Who We Are

The Residence Hall Association welcomes you home by uplifting your individual identities and inviting you into the American University community. We represent and advocate for the rights, enjoyable campus experience, and wellbeing of all resident students; provide programming to benefit residents; and strive to build a greater sense of community among all students at AU.

The Residence Hall Association contains three sections that represent and serve the student-wide residential community: the Executive Board; Hall Councils; and the General Assembly.

Our Purpose

The RHA serves to create a unified point of communication between residential students and the larger university community. We serve as a forum for exchanging ideas, issues, and opinions of the undergraduate student residential community. We also seek to organize, implement, and promote quality activities, educational and social programs, and useful services for the residence halls. The organization is notorious for promoting community engagement through sponsorships and programs to benefit undergraduate student residents.

Responsibilities

Executive Board

The executive branch of the Residence Hall Association, as a whole, decide all matters relating to the management of the RHA areas not specifically delegated to individual Executive Board members, the Legislative Branch, or the hall councils.

All Executive Board members work towards the mission and purpose of the RHA, implementing the policies of the President and the General Assembly. Each member additionally attends Executive Board meetings, transition successors appropriately, and complete other duties as assigned by the President or by the General Assembly.

Hall Councils

Hall councils are their own elected government respective to each residential community. They manage financial operations, programming, and advocacy to their designated on-campus housing hall.

General Assembly

The General Assembly has multiple legislative powers and responsibilities to ensure that advocacy initiatives and executive processes are conducted appropriately in the RHA. In doing so, the organization can best serve American University's residential community to fulfill its mission and purpose.

Some powers of the General Assembly are, but do not exclude: establishing advocacy initiatives; making financial allocations; establishing both educational and social programming; creating standing and select committees; and confirming appointments.