Candidates for the Residence Hall Association’s upcoming executive board elections for 2003-’04 will be facing the fire this Sunday.

RHA is holding a forum in the Stevenson Towers North’s Multipurpose Room at 9 p.m. Sunday to enable the residents of the halls to question the candidates.

“[The candidates] have to love RHA, really want to do their positions specifically and not just be on the e-board and really love NIU too,” said Sarah Cooper, RHA public relations officer.

Cooper will be present at the forum and plans to ask questions toward the end if something needs to be answered.

She said she would like to see students ask questions like “what is the purpose of RHA and the role of the Believing In Culture [Committee] in RHA?”

This is the first time such a forum is being held, RHA President Alex Underwood said.

Underwood said it was important for students to ask specific questions about qualities they would like to see in the candidates and ask about their strengths and weaknesses.

“Last year, everything happened at the election night and the meeting went for nine hours to elect the current board,” Underwood said.

The candidates will have two minutes to introduce themselves at each hall council.

Two representatives from each floor of the residence halls will cast votes for each of the seven positions at Hall Council on March 25th.

Residence halls are required to have at least one representative at the forum and will receive Hall of the Year points for attending. Failure of representation can result in a suspension of voting rights, freezing the budget and probation for the halls, Underwood said.

With 10 nominees contesting for seven positions, the positions of programming vice president, treasurer, national/Illinois communications coordinator and secretary are uncontested.

However, the residents have an option of voting no-confidence in a candidate.

At elections, write-in candidates who have not been nominated are allowed to run for the positions. Underwood advised that students who plan on being written in also attend the forum.

“They have to get their name out there to be known by all the floor representatives,” Underwood said.