IRHA to discuss vote on room and board

Jill Pearson

The Inter-Residence Hall Association will be voting on a bill making it harder to pass room and board increases during its meeting tonight.IRHA Vice President Steve Skutnik said the bill is up for questioning and discussion by the parliament, and he is not sure how the parliament will react to it. Skutnik said the bill proposes changing room and board increase approval from a simple majority vote to a two-thirds vote among all the members. Parliament members choose to accept or reject proposed increases for the residence halls before they are included in the Department of Residence’s Terms and Conditions.”I really don’t know what will happen; there were mixed reactions to it,” Skutnik said.Bill author Andy Walling, Richardson Court Association president, said he doesn’t think the bill will have difficulty passing.”To be completely honest, I don’t think there will be too much trouble with the bill besides specific wording,” he said. “The discussion should be interesting because people are leery after all the discussion of the tuition increase. This is the biggest discussion over a bylaw.”Walling also said a two-thirds vote would ensure that the issue being voted on is something students want.”It is especially important when we are talking about raising room and board after a tuition hike, that the overwhelming majority approves the hike in fees rather than the simple majority as it is now,” he said.Three new bills also dealing with bylaw amendments will be presented tonight, Skutnik said. They were written collaboratively by the Internal Affairs committee.IRHA meets tonight at 7 in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union.