Ready for some new ideas for on-campus housing? The TCU Senate is.
On Nov. 19, the body supported a proposal that would oversee changes in housing patterns to Wren and Stratton halls proposed by the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL).
ORLL Director Yolanda King did not respond to repeated requests for comment by presstime.
The resolution, titled "A Resolution to Encourage the Improvement of On-Campus Housing Options for Undergraduate Students," passed 20-5-1.
The first proposed change: convert all double rooms in Stratton Hall to singles.
According to TCU President Mitch Robinson, one of the resolution's co-authors, the Stratton changes would attract more seniors to on-campus living.
"As of right now, only 25 percent of seniors live on campus. We're looking for a way to make [living on campus] more appealing to upperclassmen," he said.
According to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman, the changes to Stratton Hall would create an enviable range of housing options for juniors and seniors.
"[The new Stratton singles] will be lovely singles because of their size. I hope we could also upgrade them because some of them are in need of some work," Reitman said.
The arrangement would remove 30 to 35 available beds in the dorm, however.
ORLL also proposed "aesthetically-improved suites" in Wren Hall, which would "be made available to students through the housing application process to create flexible living arrangements."
The arrangement, Robinson explained, would help more students live with friends sophomore year and would "turn Wren into apartment style housing, with a [housing] application process."
"The proposal allows sophomores to live with people they've developed relationships with their freshman year," Robinson said. "I had the opportunity to live with my best friends sophomore year, and it strengthened my relationships with them and my experience at Tufts."
The application process for Wren would allow students to apply for suites in groups, one current option in Latin Way and Hillsides Apartments.
Additional renovations to Wren may also be necessary since the suites would require kitchen units.
But the need exists: as Reitman explained, Wren's design is generally poor for socializing.
"Part of the physical problem with Wren is that the buildings are so chopped up that you don't tend to meet people living in the other suites, but you don't own the suites because they're all walkthroughs," Reitman said.
"It's too chopped up to feel like a community, and yet it's not chopped up enough to make it feel like you've got an apartment."
According to Reitman, however, "it would be cheaper to knock it down and start over."
According to TCU Senator Aaron Miller, who dissented, most of the disagreement over the resolution stemmed from the Stratton changes.
"I know they want to bring seniors back on campus, and the way the system works, if the rooms become singles, then all of them will be taken by seniors and the administration can say, 'Yay! We got 32 more seniors!' But 32 out of how many?" he asked.
Miller said that the administration should try to provide more housing for juniors because "a lot of juniors go abroad, so they're only here for one semester, and finding a place to stay off-campus for only one semester is hard."
He was also skeptical about a proposal to attract seniors back to campus solely based on this year's low number of on-campus seniors.
"The fact that 25 percent of seniors live on campus is just a coincidence. Next year, it might be 80 percent, and then we'll have a shortage of beds," he said.
Though the proposal is a step in the right direction, Robinson said, it cannot entirely resolve student frustration with on-campus housing.
"I would say that the biggest part of this Senate resolution is its end piece," he said, citing the last clause of the resolution.
The clause "encourages the School of Arts, Sciences and Engineering to approach improvements within ORLL dormitories with greater immediacy than in the past and focus on effectively improving the housing experience for ... students who are living or considering living on campus."
Robinson said that the Senate will be listening even more to what students want and need, to propose further changes to the administration.
