Quinnipiac freshmen and sophomores are upset with Residential Life in the wake of its recent decision to reduce the maximum occupancy of certain dorm rooms next year. The change has forced students to rearrange their housing plans.
“I don’t think it’s fair to the student,” said Josh Anusewicz, a sophomore journalism major. “Most went in with the idea that the rooms would be the same as this year and planned their rooms accordingly. Not only that, but Residential Life waited until after we handed in our deposits to let us know.”
In a March 7 e-mail sent to all students who are eligible for on- and off-campus housing next school year, Residential Life supplies a chart of dormitories and the number of students who will be permitted to live in each room. This information surprised and angered many students.
“I thought it was substandard of them,” sophomore Steve Hupp said about Residential Life’s action. “I heard about this for the first time through an e-mail. It would have been better if they had a warning. They didn’t even say anything. There should have been continuous contact–let us know what is going on.”
Asked repeatedly for comment on whether Residential Life had announced the changes before the March 7 e-mail, numerous Residential Life officials declined to be interviewed.
This school year, the primarily sophomore dorms of Larson, Mountainview, Perlroth and Troup house 10 students per suite. Next school year, that number will be reduced to eight students per suite. In the primarily junior dorms of the old and new Village and Hill, which house between eight and 10 students per suite this school year, no more than seven students will be allowed to share a suite next year. Though the reduction in the number of students per room frees up space in what students have often called cramped rooms, students are upset about the timing of the e-mail announcing the change.
“This only adds to the stress and anxiety we already deal with,” said John Mazzo, a sophomore communications major. “Everyone was scrambling around to find someone, or was forced to kick someone out. It’s hard to do that to a friend.”
Mazzo, who was expecting to live with a group of eight in Village, said he knew some groups of friends that had to split up suddenly because of the news.
The splitting up of planned living arrangements among friends was a common theme among freshmen and sophomores on campus. Freshman physician assistant major Kelly Richards had planned to live in a group of 10, but when the news came that they needed to cut down to eight, three people left the group.
“It was hard because we now had to find one person to live with,” Richards said. “I knew a lot of people who needed one, but it is hard to find a single person that needs a room.”
Freshman political science major Sabrina Norman was also inconvenienced by the changes. “It was a hassle trying to find people. We weren’t aware about the book in residential life,” she said.
The book to which Norman is referring is a binder located in the Residential Life lobby wherein students can fill out a form with their information if they are either searching for people to live with or looking for a place to live themselves. Information about the book was disclosed in the March 7 e-mail.
The reduction in the number of students allowed to live in a room in sophomore and junior dormitories is likely a result of the impending opening of additional Village dormitories at the start of the fall semester. As of March 28, when the room selection day for junior dormitories took place, only 23 of the 48 rooms in the new Village were to be ready by the beginning of next semester. The room selection date for freshman students heading into their sophomore years was scheduled to take place April 3.
