After a bill unanimously passed at the Inter-Residence Hall Association’s last meeting, the director of academic affairs position is now open to anyone interested in applying. Sponsored by the three association presidents, the bill suspended the IRHA bylaws due to a stipulation that the director of academic affairs must belong to The Order of Rose and Chessman, a residence hall honor society. Since few residence hall students were interested in filling the open seat, the presidents said they could find a qualified person by suspending the bylaws. “I really think that you should never hire someone because they’re the only applicant,” said Jonathon Weaver, Towers Residence Hall Association president. “It is in my opinion that ORC should not be the main focus of this position.” The director of academic affairs and the Academic Affairs committee are in charge of selecting new members for ORC and the “Of the Year Awards,” which include resident assistants, outstanding students and residence hall houses. IRHA President Paul Duncan supported the current bylaws. “I agree with the stipulation in the bylaws as it stands,” he said. “I believe it is in their best interest that they belong to ORC.” Parliament members also passed a bill that would help bring the National Affiliate of Colleges and University Residence Halls 2004 to Iowa State. The bill would allow the director of conferences to organize a committee to prepare a bid to have the event at Iowa State. NACURH helps participants design plans and goals for academic excellence in residence halls. Iowa State hosted the first NACURH conference in 1954 and will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2004, Weaver said at Thursday’s meeting. Rick Cordaro, Union Drive Association president, sponsored the bill and said if the bill passed, it would help bring NACURH back to Iowa State. “It’s to prepare for the conference, and it’ll open up the process to many people,” he said. Director of Conferences Sarah Gross supported the bill. She said making a conference bid takes a lot of time and effort because it is an elaborate process. “A bid is usually a packet about ISU and what we would want to do with [NACURH]. If we want to host it in 2004, we have to start now,” she said. “If we’re serious about this, I think we can do it. I’m willing to put forth the effort.” Parliament members also unanimously passed a bill seating the Internal Affairs committee and another bill was introduced that would create a storage policy recommendations committee. Department of Residence officials asked IRHA for suggestions on the storage policy and Chris Knight, Richardson Court Association at-large, asked the parliament to seriously consider the bill. “I’ve been working really hard and asking people what they think of [the storage policy],” Knight said. “They hate it. I have a feeling that the student population will respect us of what we will do.” Once the bill is passed, the committee will have three weeks to report its findings to parliament and later to the Department of Residence.