Government of the Student Body President-elect Andy Tofilon and Vice President-elect Charlie Johnson addressed the parliament at the Inter-Residence Hall Association meeting Thursday.

Johnson said he and Tofilon were thankful for IRHA’s support during the GSB elections and asked parliament members to prepare to help lobby the Iowa Legislature about the pending budget cuts.

Tofilon said appropriations do not look good for Iowa State’s future. “This is only the beginning; we could be looking at a 20 percent tuition increase next year,” he said. “We have our backs against a wall. We will be coordinating strictly with IRHA to get students’ voices out against this.”

Richardson Court Association President Andy Walling said IRHA needs to prepare themselves for the fight ahead.

“If we were so irresponsible to our constituents as the Iowa Legislature is to us, we would lose our jobs,” he said. “This cut is going to drastically, negatively change our lives. We need to get on the ball and take action against this.”

Also at the meeting, Union Drive Association At-Large David Boike introduced a bill to implement the USA Today Readership Program in the residence halls. The cost of the program relies on how many days the papers are available, which will be added to the 2001-02 room and board.

Newspapers delivered between Monday and Friday will cost $10 per semester, whereas the cost for Sunday through Monday will be $17 per semester. Boike said IRHA is considering USA Today, the Des Moines Register, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune or the Ames Tribune for the four final newspapers.

He also recommended the finance committee look over the budget proposal after he double checked some of the numbers.

“The math was not working; we would have ended up $3,000 in the whole,” Boike said. “They tried to correct it, and it was still wrong.”

The updated budget proposal will be ready for next week’s meeting.