Rising unaffiliated juniors and seniors looking to nab prime double and triple rooms on West Campus next year are in for a rude awakening-none will be available.
Independent upperclassmen will have a choice between living in single rooms on West Campus or rooming with others in Central Campus apartments, said Campus Council Vice President Kevin Thompson, a junior. As reasons for the new policy Thompson cited renovations to Few Quadrangle planned to continue through the Fall, a decrease in independent living space because of displaced selective living groups from Few Quad and an unusually large sophomore class.
"Our first priority in ensuring that all [rising] sophomores are accommodated on West," he said.
Campus Council President Ryan Todd, a senior, said as results from selective living recruitment and the off-campus lottery were obtained, the organization began to realize there would be about as many doubles on West Campus as pairs of sophomore roommates who are going to be living there.
Students said Wednesday that they were upset by the developments, adding that Residence Life and Housing Services and Campus Council have not communicated effectively with students regarding the situation.
"I really wanted to live on West Campus with my roommate from freshman year for the fourth year, but now I don't know what I'm going to do," said independent sophomore Emily Matthews, adding that she was not previously aware of the changes and has often felt out of the loop regarding the Room Pix process.
Matthews' roommate, junior Katie Yang, said the pair would probably be forced to live on Central because a recent spate of crime had discouraged them from living off campus.
Unaffiliated junior Fontane Au said she found out she would not be able to live with her roommate on West Campus next year while browsing the RLHS Web site.
"I feel like this change is pretty big and I don't think it's fair for them to assume everyone is going to go to the Web site. It should have been communicated better," Au said, adding that she might have considered living off campus had she known earlier that so few rooms would be available through Room Pix.
RLHS has conducted information sessions open to upperclassmen to answer questions about the room selection process, said Marijean Williams, director of housing assignments and communications.
Although the RLHS Web site states that on-campus housing is guaranteed for all who apply, the office does note there is "a small chance that available space on campus for rising juniors and seniors will be exhausted before all rising juniors have selected space."
The office plans to accommodate any students waitlisted for on-campus housing using spaces vacated by students who apply and change their minds during the summer.
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