On Campus housing falls out of balance

By Amanda Munro, Staff Writer schenbea15@up.edu

Freshman Matt Wellnitz arrived in his room at Villa during Welcome Week this fall like each of his predecessors - bags and parents in tow. But Matt has the added challenge of meeting two roommates instead of one and fitting three people into a space meant for two occupants.

"It's pretty cramped. When all three of us sit in our desks, we can't move at all," Wellnitz said. "It's hard to live here because there's just not enough room."

This year, Residence Life converted previously co-ed Kenna Hall into an all-women's dorm to make more space for female students. But now, women have too much space on campus, and the men have too little.

Some freshman men in Villa Maria, Schoenfield, and Christie Halls are in what Residence Life calls extended doubles; there are 197 such rooms, while 80 women's beds are empty. There are no women in extended doubles this year.

Mike Walsh, the director of Residence Life, said the imbalance is partly because Kenna is no longer co-ed.

"All of a sudden we just have more space for women than we need," Walsh said.

Although Residence Life did predict that there would be extended doubles in the men's dorms due to the Kenna change, part of the imbalance is due to the higher freshman male enrollment this fall. Residence Life uses statistics from previous years to predict how many male or female living spaces the University will need to accommodate the incoming freshman class before they know the actual class demographics.

Residence Life was expecting a turnout of around 60 percent women and 40 percent men, but ended up receiving around 58 percent women and 42 percent men.

"I make a formula based on history, and usually it's right," Walsh said. "But some years are weird."

This increase of male students explains almost a third of the forced triples.

However, a rise in freshman male turnout doesn't account for all of the pressure on all-male dorms. Residence Life wanted an all-women's, all-men's, and co-ed dorm in each quadrant of campus.

Walsh said changing Kenna to an all girls dorm made the East quad match the rest of campus. Now there is a co-ed dorm, male dorm, and female dorm.

"It was more of a philosophical reason," Walsh said. "It wasn't a tactical reason."

But not all freshmen are having problems in their extended doubles. Sky Nelson, a freshman living in a forced triple this year, said that although he would prefer to be in a double, living in a forced triple so far hasn't affected his college experience.

"I don't spend as much time as I would in my dorm," Nelson said. "I spend most of my time in the lobby or class or the Commons."

Freshmen men in the extended doubles also received a partial refund of $700 and were placed on a waiting list for a traditional double room in case someone moves out. However, it is unlikely that such changes will take place. It might take a year or two to fix the imbalance.

However, upperclassman David Sumada said forced doubles might cause problems down the road.

"First of all, they're men, so there's always an issue with cleanliness," Sumada said. "It won't be to the point where people are getting diseases,but it's going to be dirty."

Junior Stan Peck said some students in forced doubles might find they need more space as the semester continues.

"It's sort of a big adjustment to go from being back at home to being in a completely new space," Peck said. "It's nice to have the time when your roommate is off doing something and you get time to yourself. That's harder in a triple."

Meanwhile, in newly remodeled Kenna Hall, residents have ample space but have noticed a change in the atmosphere in the dorm.

Natalie Mecham, sophomore, has noticed that this year at Kenna, more people are leaving their doors shut, and that the dorm is generally less social.

Although Kenna Hall's numbers have not decreased significantly, five or six women are living in single rooms that were meant to be doubles. At least two or three rooms in Kenna are completely empty. Mehling and Fields also have unutilized space. Some women are living alone in a double while their roommate is studying abroad.

"Our numbers are a little bit smaller than last year," Kenna RA Kelsey Robison said. "Girls were really overcrowded last year."

Laura Forsythe said she was supposed to have a temporary roommate for this semester while her roommate is abroad, but Residence Life was unable to find her one. She ended up with a double room to herself.

Walsh said the extra space in Kenna is because it converted to an all girls dorm.

"The changeover to all-female was a factor in a really low return rate of Kenna women who didn't want to be in all-women's dorm," Walsh said.

Sophomore Taylor Rudow decided not to return to Kenna after the change.

"Kenna had a really cool feel about it as a co-ed dorm," Rudow said. "The guys were not big in numbers, but they were big in voice."

Although some students are unhappy, Walsh is confident that the imbalance will correct itself over the next year or two. He hopes to give Shipstad and Corrado more male spaces in the coming years.

"We have enough space," Walsh said. "That's not the issue; the issue is the balance."

Walsh said it's too early to say if converting Kenna was a good idea.

"It's too soon to tell," he said. "We'll know in a couple years how popular the single gender option is."

But students are still content even though campus is imbalanced. Wellnitz likes Villa, despite his placement in an extended double.

"I don't think it's that bad," Wellnitz said. "But it'd be better if there were girls."