By Ally Uhlendorf
Opinions Editor
On Feb. 27, at approximately 10:15 a.m., I woke up to over 200 texts from my friends about housing selection for next year. With high hopes that we would be able to get a townhouse or rooms in Eick, our dreams were quickly crushed by MyHousing. By about 10:45 a.m., all of the townhouses were filled up. By 11 a.m., the majority of Eick was taken. With some students having a timeslot later in the day, it’s hard not to panic during the selection process as the options become less and less by the minute.
The on-campus housing options for sophomores are extremely slim. Students have four dorming opportunities to choose from, and they are not the most ideal options. Decker, a co-ed suite style dorm houses approximately 360 students, is fine, but the catch is that it does not have air conditioning. After living in the Towers heat, it’s hard to willingly choose to live in a non-air-conditioned dorm for another year.
Trying to get a spot in Townhouse East was a battle. Each townhouse hosts ten students in all single bedrooms. The townhouses are air-conditioned and have a living room, as well as a kitchen and bathroom. However the downside is that most of the townhouses are co-ed, with the exception of six all-female houses. For some students, this became an issue in terms of comfort and safety. Unless students had a set group of ten people they are comfortable living with, they would be placed with random roommates, which can be a bit scary in the sense of safety. Being placed in a house with strangers, especially in a co-ed living environment, can be risky and intimidating for students.
Eickhoff Hall houses students above the dining hall/student services center. Although the living location may not sound ideal, the dorms are all air conditioned and provide private bathrooms for all of the double rooms. When asked what the best housing for sophomores is, Eick is often the answer from upperclassmen. However, when going to select Eick, students were left with only a handful of rooms by 11 a.m. — most with only single beds available. This left a lot of students, myself included, scrambling to find housing last minute.
Lastly, the final option was New Residence, also known as “New Res.” New Res is three stories, housing about 250 students in double bedrooms with private bathrooms. New Res was recently housing the Covid-19 patients, which can easily be a turn-off to some students. Although the first floor has re-opened for all students, it still can make students hesitant to have the “Covid-19 dorm” as their top living choice.
Not only were there issues with the amount of options for on-campus housing, but the timing of the housing selection process was not fair to students who had to attend classes during the day. If anything, the process should have taken place during the weekend or on a Wednesday, allowing students to take more time to focus on their selection. Multiple students had to step out of class or even miss their class in order to complete their housing assignment.
Housing should be a guarantee for students, especially only in their sophomore year. Students should not be scrambling to find housing and have to miss their class in order to secure a place to live next year.
