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Some freshmen are living in converted eight-person rooms this academic year. But these students are more worried about a lack of privacy, than a lack of space.
Freshman Zach Evans lives in one of the converted study rooms in Ledges.
“[The lack of privacy] is a big adjustment. I don’t think it’s something that they really teach you about college,” Evans said. “I think this is a way to get to know more people better. [In a quad], you could have two or three bad roommates, but here you could have the same two or three bad roommates, but still have a bunch of good ones.”
The majority of students housed in Dana were not affected. This includes the 3+1 MBA community as well as the LiveWell community, which is a specifically substance-free and health-conscious environment.
Freshman Joel Vanner lives in an eight-person former common room in Ledges. While he is maintaining a positive attitude about his living arrangements, Vanner said he was confused because there was no mention of eight-person rooms at orientation.
“They just mentioned turning doubles into triples and that most of us would get quads,” Vanner said over the summer. “I don’t know if calling the room situation ‘unfair’ is correct, rather calling it ‘unfortunate’ sounds more accurate.”
Now almost a week into the academic year, Vanner retains his optimism.
“I like it and it’s spacious. It’s very warm in here,” Vanner said. “We’re a little concerned that there aren’t any sprinklers in this room in case there is a fire. There is a fire alarm though.”
Freshman Bora Agastra of Commons doesn’t think that living with seven other people will hinder her academic success, but is also somewhat uneasy about privacy.
“[Living in the 8-person room] is definitely something different,” Agastra said. “I love my roommates so that’s a plus, but privacy can be a little bit of an issue. I didn’t think I was going to like it, but I do now. I did want to be in a double, but now that I’m here I wouldn’t change it.”
However, Kaitlin Hines, another Freshman from Commons, lives in an 8-person common room, but with only four roommates. Given this extra space, she says that privacy is not a concern.
“There is enough space for all of us and we all have our own corners so we have enough privacy and I don’t think the other roommates mind it,” Hines said.
In order to consolidate space, the third floor dorms of Irmagarde Tator Hall–commonly referred to as “Irma”–were also converted from housing doubles to triples, according to Associate Director of Residential Life Melissa Karipidis. Some study rooms in Irma were transformed into quads this year, according to the “QU Department of Residential Life” Facebook page.
This is not the first time that Irma held triples. Prior to the opening of the York Hill campus in 2007, Irma and Dana English Hall–also known as “Dana”–both housed triples almost exclusively.
