Each year, hundreds of students make plans to stay at Duke for the summer, taking up residence on Central Campus or in off-campus houses and apartments.
However, some-like freshmen Erin Cloninger and Emily Sloss-have the opportunity to occupy coveted spaces on West Campus during the summer as members of Duke Student Government-recognized organizations.
Funded by Residence Life and Housing Services, the Free Summer Housing program is administered by the Office of Student Activities and Facilities and allots 20 students free on-campus housing each summer.
Student organization leaders are notified of the housing opportunity each year via e-mail, said OSAF Director Chris Roby. It is then their responsibility to pass the information on to interested members of their groups, he added.
As of April 2, 18 applications had been received, OSAF Program Coordinator Leslie Grinage wrote in an e-mail.
"Groups that have requested housing this year include Wesley Fellowship, Duke University Union, Duke University Emergency Medical Services [and the] Black Student Alliance," she said.
The groups vary from year to year depending on what they may have scheduled that summer or the following semester, she added.
Some groups, such as the Wesley Fellowship, use the program to keep organizations running smoothly between school years and to prepare for the fall semester.
"It's not unusual for a student or two to take advantage of student housing," said Jennifer Copeland, campus minister for the Wesley Fellowship. "If I don't have students around in the summer laying the groundwork, we'll be well behind the curve when Orientation starts in the Fall. It's a very student-driven ministry."
Cloninger and Sloss, two members of the Wesley Fellowship, hope to make a documentary film about Habitat for Humanity and homelessness in Durham this summer.
Cloninger said she heard of the free summer housing through word of mouth and considers herself lucky to have found out on the first day applications were posted because the free living option was the only way she could stay on campus.
On the application for housing, there was no space to request a particular roommate, but Cloninger said she hopes she can room with Sloss, who applied on the same day. She noted that there was only one to two sentences worth of room to explain her project for the summer, which she said worried her.
"I think the two sentences may not give OSAF a truly deep understanding of what the student is doing," she said. "I felt the need to follow up with a phone call."
Cloninger also added that there was no deadline for applications posted on the Web site, nor was there any information on how long it would take to get a notification of acceptance.
In the past, OSAF has had problems with students abusing the free summer housing and merely using it for storage space, Grinage said.
"There really isn't a way to ensure that this program doesn't get abused," she said. "We operate on the students' word that they are using it for the purpose they state in their application. If it is discovered that they are using it for storage, it will affect that group being able to participate in the future."
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