Residence hall officers who abuse their protected housing privileges may soon have to find another place to live, members of the Residence Hall Association said Wednesday.

RHA, made up of representatives from each dorm, is discussing a new housing amendment that will discipline dorm government officials who ignore their duties and run for office solely to exploit the promise of guaranteed dorm housing.

RHA President Grant Pauly said the group will fine-tune the proposal and vote on the amendment in about a week.

“The goal of the amendment is to ensure that only people who are serious about serving their residents for the next year run for the offices,” said Pauly, a McCormick sophomore.

Under the proposed amendment, an officer must first be impeached by the rest of his dorm government for failing to perform his expected duties. The RHA would then form a committee to further investigate, Pauly said.

If the committee also finds the accused representative guilty of abusing his housing privileges, the impeached officer will be evicted to another residence hall within two weeks.

If there are no immediate vacancies, the student will move into a new dorm as soon as a room becomes available, Pauly said.

“There is no way that it will come to that they will be left on the street,” he said.

Declining to comment on the amendment until he sees it in writing, Director of Undergraduate Residential Life Gregg Kindle said the Housing Policy Advisory Committee, made up of about 10 administrators and students, is responsible for finalizing any change to dorm guidelines.

All members of residence hall governments are guaranteed housing in the dorm they serve, but even impeached officers maintain their protected housing rights under current guidelines.

But if the amendment becomes a reality, Pauly said new dorm officers would have to sign contracts stipulating both their duties and the possible repercussions for not fulfilling them.

Officers removed from their positions would also be required to pay the housing costs of the new residence hall they would be placed in, he said, even if the cost exceeded their previous dorm’s expenses.

After discussing the amendment at Wednesday’s meeting, some RHA members said the proposed amendment might be too harsh.

“There is life beyond the res hall executive board,” said Sean Garland, a Weinberg sophomore and president of Bobb Hall.

But RHA member Matthew Turk said the amendment is necessary to emphasize the organization’s ultimate goal.

“The best we can do is make sure people aren’t abusing our system,” said Turk, a Weinberg senior. “Our No. 1 priority is to look out for our residents.”