by Hannah Sievert |
Despite widespread concerns with rising rates of attendance, all those who wanted to live on campus were able to get space at housing selection, which took place two weeks ago in dorms across campus.
The new dorm was a key factor in getting all students housing who wanted it. Without the new dorm, Sarah Meiser, associate director for housing, said Residence Life would have been short about 100 beds for returning students.
“We were able to get everyone who wants housing, housing,” Meiser said. “(Housing selection) went phenomenally well overall. We were really happy. Most of the housing selections went really fast.”
Only Christie Hall had students who were unable to get housing at the first selection.
“There were nine men at the end of housing selection … and Christie didn’t have any room available for them,” Meiser said.
However, Meiser was able to meet with Christie Hall Director Joe Burke the following day and, after reshuffling the available rooms in other dorms, the nine men received housing in Christie.
“We ended up having some empty rooms and beds that weren’t needed at room selection,” Meiser said. “Before room selection, we looked at our housing inventory across campus, held the beds that we felt needed to be held for incoming students, and then offered 1,280 beds, not counting Haggerty and Tyson, to returning students.”
There were 126 beds still available after housing selection. Of those beds, 98 are available for women and 28 for men.
Some of those beds went to students on the waitlist for housing, which is now empty.
“While everyone who went to housing selection was able to get it, some people weren’t able to attend housing selection for different reasons. Afterwards they were like, ‘Oh, no I should have done that!’ So they (were) on the waitlist,” Meiser said. “There were 20 people on the waitlist, and they were all offered housing on campus.”
There was a high demand for the new hall. Nearly two times the number of people applied to move into the new hall as there was space available.
“We could have filled the building with returning students” Meiser said.
There will be 116 returning students moving into the new hall next year. With 227 beds total in the building, returning students will take up about 50 percent of the new hall.
Meiser confirmed that the construction for the new hall is still on track. She also confirmed that there will be a dining facility in the bottom of the new hall.
Kaity Sullivan, a freshman moving into the new hall next year, is excited about the opportunity.
“I thought the selection was really organized,” Sullivan said. “And I appreciated how excited the (resident assistants) were. I’m looking forward to the community the RAs are going to help create and how the residents are going to be involved with building a new community, too.”
Meiser said she understands the concern over housing selection and the new dorm construction that led up to the selection.
“Every school I’ve worked at … room selection is a really big deal. Students, as they should, really care about where they live,” Meiser said. “It’s the psychology of the needs hierarchy … housing and shelter are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Until you have your housing locked down, it’s hard to focus on other things — like learning. It always causes a lot of uncertainty and anxiety.”
However, Meiser assured that there’s no need to worry.
“If some students are still seeking housing, we have housing to offer for next year,” Meiser said. “We care about you and want you to have housing.”
But for some students, the process of housing selection was puzzling.
“It seemed pretty organized,” said freshman Leah Penny, who went to the new dorm selection. “It was just kind of weird to me because I feel like every other school does it online. Having transferred here, I’m not used to sitting in a room for an hour. It seems more random and fair when it’s online.”
The new hall selection, along with selection for most residence halls, was finished in under an hour, except for Mehling and Christie Halls. Mehling took longer because of its size.
Christie took longer because of the NFL draft style of its housing selection, known as the “Christie Draft.”
“(Christie has) interviews, handshakes and pictures. It was really fun. It made it a slower process, but a more enjoyable process,” Meiser said. “It started last year … and it has a lot of enthusiasm.” “Each year, we have a resident who acts as an emcee, calling lottery numbers and doing color commentary,” Burke explained. “The first five folks or so to select housing get some Christie swag ... and a pic with the emcee. (It’s) just a way to get excited for the coming year.”
Hannah Sievert is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at sievert19@up.edu.
