With the end of the academic year right around the corner, there is again the question of housing students for next fall. Every year around this time, one might also hear rumors flying about the housing situation changing for certain dorms. This year is no different.
Students living in Lowe Hall have recently heard that on the second floor rooms 206-219 will be exclusively housing non-traditional graduate students and athletic coaches. Hearing this, students had their own opinions of what they had heard might be happening.
By Rachel Prichard,
Staff Writer
With the end of the academic year right around the corner, there is again the question of housing students for next fall. Every year around this time, one might also hear rumors flying about the housing situation changing for certain dorms. This year is no different.
Students living in Lowe Hall have recently heard that on the second floor rooms 206-219 will be exclusively housing non-traditional graduate students and athletic coaches. Hearing this, students had their own opinions of what they had heard might be happening.
�I don’tthink it would be unfair because there are already some of those students on campus and it would be more like organizing them in one area. I think it’s a good idea. It will help them out and help undergraduates out,� said A.J. Schell, a sophomore.
Amanda Gallagher, a junior and resident of Lowe this semester said, �It makes me a little upset. It seems like the students that were living here and planning on getting room reservations for next year are being cast aside. I also don’tsee why the graduate assistant coaches should have rooms on campus because they don’tgo here.�
Students who are uninformed in cases like this look to Robin Anke, director of residence life, for answers. According to Anke, every year there is a group of students who are considered displaced students.
This is because of the SHU’s decisions with housing students in general. She is trying to find a part of a dorm that is going to be just for non-traditional age students, that also includes graduate students.
This means that the residents of second floor Lowe are this year’s displaced group.
�Rumors drive me crazy; they get people very worked up. Very seldom does anyone ask for the real story,� said Anke.
�What I did was send a letter out to every student that is affected by this change. It clearly tells you why we�re doing the move, and that you will not be without a room. You are still guaranteed a room,� said Anke.
She wants students to know that if you are a current resident in one of the rooms in Lowe that is being displaced, you can have a single room in Canevin next fall.
The letter also lets the residents know how and when they will do room reservations. The letter states, �You will select your new housing assignment immediately after the same room reservations take place.�
�Displaced students actually get preferential treatment through the housing selection process because I am making them move,� said Anke.
The population of non-traditional age students is actually growing here at SHU. The school is receiving more graduate students who decide to go to school here right after getting their undergraduate degree or within a few years. It ends up fitting them to live on campus.
Anke wants to be able to provide for their living needs with some single spaces on campus. This is why Anke is taking three-quarters of Lowe Hall as a space for these graduate students. This is, of course, on first come, first serve basis.
�My goal is to meet the needs of the students. My door is always open for students. I highly encourage anyone to email me, call me, or stop in and see me if you have a question or hear something about housing situations. I can either verify it or clarify for you,� said Anke.
View this writer’s profile.