Campus living better this year
With the changes made in housing, more students are living on campus without the discomforts of last year.
Skiff Staff

There are more students living on campus this year than last but, unlike last year, no one has been asked to sleep in residence hall lobbies or in hotel rooms, said Roger Fisher, director of residential services.

More than 200 more students live on campus this year, Fisher said, and because of the addition of 33 beds to Tomlinson Hall, more than 100 more are living in Greek housing.

Tomlinson Hall has only recently been opened for all students as a hall because of the suspension of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

“The sororities are full,” Fisher said. “But the fraternities have fewer vacancies than they have in the past five years.”

Mindy Edwards, hall director for Wiggins and Tomlinson Halls, said Tomlinson Hall hasn’t had problems changing from a fraternity house into a residence hall. She said residents participate in programming within Wiggins and are involved in activities just like any other hall.

Edwards said a study room has been added to the third floor and that the chapter room remains closed as the suspended fraternity’s storage area.

Fisher said the beds added to the Worth Hills area are not the only reason things are running more smoothly.

He said there are about 50 fewer incoming freshmen this year and that the freshman class size directly relates to housing. Also, Fisher said this year transfer students were not offered housing to avoid overcrowding.

“Transfers weren’t considered,” Fisher said. “They were told from the beginning that there was no room
for them.”

Since on-campus housing is not as full as last year, some male resident assistants do not have roommates like many had last year, Fisher said.

Patrick Crocker, an RA in Foster Hall, said it was more of a hassle for his roommate than it was for him.

He said one of the biggest problems was that residents would come up to his roommate and ask him questions about work orders and what is going on with hall events.

Crocker said the students who get RA’s as roommates are usually freshman who were the last to register.

Scott Calvert, head RA in Foster Hall, said it can be a problem for freshman to live with the person who enforces the rules.

“It is important that they have a certain level of freedom,” Calvert said. “(Freshmen) might feel pressure by living with a RA.”