In addition to changes in dining plan options and a projected increase in residential living costs next year, returning residents at the UW could be introduced to yet another modification: the elimination of residence hall quiet floors.

Housing and Food Services (HFS), along with the Residence Hall Student Association (RHSA), has been negotiating to remove the residence hall quiet floors for the 2007-2008 school year.

Quiet floors are located in every residence hall at the UW. Traditionally, quiet floors are designated to students requesting a more tranquil living and studying environment.

According to the Residence Hall System Handbook for 2006-07, the noise and quiet hour policy states, "During quiet hours, noise that can be heard beyond the boundaries of your room is prohibited. Quiet hours [for residence halls] begin at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and at 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and continue until 10 a.m."

For quiet floors, the hours are prolonged to ensure and fulfill students' requests to live in an undisturbed living environment.

The handbook also says, "Quiet floors with extended quiet hours exist in each residence hall. ... Accepting a room assignment on such a floor requires compliance with the quiet floor stipulations. The quiet floor hours begin at 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and at 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday."

After an overwhelming vote from the general council of RHSA, the elimination of the quiet floors will be further investigated and endorsed next year.

"At this time, RHSA does support the removal of the extended quiet hours on all quiet floors to a standard time of 9 p.m. on weekdays and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays," RHSA president Jada Isherwood said. "This doesn't affect Hansee Hall, our 24-hour quiet hall community."

Upon reaching this decision, members of RHSA were expected to have a clear understanding of the term "quiet floor."

"People think quiet floors are quiet all the time — it gives students a false impression of what [a] quiet floor really is, and that's not the policy," said Christian Jaehne, assistant director for residential life at Housing and Food Services.

"It doesn't mean other floors are louder, but it means their quiet hours start later. 'Extended quiet hours' is probably a better term to use."

This year, numerous students who did not register for a quiet living environment ended up on a quiet floor.

"I can understand there being quiet floors if enough people ask for it, but I knew quite a few people on my floor who were assigned to the quiet floor that didn't sign up for it," said freshman and Lander Hall resident Austin Arias.

The problem has led to questions about the effectiveness of the residence hall priority system.

"Certain factors will trump other things in terms of the priority system," Jaehne said. "If a student requests an engineering-themed floor, we would put you in an engineering [themed] floor before a quiet floor, ideally, but we often have to put students on quiet floors who don't register for them. From what I've been told so far, students understand why we need to do this. We want to put students in the place they signed up for."

Quiet Floor residents have responded with their opinions about their living environments.

"I think the noise level on my floor is about the same as the other floors," said freshman Aaron Yeung, a Terry Hall quiet floor resident. "It's not ridiculously loud, but people do stay up late to play music and video games. I think McMahon is quieter because of the clusters."

The noise level, however, differs depending on the residence hall.

"I moved from McCarty to Lander because living on a quiet floor was a terrible, depressing and anti-social experience for me," Arias said. "It had a lot to do with being on a quiet, single-gender floor. It felt as if I were discouraged from socializing with other people. When I lived on the quiet floor, I felt as if my soul were being sucked out of me."

If the endorsement to eliminate the quiet floor is approved in the future, returning students that prefer a more serene living environment will be eligible for Hansee Hall, which has a 24-hour quiet hour policy.

Jaehne also said HFS is looking into approaching quiet hours as a community standard model, meaning if an entire floor came to an agreement regarding extended quiet hours, HFS would be willing to facilitate the request.

"Given the lack of phone calls we've received in the central office, [removing quiet floors] does not seem to be problematic," Jaehne said.

"Once students have understood the situation, they've been very supportive. [The RHSA president] is preparing the endorsement now, and we will visit the topic again in the next academic year."

Whether or not the endorsement is approved next year, residents will still be expected to abide by the 24-hour courtesy rule.

"We still need to ensure that we are focused on creating a welcoming environment for our residents to be able to do academic work in their community," Isherwood said. "This being said, we all need to work on holding our communities responsible and ask the members of that community to respect the 24-hour courtesy hours that are in place."

In addition, students can expect the residence halls to see a visible increase in on-campus residents in the fall.

"We've seen tremendous signing up for next year, and one of my goals next year is to have a renewed focus on civility," Jaehne said. "This relates to students being civil, respectful and monitoring their own behavior. That's, in essence, what it means to be a responsible citizen."

Reach reporter Vicky Yan at news@thedaily.washington.edu.