The Inter-Residence Hall Association will vote tonight on whether juice should be provided at every meal in residence hall dining centers.

If passed by parliament and approved by the Department of Residence, the juice bill will take effect in Fall 2001.

Towers Residence Association President Jonathon Weaver co-authored the bill that will increase room and board approximately $20 but will provide benefits for students who wish to have a broader selection of beverages.

“I drew up the bill after being continually frustrated by not having juice during the day at food service,” he said.

Carol Petersen, coordinator of residential dining, visited last week’s IRHA meeting when the juice bill was introduced. She said the Department of Residence had not anticipated students wanting more juice during their meals.

“We were not going to consider providing this because we didn’t want to raise room and board since it was going to go up anyway,” she said.

Petersen said they may have juice machines installed at every dining center to produce a “better standard product” instead of having the juices mixed together before every meal.

Since the Board of Regents decided to raise tuition, Weaver said the bill may endure a long debate at the meeting because some parliament members may not want their constituents’ room and board increased any higher.

“I think it’s going to be a rough passage,” he said. “It seems that everyone is in favor of having juice, but no one wants to pay any more for it.”

If the $20 increase is broken down, Weaver said it will end up costing students 5.8 cents per meal.

Weaver said he is disappointed with the Department of Residence because they never seem to take actions to improve food service quality.

“It’s kinda frustrating that the DOR is going to have to raise our room and board one way or another,” he said, “but I don’t understand why they don’t take the initiative to make dining service better.”

Weaver said if the bill passes through IRHA, it will be brought to the department, which will decide whether it will be developed into a policy next year.

“When we pass the resolution through IRHA, we as leaders are speaking on behalf of the students who want this policy changed,” he said. “The DOR’s job is to listen to its customer base and act appropriately — hopefully.”

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union.