By Eddie Young
Sports Editor
The College’s Residential Education and Housing has implemented a new policy, offering temporary housing on the first floor of Decker Hall to juniors and seniors who missed out on signing up for housing in Hausdoerffer, Phelps and the townhouses for the next academic year. The upperclassmen would then be offered a chance to switch into the apartments or the townhouses when spots open up.
Previously, if all of the spots in the apartments and the townhouses filled up, the remaining juniors and seniors would not be offered any temporary housing, as upperclassmen are not guaranteed on-campus housing.
“We know that we typically experience ‘melt,’ which means some students who applied and selected housing will not return in the Fall,” Tina Tormey, director of residential education and housing, said in an email. “Those students leaving will open up spaces in the townhouses and apartments for many, if not all, of the students currently tentatively housed on Decker 1. It seemed to make sense to provide students with a temporary assignment instead of no assignment.”
According to Tormey, there are currently 28 upperclassmen students who are temporarily placed on the first floor of Decker. However, even with the surplus of upperclassmen being placed here, this will not cause a problem for sophomore housing next year, as there are still spots available for late applicants and transfer students in sophomore dorms.
Tormey believes this new method will work out for all of the juniors and seniors who are placed in Decker at the moment.
“Last year, we had 358 returning students who selected a room but then cancelled their housing contract prior to the sign up timeline for Drop & Go,” she said. “Based on this melt, we anticipate both being able to shift the upperclassmen on Decker 1 into spaces in the Apartments and the Townhouses and meet the anticipated needs of transfer students seeking housing this summer.”
Sophomore Andrew Parisi will not be one of the 28 students temporarily placed on the first floor of Decker, as he did not want to deal with the possibility of staying there all year. Instead, he went for the more certain, yet more expensive, option of living in Campus Town for the next academic year.
As someone who is currently living in Decker, Parisi did not want to take the chance that he may be living in the same air conditioning-less building again.
“I am in the Anti-Violence Initiative and I have to move in a week early to do prep for Welcome Week,” Parisi, a psychology major, said. “Air conditioning is important.”
Parisi said that ResEd sent him an email explaining that he would most likely have the opportunity to move into a new dorm if space becomes available, but even with this reassurance, he still decided to take the guarantees that came with Campus Town.
“I was surprised that they offered Decker as the first spot for upperclassmen, arguably the worst of the sophomore dorms,” Parisi said. “If I got the offer to stay in New Res or Eick or the townhouses I don’t think I would have jumped to Campus Town as quickly, but [ResEd] has been trying to help.”
Even though he originally wished to stay on campus, Parisi is still okay with his choice of housing for next year.
“I can have my own room, but that’s what most of my class was offered,” he said. “I had to flush out some more cash to do that.”
