Three years ago, in April 2014, the NYU Abu Dhabi General Assembly moved to have a referendum on whether Hall Council should become part of Student Government. Two weeks ago, the same question, albeit this time referring to Inter-Residence Hall Council, was raised on IdeaScale, an internal platform that NYUAD students use to introduce and vote on ideas related to student affairs.

Both initiatives shared concerns about Hall Council’s — now IRHC — lack of accountability, potentially inadequate student representation and the separation of roles between Hall Council and Student Government. Now, however, IRHC is a fundamentally different body from what Hall Council was during the last semester in Sama Tower. Hall Council has expanded, from one body with representatives from each of the residential floors in Sama Tower, to three hall councils, each representing a residential college, and united under IRHC.

In 2014, then President of Hall Council Laura Evans and the Global Vice President Benjamin Jance argued that the mission of Hall Council and the forthcoming IRHC was to provide feedback on residential policy as well as organize events. A policy and advocacy committee was included in the structure of Sama Tower’s Hall Council. However, Hall Council’s policy making capacity did not roll over into IRHC. This week, President of Inter-Residence Hall Council, Ghaniba Ali, refuted perceived notions that IRHC was involved in policy making or policy revision.

“This year, it’s been about programming and doing events that bring everyone together,” said Ali.

Dylan Maurer, Residential College Director for A6, and advisor for IRHC agreed with Ali. “When IRHC was created, the idea was that it would be a feedback and policy-making body. In practice it has not been that [since the move to Saadiyat],” said Maurer.

With IRHC no longer involved in formulating or developing residential policies, Residential Education has been able to garner student feedback only after a policy has been implemented. Feedback mechanisms exist, according to Audrey Kajumbula, Director of Residential Education, but no avenues for students to be involved in the creation of policy are currently present or utilised.

“The only way we might get a sense of what’s happening is if someone reaches out and tells us,” said Kajumbula.

One avenue that does exist for the review and feedback provision of Res Ed policy is the Campus Life Policy Committee. Kelly Murphy, Class of 2018 representative and member of this committee, argued that it was underutilized by Res Ed.

“I feel like the Campus Life Policy Committee isn’t used very well, it’s just student initiatives, rather than the departments in Campus Life consulting this body for student feedback because a lot of the time Res Ed will just do something, and then people will get upset and then it’s a retroactive process to figure out what’s going on, which isn’t super helpful,” said Murphy.

Sjur Hamre, Class of 2018 and originator of the IdeaScale post also alluded to a lack of student involvement in decision-making within Res Ed.

“I strongly believe that the most effective way to ensure that the student voice is represented vis-à-vis Res Ed is to establish a Student Government Residential Life Committee that is run by students, subject to the Student Constitution, and overseen by the Student Government,” wrote Hamre in his IdeaScale post.

This suggestion has received strong support from students, both on the IdeaScale post itself as well as in the General Assembly of April 2. There, Vice President Maitha AlMemari, Class of 2018, suggested that Res Ed should have its own committee, separate from the Campus Life Policy Committee. This suggestion was echoed by Officer of Communications Hafsa Ahmed, Class of 2020.

Maurer was skeptical of how much this body would be able to achieve, adding, “I think it’s also important to note that there are some things that students will not be able to shape and that is the structure of a university.”

Despite this, student committees exist for Athletics, Campus Life, Commencement, Dining, the Library, Health and Wellness, the Undergraduate Curriculum and the Writing Program.

Moving forward, Student Government, IRHC and Res Ed will meet to discuss their separate roles.

“We’re hoping to have a conversation, and it’ll become really clear,” said Murphy. “Because it seems like ... IRHC is events and planning and Student Government is more [about] representing student voices to the administration, but whether the staff and administration recognise that as well is a different thing.”