Structure of the Russian House

1. Two Co-Presidents will be elected for a term of one year. The responsibilities of the Co-Presidents include: organizing the house events, taking care of the Russian Club SFC budget and the Russian House Dean of Students budget, supervising the weekly Russian Tea, publicizing the house events, and working with the faculty advisor to the Russian House. An optional position of Treasurer can be created to relieve some of the responsibilities of the two Co-Presidents. In this case, the responsibilities of the Treasurer will be the Russian Club SFC budget and the Russian House Dean of Students budget.

2. The Constitution can be updated by the house presidents upon the request of the residents, but only with the consent of the faculty advisor.

3. Before accepting a space in the House, every applicant will have to read a copy of the
Constitution and agree to comply with the rules and responsibilities described therein.

4. The faculty advisor to the Russian House, upon consultation with the Deans office, can require a resident to move out if the resident does not contribute to the house or fails to follow the house policies.

Rights of the Residents

Admission policy:

1. People who want to learn about Russian culture through its language are encouraged to apply to the Russian House. The faculty advisor to the House makes the final decisions on acceptance to the House.

2. Once students have been accepted to the house, the room draw order is then determined by a point system which, in contrast to the general room draw, is based on two considerations: the number of semesters each person has spent at Amherst as a student (or the class standing for transfer students), and the number of semesters each person has lived in and contributed to the Russian House.

The number of semesters at Amherst College = 1 point / semester
The number of semesters in the Russian House = 1 point / semester
(or semesters abroad in a Russian speaking country after entering Amherst)

3. Normally there is a limit of two years of residency in a theme house, but students who have already lived in the Russian House for two years may apply to stay longer. They will be accepted last, after all the other applicants, if there are rooms available. The regular point system or room draw will apply for these students except that the points for semesters in the Russian House cannot exceed 4.

4. If two people have the same number of points, a coin (or kopek) will be flipped.

5. If a student (not a freshman) moves in during the middle of a semester (fall or spring), this student will receive one point for that semester for room draw for the following year. Normally, first-semester freshmen do not live in theme housing; exceptions are rare. If a freshman does move in during the middle of first semester, however this semester will not count in the room draw.

6. The RC of the house can pick any room in the house ahead of both the Russian and the
German House residents, regardless of how many points the RC has in the room draw.

7. Each year the faculty advisors will determine the floor distribution between the two houses in consultation with the Dean's office.

8. If some residents move out after first semester, the new residents will be assigned the vacant rooms according to the same point system. The residents already in the house cannot move to the vacated rooms mid-way through the year to better their room situation. If there is still a vacant room after the beginning of the second semester, the decision about its occupancy will be made by the faculty advisor and the co-presidents of the house.

9. Any other special cases not mentioned here will be dealt with by the faculty advisor and the co-presidents of the house.

=> The Russian House residents can use anything that is in the kitchen (kitchen utensils), the fridge (food left over from a house event or Russian Tea), the VCR cabinet (RC keeps the key for the cabinet). Non-perishables bought for Russian Tea and Club events are not for personal use by the residents. These supplies will be kept by the house presidents.

Responsibilities of the Residents!

1. The residents of the Russian House are automatically members of the Russian Club.

2. Russian House residents are expected to attend house meetings for the purpose of organizing
house events or scheduling semester events.

3. The residents are expected to speak Russian with each other in the house as much as possible and to take advantage of the presence of the native speakers. Residents should try to start conversations with each other in Russian first, even if later they have to switch to English. Native speakers and advanced language students should take some initiative, particularly with residents more hesitant about their speaking skills.

4. During the year the Russian Club sponsors events pertaining to Russian culture in Porter House.
Whenever the House is co-sponsoring an event with the Russian Club, the residents are expected to participate in the preparation of the event.

5. Every Thursday evening the Russian House has Russian Tea, at which Russian will be spoken and which the residents are expected to attend. According to a schedule posted by the co-presidents of the house, each resident must set up and clean up three or four times each semester. Everyone should check the schedule ahead of time and switch with someone else if he/she cannot set up and clean up that particular week. The house has a certain budget for these events; the weekly allotment cannot be exceeded. Residents are encouraged to invite Russian-speaking friends to tea. The Co-Presidents of the House will publicize the Tea every week and notify the faculty.

6. The residents are also expected to attend the weekly Russian table in Valentine as often as possible to have an extra opportunity to practice the language.