Residence Affairs Committee Meeting

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

ATTENDANCE

Present: Dana, Zahabiya, Matthew, Lexi, Renee, Mustafa 
Regrets: Andrea, Kevin, Chef Eddy, Kenneth, Namita

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) 
  • Chestnut Residence Council – Dana to give update provided by Anika (SLPC) 
    • The President resigned.  
    • And the CRC will not be active the rest of the term due to funding concerns 
    • The Chief Returning Officer for the CRC election has been hired. We will hopefully have a new CRC exec before exams.    
  • Food Services – Mustafa (joined late, Dana shared notes) 
    • And Questions can be sent to resdiningmgr@utoronto.ca 
    • March & April events 
      • Mar 22 
        • Ramadan special meal program begins 
        • Steak night 
      • Mar 26
        • Prime rib dinner 
      • Mar 29  
        • March birthday cake 
        • Rib night 
      • Apr 7 Good Friday
        • campus retail locations will be closed 
      • Apr 9 
        • Easter lunch 
        • Prime rib dinner 
      • Apr 12 
        • National Grilled Cheese Day – grilled cheese and tomato soup combo for $8 
        • Breakfast for dinner – chicken & waffles, salmon benedicts, French toast, vegan tostadas 
      • Apr 16
        • Prime rib dinner 
      • Apr 26
        • April birthday cake 
      • Apr 28
        • dinner is the last meal in the dining hall of term.  
  • Housekeeping & Rooms – Andrea (absent) 
    • Urban Lounge chairs were reupholstered.  
  • Urban Crew – Renee  
    • Urban Lounge is typically good 
    • Chairs look really good 
    • There have not been many events lately, maybe exams. 
    • Exam Jam day planning is underway 
  • Don – Lexi 
    • Rubaina absent  
    • One thing brought up among students and heard by many Dons, students are running out of meal plan dollars. Happens every year, but look into this closer in future especially due to the concerns at previous meetings. Would also like to hear feedback about how to help students if students need assistance with food. Looking at programs where students who have high balance could transfer to students who need a top up. I have seen that students are only getting coffee and not eating as much, and Dining Hall cashiers mentioning how many students are low balance.  
      • From Mustafa: CRA guidelines are strict on who can use a meal plan, intended for a single individual, cannot be shared. We recognize that some students run out and others have money leftover but as U of T employees, it is important for us to follow CRA guidelines. To facilitate any sharing, that would not be possible.  
        • Lexi: with this is mind, could there be a QR code at the cash register for someone to pass on a meal and put the funds into a pool of donated funds. Even an idea for the future.  
      • From Dana: Tbucks can be used in the dining hall as well as meal plan dollars; meal plan dollars can be added by contacting RLO and the charges go on to ACORN to be paid later 
      • From Zahabiya: Students can reach out to their registrars for financial support for groceries 
        • Share this all in the Don chat to remind students of resources 
      • Question for Renee/Urban Crew – was using the UL for camera club on weekend and had keys from Security to get into AV box, looked like some cables and remotes were missing or stored elsewhere.  
        • From Renee: usually HDMI cable is attached to the AV box, but I will look into this.  
  • Admin & Finance – Kevin 
  • Building Operations – Matthew 
    • We have slowly been moving through the PTAC cleaning in the evenings. 
    • Over the past couple of weeks, we have been doing room inspections to make maintenance plans and minor maintenance in advance of summer + work orders in StarRez – this will keep going for the next couple of weeks. 
    • Work in the rooms will not take place during exams, unless in an emergency.  
    • Repeated damages on 14^th floor 
  • Residence Life – Dana & Zahabiya  
    • Summer residence applications are live, early bird deadline is March 31. Offers started late last week.  
    • Returner residence applications are live, we won’t be responding and making offers until early April. 
    • Move Out information live on the website, and the first email from RLO was sent to students. Move out 48 hrs after last exam or by 12noon on Sat Apr 29. 
      • Late extensions not available this year beyond Apr 29  
        • Only exception is for Eng students with an exam on Apr 29 (move out by Apr 30) or on Apr 30 (move out by May 1) 
      • Would like to really encourage students to ensure they plan in advance for cleaning their rooms and removing belongings. Trying to source donation bins (Trek 4 Teens falling through) as students will be charged a cleaning fee for items left behind. (From Housekeeping as well!) 
    • Don hiring done, the offers have gone out 
    • RLO pop up: 2^nd week of April, handing out de-stress goody bags and encouragement for exams 
    • April 1 – Exam Jam in Urban Lounge, 12pm-12am, games, yoga, therapy dogs, pizza 
    • Don Room Checks on April 30 after move out. 
• Optional, Kenneth or Namita 

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION ITEMS

• None.

NEXT MEETING

• This is the final meeting of the year 
  • However, if any pressing discussion items come up, reach out to dana.burke@utoronto.ca who can facilitate another meeting or email discussion 
• In 23-24 the meetings will resume in-person to add back the element of networking and socialization. 
• Thank you to all who participated in RAC 22-23!