How many students who live in the residence halls actually look over their Room and Board Contracts? If they didn’t look closely this past summer, they may have missed a big change.

According to a new Department of Residence policy, students will be required to leave their dorms 24 hours after their last final examination at the end of the spring semester.

Virginia Arthur, coordinator of residence life, told the Daily that the policy, which was favored by residence hall staff, is beneficial for students because students who are done with their finals will have to leave and will not be around to distract those who still are cramming at the last minute.

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

Now, what Arthur is saying seems logical, but why does the Department of Residence have to behave as a universitywide hall monitor? Have there been so many problems with residents behaving like hooligans during the last week of school that the residence department felt shipping them out was the answer?

The real disruption will be students struggling to clean out their rooms, get packed up and say good-bye to all their buddies before they make the sojourn back home.

If the Department of Residence is so worried about students making the grade during finals week, why would they force students to prepare to leave at a time when studies should be the most important thing on their minds?

A policy that directly affects residents should have had more feedback — or at least some feedback — from them.

Inter-Residence Hall Association Vice President Joe Foster told the Daily that he is concerned because many students aren’t even aware of the policy.

That will certainly be a rude awakening come May.

The bottom line is that students pay (quite a bit) for room and board and all the services. What about the missed week of food service that a resident whose last test is Monday will miss? It’s his; he paid for it.

Though they’re not perfect, ISU’s residence halls function as a home away from home for many students. Did the department really have students’ best interests in mind when they made this policy?

In what other situation would a paying customer be treated this way?