encouraged to promote events by hanging posters, posting on social media, and requesting mention in their Community Coordinator’s newsletter. Most promotional materials, including posters and social media posts, must be approved by the Communications team. To obtain approval, the Hall Council Communications Chair must complete the Communications Approval form prior to publication. For more information on event promotion and communications approval, see the event promotion guide.

Hall Councils may not begin advertising their event until it is approved, even if the promotional material is already approved.

Approval Schedule

Each week, events, budgets, supply-requests, and promotional materials are reviewed by their respective teams on specific days and times. If a Hall Council requests approval after a designated review day/time, it will not be reviewed until the following day/time.

All submissions to the Event Approval form are reviewed by the Programming team. If a submission does not include a budget request, it will gain final approval when it is approved by the Programming team. Submissions to the Event Approval form that include a budget request are also reviewed by the Finance team. If a submission includes a budget request, it will gain final approval only once it has been approved by both the Programming and Finance teams.

Requests for RHA-owned supplies are automatically approved if the requested items are available.

Submissions to the Communications approval form are reviewed by the Communications team.