A new Department of Residence policy might require students to leave their dorms during finals week earlier than they anticipated.

The 1999-2000 Room and Board Contract states that students are required to leave their rooms 24 hours after their last final examination at the end of the spring semester.

Virginia Arthur, associate director of residence, said the policy, which was recommended by residence staff members, will allow students to be more focused on their studies.

“Students who hang around end up being disruptive for those who have finals left,” she said. “Now we will have people around who need to be there, so that those who need to study aren’t disrupted.”

Arthur said the new policy should not burden students. “A lot of students leave in that time frame anyway,” she said. “You know when your finals are, and you can prepare for that in advance.”

However, Joe Foster, Inter-Residence Hall Association vice president, said the policy could be disruptive to students who are trying both to study and prepare for going home.

“You should be focused on your finals, and not getting your stuff packed up,” said Foster, junior in pre-business.

Foster is concerned because so few students are aware of the new policy. “If I don’t know much about it, a lot of people aren’t going to know about it,” he said.

The policy was in the ISU Terms and Conditions students were given to sign in spring. Erin Link, Union Drive Association president, noticed the new policy at that time.

“They did give us one week to go over it before we signed our contracts,” she said.

Link, junior in linguistics, talked to Department of Residence officials last spring about the change.

“I knew people would have questions about it and I’d better ask,” she said.

Students also will be notified of the policy by resident assistants at the end of the academic year, Arthur said. She said RAs will post information about all check-out procedures and mention them at house meetings.

Arthur said violators of the evacuation policy will go through the judicial process. However, she does not foresee a large problem in enforcing the rule.

“It’s our hope that as a result of educating people about it, they will plan accordingly,” she said.