Nate Taucher and Phil De Koster plan to introduce themselves Thursday as the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s new president and vice president.

They will face a newly reorganized parliament and continued maintenance of their relationships with the Department of Residence and ISU Dining.

Taucher, sophomore in computer engineering, and De Koster, junior in sociology, were elected in IRHA’s general elections April 6.

A primary goal of their slate is to continue to strengthen IRHA’s relationship with the Department of Residence.

“They’re both very competent and very capable,” said former IRHA Vice President Carl Carlson. “I definitely foresee a continued dialogue with the Department of Residence and an expansion upon that. I am 100 percent certain that that will not just continue, but grow. They’re not going to screw up.”

IRHA interacts with the Department of Residence in many decisions it makes. The two bodies recently collaborated to revitalize the Fresh Start Program. The decision was eventually made to do away with the program, said Drew Larson, former IRHA president.

“I think IRHA has a fairly good relationship with the DOR,” he said.

“There’s a start to build a better relationship with dining.”

Taucher said he believes relations with ISU Dining will be key in establishing a better relationship with the Department of Residence in general.

“We’ve had some good discussion with Jon Lewis [director of campus dining], and I think that’s something we will be pursuing,” Taucher said.

Taucher said he and De Koster were paired together because of their similar interest in residence hall government.

“I really hadn’t worked with Phil before. He had a really good reputation with the Veishea task force,” he said.

“I am really excited to work with him.”

In this transition of leadership, Taucher and De Koster said they were happy to be succeeding Larson and Carlson.

“Drew and Carl have brought the organization far, and I think we can pick up where they left off and keep running with that ball,” De Koster said.

Although the positions of president and vice president have many similarities, Carlson said, there are distinct differences between the two.

“The president’s direction is more of goal-setting and all that,” he said.

“I always thought of the president as the visionary and the vice president is the guy that gets it done. I think that under the new president and vice president, they’ll probably both share the visionary aspect.”

Ross Kelderman, IRHA election commissioner, said he thinks the presidential and vice presidential positions will be more important next year.

“Nate and Phil are the voice of the residence hall students in general,” Kelderman said.