Hawthorn Court residents will soon have a government voice after they elect their representatives next week.

Applications for representative positions are due at the end of this week in 4117 Hawthorn Court.

Mary Beth Golemo, apartment community director for Hawthorn Court, said the election will be on Dec. 7. She said student government experience would be helpful but is not required to fulfill the representative duties.

“It would be ideal to have some leadership experience because this is the first council ever,” she said. “If someone has the time and the interest and wants to be involved — those are excellent qualifications.”

According to the application, students must be residents of Hawthorn Court and have a grade point average of 2.0 or higher to run for a position.

Kurt Larson, 4232 Hawthorn Court, said he hopes a lot of students apply, but he said it may be difficult to publicize themselves to residents since there are restrictions on campaigning.

“They can’t really campaign; they can only put their campaign on a full-size piece of paper,” said Larson, sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication. “People are going to vote on what you say you’re going to do or what your reason is for running because, for the most part, people don’t know the candidates.”

Larson, who was involved in the creation of the Hawthorn Community Council constitution, said a representative from each building cluster and two at-large positions will be elected.

“For the government, there will be some big issues, such as parking, and there has been some talk about certain equipment out here like picnic tables,” he said.

Hawthorn Court residents approved the Community Council 96-35 earlier this semester. The council will resemble a city council-type government instead of the traditional residence hall government.

Residents voted down Inter-Residence Hall Association representation in August. Larson said most Hawthorn Court residents wanted a more low-key form of representation since this is Hawthorn’s first try at a community government.

“When we tried to pass the first constitution, it didn’t go over well,” he said. “We changed that and went more toward a council. We’re not going to have a president or any executive positions; it’s more a simple type of government.”

Applications can be picked up at 4117 Hawthorn Court between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and are due at 5 p.m. Friday.