Starting this fall, students in Iowa State’s residence halls will have an easier time warming up those midnight snacks.

Thursday night, the Inter-Residence Hall Association voted to allow microwaves in dorm rooms. Beginning in the fall semester, residents will be allowed one microwave per room. The microwaves must have a maximum size of 0.9 cubic feet.

Jay McLaren, Towers Residence Hall Association’s at-large representative for IRHA, wrote the bill. He said residents have wanted the ruling for a long time.

“In residence halls, it’s kind of something that’s understood, that people want to cook their own food,” McLaren said.

While most floors already have a microwave in their lounges for residents to use, he said many students don’t like to use them because they are often dirty.

Plus, to get access to the machines, residents must unlock them with a key or combination, which can be an inconvenience.

McLaren said while the administration had already decided to allow the microwaves in the rooms, the IRHA had not passed the measure yet. He said he wrote the bill “to make it official.”

McLaren said he believes this is the first time microwaves have been allowed in the dorms. The bill passed unanimously.

The main concern raised was how much wattage the rooms could handle. But as IRHA Executive Assistant Julie Anderson said, “The residence halls never gave us a wattage that would be OK, they just gave us a size.”

She said this could pose a problem for several reasons, including the fact that most microwaves are sold by wattage, not size, and the size of a microwave was not necessarily relative to the watts it uses.

Anderson said some residents have beaten IRHA to the punch, and already have the machines in their rooms despite the rules.

“I know that on my floor, I’ve probably seen four microwaves in the three years I’ve been here,” she said. However, she said these people usually did not keep the microwaves around for very long because it was a hassle to hide them and the floor already had a microwave for its residents to use.

Overall, students’ reactions to the ruling have been favorable. Kris Heschke, a sophomore in pre-veterinary medicine, said a microwave would be a welcome addition to her room in Friley Hall.

“If I had one, I’d use it a lot. It would be easier than going down to food service, and cheaper than going out to a restaurant,” Heschke said.

Heschke already has added a microwave to her shopping list for next year. “I’m definitely bringing one next year, now that they’re allowed,” she said.

Jennifer Robinson, a sophomore in agriculture education, lives in Elm Hall. She said that while she does not use her floor’s microwave very often, having one of her own might come in handy.

“If I had one in my room, I’d probably eat more. It would make things easier,” she said.