Room selection leaves some crushed, all housed

By John Jacobson

The selection process for housing has come and gone, but frustrations and suggestions for improvement still linger in the air.

For most students the housing process is frustrating for one reason or another, whether it is because of the uncertainty, the lack of options or the amount of paperwork.

Freshman Ance Simanovica is going abroad for next semester, but her room situation next year is still up in the air. Mainly, she doesn’t know if she can have the same roommate she had this year when she returns in the spring of 2011.

“I was confused as to whether I should go through the process,” she said. “I was told that I don’t have to do anything for now and that I would be contacted in April and so then I’ll let them know my preference.”

However, Simanovica is still unsure how the plan will work for her roommate.

“I want to keep my roommate … but she had to find someone to live with for the fall semester.

And then she kind of had to abandon her roommate for spring semester, so we hope it’s going to work out,” she said, “but it’s still really unclear.”

Sophomore Kenneth Holbert holds nearly opposite preferences for his housing situation next year. He wanted to squat in his old room, but had to search for a new roommate.

 

Junior /Rising senior Martha Kuntz sign up for a single in Hoerner during the Housing Lottery Monday, March 29th.

“Last year I decided that I wanted to squat in my old room because it was fairly big and I been very used to it. This year I had also decided the same, but my roommate wanted a single, so he opted out of squatting,” he said. “So I had to find a person who was willing to dorm with me, which I fortunately was [able to].”

Junior Allison Boutin shares this sense of relief from finding adequate housing. Boutin will be the convener of Peace House next semester after sending in multiple applications for other houses to live in. She shared what she had to go through to secure a house for her.

“I didn’t do the lottery … I applied for a friendship house and didn’t get it,” Boutin said.

Luckily, she had also applied to Peace House.

“I think it’s going to be a really great house,” she said. “I’m the only person who’s lived in Peace House before and I think we’re going to turn out a great Peace and Justice Week [sic].”

When asked about the logic she followed to find a living location, Boutin said that she wanted a space that was for her and her housemates.

“We tried to combine all of our skill sets and we were going to do like a ‘Women’s House,’” Boutin said. “We were going to have open hours for people to come and talk and we were going to do different workshops and address different issues that women have on campus.”

Residence Life reviews applications for friendship houses, which are required to have themes.

“They don’t really tell you why they rejected your application,” Boutin said. “I know they had to go through a lot of different applications, but I wish they had set up times for an interview or something. Because what I think you can manage to write on the housing application can be very misleading.”