Residence hall students will be given a little more time this semester to release their pent-up energy from studying during Dead Week and Finals Week.

This semester, each hall is allowed to set a time its residents want to designate as a break from quiet hours during Dead Week and Finals Week. The break must be between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. and cannot exceed one hour.

In the past, residence halls have had 23-and-a-half hours of quiet time during the last two weeks of the semester. The half-hour in which louder activities were allowed always began at 10 p.m.

Associate Director of Residence Virginia Arthur said Department of Residence officials began to consider changing the time because of suggestions from staff members.

Arthur said the change is a positive one that will please students.

“This plan refocuses time from ‘anything goes’ with disturbances and destruction to a positive stress-relieving time that everyone can benefit from,” she said.

This is a change that had been talked about by many different campus groups for a long time, said Jeff Greiner, vice president for the Inter-Residence Hall Association.

“The Department of Residence wanted to make the quiet hours official because before the time was based on tradition,” said Greiner, sophomore in history.

Arthur said residence hall staff, IRHA and the Department of Residence met several times to finalize the study-break hour.

Arthur said in many halls the time was increased because some residents felt they could go wild, yelling and throwing things out their windows.

“We are trying to get back to the concept where there is time for students to do something positive and productive to blow off steam,” she said.

Greiner said another positive aspect of increasing quiet time to an hour is that people won’t have to feel like they have to cram everything into a half hour.

“Now those who don’t want to study during that time can relax at a slower pace and don’t have to bother those who want to keep studying,” he said.

Shelly Atwood, freshman in animal science, likes the time change because she said a half hour isn’t enough time for students to free themselves from stress.

“Now we have more time to be crazy and relax,” she said. “And because the weather is nice, now we have time to go outside and do something as opposed to sitting in our room and not studying.”

Ryan Woratschka, junior in computer engineering, also said the extended hours allot more time for residents to calm down.

“People need more of a chance to unwind and not be bottled up for so long. Twenty-three-and-a-half quiet hours is a lot to ask,” Woratschka said. “With more time, people won’t be in such a rush and can relax more.”