The Freshman Housing Implementation Committee announced Aug. 12 that all freshmen and only freshmen will be housed on the Residential Quad beginning with the next academic year.
After considering the possible models, ?it became unanimously clear that if we were going to do this right, there is only one space for it and that?s the quad,? said committee co-chair Paul Burgett, vice president and dean of students.
Now the committee, composed of administrators, students and faculty, needs to evaluate how the decision will affect both freshmen and upperclassmen during this transition period.
Though few details have been decided, committee member and Professor of Political Science Gerald Gamm outlined the possibilities. UR may contemplate changing dining, parking, room rates or room draw procedures. The university may turn double rooms into singles or eventually build a new residence hall.
Committee members have clearly stated that sophomores will not be forced to live in the Graduate Living Center against their will.
?The commitment is that all sophomores who want to live on the main part of the River Campus can,? said Dean of The College William Green, committee co-chair.
Director of Residential Life Logan Hazen said he will have to consider whether the new plan will drive juniors and seniors off campus, with emphasis on how that will affect the residential community.
Hazen emphasized that Residential Life is not motivated to keep students on campus for UR?s financial benefit. ?It?s not a fiscal matter,? he said. ?Graduate students are lined up to get into GLC.?
The target number of freshmen for the Class of 2005 is 950. Quad capacity is about 1,040, leaving approximately enough spots to house the current ratio of Residential Advisers and D?Lions.
No plan has been made for the possibility of an overenrolled freshman class. ?We hope admissions will stick to its target,? Green said.
Though the RAs and D?Lion programs will need to be altered, Hazen said he doesn?t foresee them being reinvented. ?A lot of folks think you need separate training for freshman housing, but how to do mediation and programming is fundamentally the same,? he said.
The various dining requirements for on-campus students have been discussed at length.
?We?ve gotten the administration to recognize that dining is unfair. Students are getting ripped off, so that is going to change,? junior and Students? Association President Meng Wang said.
?The university should not attempt to profit off the students? dining needs,? said senior and committee member Damon Dimmick, speaker of the SA Senate.
Hazen said he plans to recommend that Burton and Crosby Halls stay single-sex, because the university wants to continue to accommodate those with moral or religious preferences for such a dorm.
The committee hopes to flesh out these details by Sesquicentennial Weekend. Committee members agreed that student voices are vital for freshman housing to be implemented successfully. ?The classes that didn?t get freshman housing need to play a role and be listened to,? Gamm said.
Wang and Dimmick encourage students to voice their opinions by contacting their senators.
?There are three things that are certain in life: death, taxes and freshman housing,? Wang said. ?Our power lies in the fact that we [students] will be able to steer how freshman housing is implemented.?
