New Member Information

New members often feel like they're in the dark when they first move to Escher. The FAQ page may help answer your questions, and the purpose of this page is to list all member responsibilities so you can rest easy knowing you haven't forgotten anything.

Your responsibilities as a member

This section lists things that are required from all members.

Urgent and recurring responsibilities

Here are the things you should know about right away:

1. Make sure you are on the house email list. If you have not been receiving any house emails, email the Secretary with your name, preferred email address, and room number.
2. The work survey is sent out at the beginning of the term. If you were not on the email list when the survey was sent you, you must contact the Work Manager to be assigned a shift.
3. Work is required from all members each week.
   1. House chores is a weekly three-hour shift you must work. Make sure you are on the work schedule. Contact the Work Manager with any questions.
   2. Suite chores are also required each week. Your Suite Manager will assign a task to you (or allow you to choose one). This will be something like vacuuming the hallways, wiping down the kitchen surfaces, or getting the mail. Make sure your Suite Manager knows who you are (you can find their email here), and that you have been assigned a suite chore.
   3. Bathroom cleaning. Everyone cleans their bathroom a few times each semester at Escher. Inside the bathroom closest to your room, you will find a bathroom cleaning sign-up sheet. Write your name in at least four spaces on this sheet, making sure not to sign up for consecutive weeks (members should take turns cleaning each week).

Intermittent responsibilities

• Work Holiday occurs once each semester, near the beginning of the term. You are required to sign up for Work Holiday or complete four hours of work at a later date if you are unavailable.

Cooperative behavior

This section lists cooperative things you can do that don't have hard-and-fast rules, but go a long way towards making Escher an awesome co-op.

• Attend house meetings. Make sure your voice is represented in the house by attending house meetings, participating in discussions, and voting!
• Attend officer meetings. While some officer meeting discussions must necessarily be private, you are welcome to attend the regular officer meetings that occur twice a month. Each of these meetings will have a Member Time period where you can raise concerns directly with a room full of officers.
• Explore and contribute to this wiki, and the Escher Member Drive.
• Aim for sustainability.
  • Use cloth towels rather than paper towels whenever possible.
  • Take food scraps to the compost bins in the O'Keeffe Dining Room or Renaissance Dining Room during the warmer months when composting is underway.
  • Turn off lights in empty rooms.
  • Get to know other members with cars and try to carpool.

Possibilities

This section lists optional things you can do to be more involved at Escher.

• Write a proposal to change something at Escher.
• Organize a social event. Contact the Social Chair for help -- we have house funds set aside for social events, and the Social Chair can also help spread the word about your event.