Hawthorn Court residents voted Tuesday against becoming a part of the Inter-Resident Hall Association. As a result of the vote, Tom Plagge and Chris Benson will no longer serve as IRHA president and vice president. “It was disappointing,” said Plagge, senior in physics. “We were looking forward to doing our jobs, and we had a lot of ideas for IRHA.” Benson agreed with Plagge, but said he was glad the vote was over. “I was eager to get the vote past us so we could get our work done,” said Benson, senior in animal science. “Now [because of the results], I just have a lot of free time.” The vote was close with students voting 172 to 151 to oppose student government in Hawthorn Court. About 37 percent of the 868 students living in the apartments participated in the vote. Hawthorn Court resident Steve Medanic counted the votes after the poll stations closed at 5 p.m., and said he was happy with voter turnout. “The voter turnout was really amazing,” said Medanic, senior in physics. “I think that they voiced their opinion justly and didn’t want to be a part of IRHA.” As a result of the elections, Plagge and Benson will step down, and according to the IRHA Constitution, the finance director will succeed to the presidential seat. Paul Duncan, junior in transportation and logistics, will officially be seated as finance director at the IRHA meeting Thursday, and shortly after will become president. Duncan was unavailable for comment Tuesday night. It will be Duncan’s job to look for a new vice president and finance director. “[The election results] should make things at IRHA real interesting in the next few weeks,” Medanic said. Plagge and Benson will run Thursday’s meeting as usual and oversee the appointment of all of the seats. Once that is completed, they will step down and Duncan will run the rest of the meeting. “Chris and I will stick around for the next few meetings to ensure that the transition will go smoothly,” Plagge said. Both Plagge and Benson expressed confidence in Duncan and said he would do a good job. “Our finance director is extremely capable and has plenty of IRHA experience,” Benson said. As for the future of Hawthorn Court, Plagge said he hopes students will change their minds about government representation. “For now, it means that they still don’t have a voice in student government. Hopefully there will be a new constitution and election sometime in the future,” he said. Benson said there could be bumpy roads in Hawthorn Court’s future if there are any issues that arise from the students that they want expressed to the Department of Residence. Due to the election results, Hawthorn Court will not have a Government of the Student Body representative either. The apartments will remain listed as alternative housing under the Department of Residence and will be represented by Buchanan Hall. Plagge and Benson said they don’t have any plans to seek other student government positions, but they will try to stay involved within the university.