When housing assignments for Spring term were announced March 1, the Office of Residential Life sent an e-mail to all students receiving new housing assignments in an effort to preempt the flurry of complaints the office typically receives every spring from returning juniors unsatisfied with their spring housing. The e-mail, however, proved to have little impact: Approximately the same number of juniors complained to ORL as in previous years.
"The number of juniors unhappy with their housing situation has been pretty consistent," said Rachael Class-Giguere, director of undergraduate housing. "This year we had 100 or less juniors contact us, about the same as any other year."
Juniors returning in the spring from a term off campus generally expect a housing situation comparable to the one their priority number would have netted them in the fall.
"Our friend Caroline is in the same room she was in freshman year, but with a random '09," Jessica Calhoun '08 said. "It's so brutal."
Despite being off Winter term, Calhoun thought that, with the 300th best housing number, she would get a single. In the end, she was placed in a one-room double in Topliff residence hall.
"I thought we had a better chance with all the new dorms," Catherine Haldeman '08, Calhoun's roommate, said. "We wanted particular dorms and singles, since we thought there would be a lot of housing available."
But according to ORL, the new McLaughlin Cluster and Tuck Mall residences, which together house over 500 students, are predominantly occupied by freshmen and seniors.
Over the course of the year, it is mostly sophomores that leave Dartmouth in the spring and juniors that return to campus, Class-Giguere said. As a result, much of the housing that becomes available spring quarter is housing that has been vacated by sophomores.
Many of these rooms that become available are the less desirable two-room doubles and triples.
The e-mail that ORL sent was intended to clarify these circumstances to juniors unhappy with their housing situation and potentially having augmented expectations because of the recent completions of new dorms. While similar e-mails had been sent to those who complained in the past, this one was sent out to the whole group.
"We don't want people to think that we're trying to hide the fact that we run out of singles," Class-Giguere said. "We keep repeating this message but we're not saying it in a way that people are understanding."
ORL is considering asking Undergraduate Advisors to talk to sophomores in the spring in order to manage their expectations concerning their housing situation the next year, Class-Giguere said.
She added that peer-to-peer contact and advance notice may help get the point across.
The lack of housing has led some to take desperate measures in order to get the housing they want.
"Our friend pulled the medical card to get a single," Haldeman explained.
