Fewer
Juniors Granted Off-Campus Status
by Scott Ewart
Imagine
figuring out who you want to live with, going through the exhausting
process of finding a house in town, and then signing a lease, confident
that, since you have a high class rank and a low random number,
youll be able to live off-campus. Now imagine being informed
by a blue sheet of paper in Wilder that youll be required
to spend yet another year in an on-campus dorm room. This is exactly
what happened two weeks ago, when almost 90 students were dismayed
to find that they would not be granted off-campus housing.
Granting off-campus housing privileges to first semester juniors
by lottery has been the policy of Residential Life and Services
since 1990, though in recent years high enrollment has meant that
virtually all juniors have been allowed to live off-campus. The
housing crunch last year, exacerbated by the loss of thirty-five
beds in Barrows due to construction, created a false impression
among students that all juniors could live off-campus.
Ill be 22 next year and I dont want to live around
a bunch of 17 year-olds drinking beer for the first time,
one rising junior said, echoing a common sentiment among many juniors
and seniors.
Some students denied off-campus privileges merely face inconvenience
for next year. Others, who ignored ResLifes warning against
making town housing arrangements before the lottery, face more serious
problems.
Knowing that it was possible that I wouldnt be allowed
to live off-campus I went ahead and signed the lease, figuring I
could talk my way out of it if I had to, one rising junior
denied off-campus housing said.
According to ResLife, the policy of granting off-campus housing
by lottery stems from both a need to cover the expenses of running
residence halls while keeping costs down for on-campus students,
and a desire to foster community through residence hall life.
This is a residential college and we truly believe in the
benefits of living in dorms, ResLife Assistant Director Sandra
Hougland said.
Despite efforts to create a sense of community among students by
encouraging living in dorms Oberlin has a significantly lower number
of students living on-campus than peer institutions. According to
school statistics, at Wesleyan, Middlebury and Vassar nearly all
students live in college operated housing facilities compared to
only 70 percent at Oberlin.
Many students disagree with the idea that living in a dorm encourages
supportive relationships among residents. I dont feel
that being enclosed with people is building a community, sophomore
Seth Garrison said.
While its good to live in a dorm and have that kind
of community, its [also] good to live your own, and pay your
own bills and clean your own bathroom and experience all that stuff
thats part of life, Resident Assistant Ryan Carter said.
The administration is slowly responding to student desires for housing
facilities that accommodate more independent and comfortable residential
experiences. The number of on-campus apartments will be greatly
increased by the projected Fall 2003 opening of the Firelands Retirement
Center building on South Main Street for student housing.
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