For the second consecutive year, leave-term students will be denied on-campus housing this spring, as the College struggles to accommodate even those students who are enrolled for Spring term classes.
The current number of on-term students for whom the Office of Residential Life has not been able to find living spaces -- currently 106 -- marks the largest spring housing crunch in recent years.
Fifty students were originally affected by last year's Spring housing deficiency. Spaces were found for many students, but 13 remained without campus housing as a result of the crunch.
And as ORL scrambles to locate dormitory space for the 100 students this spring faced with not getting housing, the office is employing a variety of new tactics to find housing for those on-term students who desire it.
In particular, College-owned Greek houses are being asked to deny living space to their leave-term members. Also, sophomores will fill vacancies in first-year rooms, and students might live in lounges and other common areas, if necessary.
"We're trying to get room assignment notices out to everyone by the end of this term," Director of Housing Services Lynn Rosenblum said. "We haven't found spaces for everyone, but we're working on it."
According to Rosenblum, the spring housing crunch has gotten worse in recent years "because of an uneven number of students [enrolled] in Fall, Winter, and Spring terms."
Indeed, the College's push to relieve the demand for fall housing may have had some unintended consequences. In 1994 many language departments moved their foreign study programs to the Fall term, which may have made it more desirable for students to spend their Spring terms on campus.
Most recently, the College has been trying to make better use of the Winter and Summer terms. The recommendations released last month by the steering committee asked that Greek rush take place for sophomores in the Winter term instead of during the fall. The report also suggested that juniors -- not just sophomores -- be encouraged to take classes during the summer.
Katie Greer '00 is one student who, after deciding not to enroll in spring classes, was denied on-campus housing in the spring.
"I was originally going to live in my sorority, but ORL told the [College-owned Coed Fraternity and Sorority] houses that people not taking classes can't do that this year," she said. "I'm in the process of looking now, but it's really tough since they told us in the beginning of last week, and I haven't really had time. There don't seem to be a lot of vacancies."
Last year marked the first spring housing crunch, according to Rosenblum. Eventually, all students who were taking classes that term were allowed on-campus living space, but leave-term students had to seek alternate housing arrangements.
ORL gives priority to students who are enrolled in spring classes and applied before the January housing deadline. Any extra rooms are traditionally allocated to students who are not taking classes but plan on remaining in the Hanover area for the term.
These off-term students and possibly other enrolled students may be forced to find other options for the spring.
Although the construction of the new East Wheelock dorm adds 80 beds to the campus, these beds replace ones lost in renovations to the Gold Coast and other room decompressions.
Future housing crunches, particularly the annual Fall term situation, will depend on the size of the Class of 2004 and the fate of the buildings in downtown Hanover that the College purchased over the summer.
