For more than 15 years, the Inter-Residence Hall Association has dealt with issues that affect the 8,000 students living in the residence halls.

However, some Iowa State students, even those who live in the dorms, are not aware of how the student organization functions.

“A lot of [students] have heard of us, but beyond that, they probably wouldn’t know exactly what we do,” said IRHA President Ben Chamberlain.

“I would hope that a pretty good group would say that they know what we do and understand why we do it,” he said.

Chamberlain, senior in agricultural studies, said IRHA would like to focus more on promotion, as well as becoming more of a “coordinating body.”

“[We’re] trying to figure out what the future of the student government looks like,” he said.

“I think that our primary responsibility to the residence hall students should be with continuous housing issues, policy issues,” Chamberlain said.

However, Chamberlain said IRHA should “stay away from universitywide issues.”

Pat Robinson, who was IRHA’s adviser until Spring 1998, said IRHA represents a large portion of ISU students, but some of them may not be educated about the organization.

“[IRHA] is doing a lot of good for the students in the residence halls, but I would say a lot of the students do not know what IRHA does for them,” Robinson said.

Robinson believes that a lot of students take advantage of IRHA-sponsored programs without realizing that IRHA was the provider.

Robinson said IRHA, as it is today, was created because there was little coordination among the three separate student governments that existed.

“No group talked about the overall issues that students in the residence halls had,” Robinson said.

“[IRHA was] started to deal with the issues that affect students in all the residence halls,” Robinson said.

In addition to dealing with residence hall policy issues, Chamberlain said IRHA also works on Homecoming in October and Residence Hall Week in April.

It also funds Free Friday Flicks, and it houses and partially funds the student-run radio station KURE 88.5 FM.

Another part of IRHA recognizes individual and house achievements and promotes scholarship, through recognition and “of the month” awards.

Currently, there are 28 voting members in IRHA, including seven executive officers.

Though the executive positions are paid, Chamberlain said it is more of an experience than a job.

“It’s something you don’t do for the money; it’s one of those learning experiences,” he said.

“When you look at the number of hours we put in, it would probably be less than $1 an hour,” Chamberlain said.

President and vice president are elected into office in annual spring elections.

They select their own executive council, but Chamberlain said any student living in the residence halls can become involved in IRHA.