The Residence Hall Association is planning a dog-sled race.

Winter Olympics, an annual event for RHA, will take place February 20-23.

The event is free for students and will include a dog-sled race, scavenger hunt and a closing semi-formal dance, among other events.

“It is a free event where you get hall points and a trophy if you win,” said Ashley Hoogstraten, sophomore elementary education major and vice president for diversity and programming.

The budget for this event will probably come around to about $500, Hoogstraten said.

The RHA budget for 2008 included funding for “Up All Nite,” a spring retreat at Camp New Hope, Casino Night and Winter Olympics.

The “Up All Night” party is tonight in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union from 8 p.m. until midnight. Prizes will be given. The event will feature a Battle of the Sexes contest.

The spring retreat will be held at Camp New Hope, located in Mattoon, from February 8-10.

“It [the Spring Retreat] is kind of like a booster, and helps the members of executive board try to finish strong,” said Jarrod Scherle, pre-engineering and physics sophomore and president of RHA . “We are trying to get all the executive board members to go and take back what they learned there.”

Casino night will take place sometime in February and will be similar to last year’s event, which featured Blackjack, Craps, Texas Hold’em, slot machines, impromptu wedding photos, make your own music video and a chocolate fountain.

The budget was voted on near the end and was unanimously approved.

Executive elections for next year will take place in the beginning of March.

The next meeting will be held in Stevenson Lobby on Jan. 17 in the lobby of the Lincoln-Stevenson-Douglas complex.

Fact Box: Tidbits from yesterday’s meeting

-According to Jody Stone of University Housing and Dining Services, there is a Martin Luther King march on campus on Jan. 21 and the residence hall GPA for this semester was 2.82 (the same as it was in Fall 2006).

-According to Mark Hudson, the Director of University Housing and Dining, there was a 15 percent increase from last year in the students that filled out the Early Bird Contract. 940 people filled it out this year.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7945 or at haholm@eiu.edu.