Students Rush during 'Chaotic' Housing Sign-Up
Virginia Rendler
Manchester University students signed up for housing on Thursday, April 27. The housing sign ups were originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 25, but were pushed back due to the campus-wide power outages experienced two weeks ago.
Students who intended to stay in their current rooms next fall were referred to as ‘squatters.’ This group simply needed to fill out an online agreement between April 17 and 21 in order to keep their room. Sophomore Kayla Michaels said this process was very simple and quick. “I squatted my room, so it was very easy for me,” Michaels said. “You don’t have to go line up for housing, so I just filled out the email. I was very glad to miss the housing sign up. I knew it would be hectic, and I was grateful to get the exact room I wanted.” However, students that were not squatting their rooms were required to sign up in person.
Before signing up, students were required to fill out a housing agreement form online. According to first-year Christain Poole, this was an issue for some students. “It was fine for me, but I know it wasn’t for others,” he said. “It was for the most part unorganized, until about five minutes before and they told us to get in the lines for the halls we wanted to get into. Once we got in there, there were quite a few people who didn’t have the email filled out so they missed the opportunity to get the room they wanted.”
Students who wanted a spot in the East Street Apartments were required to go to the upper level of the Jo Young Switzer Center between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. This was the most chaotic of all the sign ups. There are few availabilities for East Street Apartments, so many students camped out for hours before 5 p.m. in order to get an apartment.
Seniors were then able to sign up for housing from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and displaced students from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Displaced students are students that currently live on first-year floors, or have some other circumstance that makes them unable to squat their rooms. Yadira Orduño lives on a first-year floor, and needed to sign up with displaced students. “The housing set up needs worked on,” she said. “There was lots of chaos and uncertainty with everyone just grouping up outside the doors. Some of it felt a bit patronizing, but I was able to get into the dorm I wanted with my roommates, so at the end of it all I was satisfied.” Following displaced students, inter-building signups were from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Lastly, students attending to move across campus were permitted to sign up between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. Many students moving across campus were frustrated by the late time frame and the fact that many of the rooms were full once they arrived. According to first-year Sydney Abbott, many of the dorms were full by that time. “I was moving across campus, so it was difficult for me to have to go there so late even though my roommate was signing up two hours before me,” she said. “If my roommate hadn’t saved us a room already, I don’t think I would have been able to be in the building I wanted because they were all mostly full at that point.”
First-year Chelsea Glenn agreed. “I moved across campus so I went to sign up at the designated time, which was very late at night,” Glenn said. “When I arrived, they said I could have come to sign at any time. That was frustrating and since I was signing up last, only a few rooms were left where I wanted to live. The whole set up was very chaotic and frustrating, but in the end I was able to live in the building I had wanted, but waiting was really stressful.”
Some students were permitted to sign up before their designated time. Sophomore E’mon Harris also expressed frustration at this situation. “I would like if we could do this online instead of having to go in person,” Harris said. “It is inconvenient because I had to rush over there. Also, some people were signing up before the times in the email which I think is unfair for the people that waited.”