Mothers always want their kids to wash their hands before they eat, but at Iowa State in some residence halls that can be quite difficult. The reason: no soap.

In most of the restrooms in Union Drive Association soap is absent from its rightful place in the bathrooms. This is why Inter-Residence Hall Association members Elizabeth Holden, a sophomore in pre-chemical engineering, and Christina Wray, a junior in sociology, had their soap dispenser bill unanimously passed through the IRHA government.

The bill asks that all residence halls be provided with soap dispensers at no added expense to residents.

Director of residence halls Randy Alexander, who is new to Iowa State this year, said their goal is to have soap dispensers in every bathroom in the residence halls by next semester.

“I think it is a good idea, and they should have done it a long time ago if they are going to promote hygiene and a clean living environment,” said Ritchie Thornburg, senior in management information systems from Elwood House in Helser Hall.

A hodge podge of soap dispenser remedies currently exist. Some floors provide their own soap and pay for it through house dues. Most of the houses in the Towers Residence Association and the Richardson Court Association have soap dispensers.

One floor that provides soap for its residents is Sadler House in Helser Hall. They pay for the soap through house dues and at least one resident welcomes the change.

“Dorms should provide soap for people to wash hands, its just sanitary,” Joleen May, senior in civil engineering from Sadler House, said.

Alexander said that new dispensers, to start with, will be put in places that have none, and then they plan to install one type of dispenser in all of the halls. “We’ll use up what we got and then put in the new dispensers.”