IRHA approves raise in room-and-board vote

Jill Pearson

The Inter-Residence Hall Association passed a bill which requiring parliament to pass room and board increases by a two-thirds majority vote.The parliament voted to change the bill from a simple majority vote to two-thirds by a vote of 21-1-2 at their meeting.After making some adjustments to the original parliament bill written by Richardson Court Association President Andy Walling, the group discussed whether it should be changed to read three-fifths or stay at two-thirds.Tony Luken, Towers Residence Association at-large suggested the change to three-fifths.”I agree in principal with the bill, but it leaves certain reservations because two-thirds is too high,” he said. “We don’t need that much more than a majority, so I propose to amend the bill by replacing two-thirds with three-fifths.”In response, Walling said that he wished the bill to remain as written.”Two-thirds is what I want; that is why I wrote the bill that way,” he said. “It is precedented in other parliamentary aspects.”Walling said the vote was a good move because it will help IRHA know the constituents are firmly behind them in a two-thirds vote.Parliament also introduced three new bylaw bills from the Internal Affairs committee during new business.