Getting Involved at McMaster: Part Six: Residence

"Getting Involved at McMaster: Part Six: Residence", August 2007.

You may find being in a large-scale club or team rather daunting, so perhaps getting involved in residence is more your thing. While at your new home on campus, there are plenty of ways to get involved within your own building. One of these ways will even pay you. Sound interesting? Read on…

The governing body in residence, the Inter-Residence Council, or IRC, is the voice of students who live in residence. The IRC’s objective is to assist communication between the residence student body, the University, and other organizations. The delegates of the IRC are upper-year students who live in residence and wish to improve the quality of life to students who live in res. Yes, I realize that you are not (yet) upper year students, but a proper introduction was in order.

The way a first year student can become involved is to join the Floor-Level Inter-Residence Council. FLIRCS encourage attendance and involvement in inter-residence, as well as in-hall activities, as well as attend bi-weekly meetings. FLIRCS are sub-divided into two categories, committee and spirit. Committee FLIRCS must be on at least one committee (Student Dining Committee, Facilities Committee, Budget Committee, or Ways and Means), and attend one IRC Proper meeting. Spirit FLIRCS promote in-hall events, assist with special promotions, and must attend one IRC Res-wide Programming meeting. Additionally, FLIRCS help plan the Res-Wide formal which takes in November, as well as create the Residence Yearbook. More information about becoming a FLIRC will be presented to you during your first floor meeting.

In a previous article, I mentioned the Maroons, the spirit group on campus. Once you become a member of the Maroons, you can campaign to be a Maroons Hall Rep for your building. Similar to a FLIRC, the Maroons Hall Rep also encourages participation and involvement, however; for the Maroons it is for a campus-wide scale. If you want more information, talk to a Maroon during Welcome Week (they will be wearing the Maroon jumpsuits…they are hard to miss).

And now what you were all waiting for…a way to get involved and get paid at the same time. In residence, there are door staff that work on weekend nights (Thursday to Saturday). Their job is to make sure no one is coming into the residence that does not live there. It is a straight forward job, and is for a few hours each week. More information about becoming door staff will also be presented to you during your first floor meeting.

Unfortunately, those are the only ways a first-year student can get involved in residence. However, early in the second term, you will be given information on how to become an IRC rep, a Community Advisor, a House Programming Advisor, or a Residence Welcome Week rep. Thus, being involved in the residence community does not need to stop after you finish first year.