By Andrew Kutzer

In a two-thirds majority, student government board voted against the university’s two-year on-campus housing requirement proposed for fall 2017 at its meeting March 15.

The policy would require first and second year students to live on-campus. KU Housing Director Kent Dahlquist presented the proposal at a previous meeting on Feb. 16.

Currently, 90 percent of freshmen and around 55 percent of second year students live on campus. The remaining students commute or reside off campus, according to Dahlquist.

Board members brought up issues of financial costs along with physical and dietary restrictions before voting against the proposal, according to Waskar Paulino, part of the student affairs sub-committee.

“I believe if they’re going to look into making two years mandatory they should keep the meal plan the same price or have the option of opting out,” said Molly Gallagher, internal affairs chair.

“There’s people like me who didn’t have a meal plan [during] my second year because of being vegan and vegetarian and not have those options provided on campus,” said Treasurer Erik Lynn, who voted against the housing policy.

The policy would not only apply to freshmen and second year students and but would also affect transfer students with less than 60 credits, according to Dahlquist.

Paulino has lived on campus for four years and did not vote for SGB’s resolution against the housing policy. “I think it serves more benefits than we’d like to say.”

“If the [requirement] were to get passed, it’ll definitely cause a shift in a lot of people demanding more because they would be forced to live on campus,” said Paulino.

Exceptions to housing requirements would include students having a zip code within a 30-mile radius of KU, anyone over 21 and other exemptions that are specified in the proposal.

Presentations on the policy were held on March 22 and 24 in the Dixon Hall conference room.

In April, the policy will be brought to the president for consideration, according to Dahlquist.