Residence Affairs Committee Meeting

Meeting Held on MS Teams from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

ATTENDANCE

Present: Dana, Mustafa, Rubaina, Zahabiya, Matthew, Andrea, Renee, Jeffrey
Regrets: Kevin, Namita, Kenneth, Bhavisa, Shelina, Chef Eddy

GENERAL UPDATES

• New member: Jeffrey Bruyea, Director, Retail and Residence Dining; joined U of T 6 months ago, but previously worked at Western and another in the US.  
• 2022-2023 Chestnut Residence Survey Presentation (by Dana) 
  • Survey not linked within these minutes, but if anyone wants to ask specific questions please contact Dana at dana.burke@utoronto.ca  
  • Comments on the presentation: 
    • Don feedback – should we consolidate and share at team meetings, is there anything we can bring to the other dons? Lexi & Rubaina can share it; but Zahabiya and Jessie will receive more detailed info and will take the lead on sharing further.  
    • Jeff – how many people filled out the survey? 252 completed in full (30% of our residents); more started the survey but didn’t complete  
    • The detailed results for each area will be sent to each supervisor by end of this week.  

Department/Area updates

• Department/Area updates – each representative to share any trends, issues, upcoming events or projects to note (may need to keep brief depending on time left after presentation) 
  • Residence Life – Dana & Zahabiya  
    • Don Hiring Update 
      • Ongoing, majority of the month is focused on hiring the Don team for next year. 
      • Held the Carousel interviews this past weekend, many thanks to all those who assisted. 
      • Hiring continues through remainder of Feb and into  March.  
    • Res Life Office hosted a Valentine’s Day Pop Up today at 8:30-9:30am/ 12:30-1:30pm. Feel like these were successful times that suit both RLO staff working hours + when residents are here. Today we handed out chocolates and valentine’s/self-love themed stickers by a local artist. 
    • Summer residence application will go live on Friday February 17, website has been updated with all details such as fees, dates, etc.  
• Admin & Finance – Kevin (absent) 
• Food Services – Mustafa 
  • This past Feb we have had events: 
    • Pub night last week  
    • Special app menu for the Superbowl which was popular this past Sun. 
    • Yesterday, Dietician was in Dining Hall for Q&A over dinner time;  there is a video in the Chestnut Chatter (Fri Feb 10 issue) as a resource. 
    • Today, Valentines Day – selling Lindor chocolates in the Dining Hall 
    • Feb 16 will be rib night, typical BBQ + jackfruit ribs 
    • Feb 22, Birthday Cake day 
  • Dining Hall has reduced hours for Reading Week, 7am-8pm only. 
• Housekeeping & Rooms – Andrea  
  • Nothing to report today. 
• Building Operations – Matthew  
  • Today the enclosure from the entrance was removed. Work here is mostly completed. Some finishing touches (painting) still needed.  
  • Always working through the work orders.  
• Urban Crew – Renee  
  • Everything is going well 
  • Many events scheduled this week for Valentines and next week fo reading week.  
  • The ping pong table broke in half yesterday (Matthew will look at this today). Rough playing, might have landed on it while planning.  
    • Dons can send out some reminders about respecting the equipment if needed.  
• Don – Lexi, Rubaina 
  • Dons were helping with the Don hiring this past weekend. Everyone has had our floor meetings, students have heard about the upcoming events here at Chestnut and around campus, informed everyone about not moving the furniture in the common rooms, etc.  
  • Straightforward recently.  
• Chestnut Residence Council – Bhavisa, Shelina (absent) 
  • Anika (Student Life Programs Coordinator in the Res Life Office) shared the following before the meeting: The CRC is ironing out some fiscal issues from last year. They hope to run some more events in the coming month and to run an election for the new exec before exams.   
• Optional, Kenneth or Namita – absent 

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION ITEMS

• None.

NEXT MEETING

• Wednesday, March 22, 2023, 2:00-3:00PM (last meeting for this year, however if there are any major discussion items, a supplementary meeting can be called – contact Dana, dana.burke@utoronto.ca)