Members of the Inter-Residence Hall Association called for a brief recess to aid their hoarse voices after more than an hour and a half of tense discussion with ISU administrators about the closing of Wallace and Wilson halls Thursday.

IRHA President Drew Larson asked why students weren’t involved in the decision process of finding places to save money in the Department of Residence.

Interim residence director Todd Holcomb said if administration would have discussed the possibility of closing the halls openly with students, he didn’t know how to then keep it from custodians and other staff.

“We were trying not to repeat the experience that we had last year in Helser Hall, to be quite honest,” Holcomb said. “Last year we received not only a lot of complaints from students on how we handled Helser, but also from our own employees internally in our organization.”

Holcomb said the administration’s goal was to announce the closing of Wallace and Wilson halls eight months in advance to give students and employees adequate time to discuss options for the future, as well as inform everyone at the same time.

IRHA members also offered suggestions to save money in other areas and for next year, including eliminating the Fresh Start Program, offering incentives for students who live in the residence halls for more than a year and creating living communities for upper-division students that offer fewer rules and authority to compete with off-campus housing.

Holcomb said officials are considering freezing rates for students who have lived in the residence halls for a certain number of years if they are willing to return.

“If someone wants to stay, we need to let them stay,” he said.

Holcomb said his plan was to work toward increased enrollment and to find ways to increase retention in the residence halls.

“I hope we won’t have to close any more buildings, but I won’t rule it out for the future,” Holcomb said.