With more than 100 fewer students living in town this year, dorms are again filled beyond capacity.
As a new academic year begins and 807 new students move into dormitories, perennial residential life problems have surfaced. In the wake of new restrictions on how many juniors can live off campus, lounges have again become dorm rooms. Eight-hundred thirty students currently live off campus, down from 947 last year.
While lounges are often larger than regular student rooms, landlords in the city have frequently been at the College’s throat over whether the College has the legal authority to convert rooms without applying for a change of use.
They also see a double standard in how the city applies building codes to the College and the city. One landlord, David Sonner, temporarily lost his license to house students last year over an ungrounded extension cord.
The battle between landlords and the College created such a furor that the state of Ohio eventually revoked Oberlin’s ability to license housing. The city is currently in litigation over the matter, and has been granted the authority to continue building inspections during the suit.
“Lounges are up to [residential] code,” Associate Dean/Director of Residential Life and Services Kim LaFond said. “They are adjustable. All buildings are zoned properly.”
In recent years, many Oberlin dorms have been suffering from overcrowding, an issue facing small liberal arts colleges and large universities alike. As the number of college applications has increased, so has the number of students matriculating to colleges and universities around the country.
Moreover, Oberlin, like other schools, often has trouble predicting how many students will eventually enroll, because the school gets more and more popular each year. As this trend continues, schools are forced to make the most out of their existing housing facilities.
Oberlin, however, is prepared for such a situation. Most lounges in Oberlin dorms were redesigned to be versatile several years ago after a severe housing shortage due to over-enrollment, and the temporary closing of parts of Barrows.
If need be, Residential Life directors can convert these lounges into dorm rooms. Many lounges come equipped with ethernet connections and phone jacks.
According to Assistant Director of Housing and Dining Sandra Houghland, there are currently 21 students living in dorm lounges. Ten of these are first-years living in Barrows lounges, some of which are more than twice the size of the average double. 11 upperclassmen are also living in dorm lounges throughout campus. There are two in Dascomb, six in East and three in South.
When asked about living in a spacious Barrows lounge, first-year Matt Mutel said that he and his roommate “realize that the size of this room is ridiculous. We are trying to share it as much as possible with everyone else.” He went on to say, “Other people’s rooms are so small that they really can’t do anything in there, so I invite them in here.”
He added, however, that from the beginning, Dean of Students Peter Goldsmith told him that having to move out of the lounge “was always an option.” When asked about his feelings in regards to possibly having to move out of his current lounge room, Mutel said, “I’m enjoying it as much as possible right now. I would totally understand if they had to move me out, but I’m so happy right now. I’m just enjoying it while I can.”
According to both LaFond and Houghland, these dorm lounges are only meant to provide students with temporary housing. The lounges tend to be larger than the average Oberlin dorm room, and staying in the lounges turns out to be enticing to some.
“The trick is getting the kids out of the lounges,” LaFond said.
Houghland noted that three students in South Hall had already been moved from lounges to rooms. She also said that she expected that most of the students who are currently living in lounges should be moving into regular rooms by the end of the week.
“Why couldn’t this have occurred earlier? I’m settled in now, and don’t need any more stress added into my life,” first-year Barrows resident Bobby Sundara said when asked how he felt about having to move from his current room, a lounge, into a new room. Although a significant amount of money is being spent to refurbish existing living spaces, no money as of yet is going towards the funding of a new dorm.
Over the summer, Residential Life and Services made a considerable number of changes and modifications to dorms all over campus.
The interior public areas of Dascomb and Keep were remodeled. The new wing of Barrows was outfitted with new furniture. Tank was recarpeted, and Johnson House repainted.
Many kitchens around campus were also renovated. Fairchild received new walk-in refrigerators; the downstairs storage rooms of Kosher Co-Op were redone; and Keep now has a new stove. Residential Life said that the total project cost was $750,000.
Despite all of these changes, LaFond stated, “There is still a lot of need on this campus, a lot of facility needs.”