Beginning this semester, individuals and student groups will be required to contact the Office of Residential Life and Housing Services or their Residential Coordinator in order to hold events and meetings in residence halls and commons rooms. If the space reservation process proves to be as painless and expedient as housing officials claim, it will make organizing and holding meetings easier, while reducing confusion between student organizations competing for meeting areas.
The primary goal of this policy is to efficiently manage meeting spaces on campus, and provide groups with the spaces best suited to their particular needs. Under the new plan, a club can formally reserve a residence hall commons room with the quad RC, or a meeting room with RLHS. Should another group request that same space, it could be matched with another commons room or open space on campus, thus avoiding confusion and the doublebooking of meeting areas.
The plan will further benefit students by increasing the community's interaction with RC's and other housing personnel. Residential officials will be in a much better position to provide advice and funding to groups when they are kept abreast of events and gatherings. By informing officials of events in advance, groups are much less likely to run into problems during their activities.
Finally, by asking groups to register for space, the university is planning to increase accountability. RLHS and quad RC's are responsible for representing the interests of the students residing in their residence halls, and should a group trash a commons area or make a great deal of noise, RC's and RA's will now be able to redress the problem.
It is important to note that the policy does not prevent students from holding impromptu events like barbeques or study groups. Students will be allowed to use campus spaces as before, but without registering, they do run the risk of having to defer to a group that has reserved that space.
The success of this policy is undoubtedly rooted in the ease with which legitimate groups and student activities are granted access to meeting spaces. If students are bogged down by bureaucracy, and are routed through several different locations to obtain approval, extracurricular life at Duke will be hindered more than it is helped. Housing and student officials have repeatedly stressed that reserving space through the new plan will not be time-consuming or difficult. Should this prove to indeed be the case, the new registration plan will be a strong success for RLHS.