WCSA and campus administrators are brainstorming ways to allow off-campus housing for OWU students during the 2012-13 academic year.
The OWU Residential Life (ResLife) office announced last semester in a campus-wide email that students would not be offered the option of off-campus housing.
In the past, upperclassmen have had the option to enter a lottery for off-campus housing.
According to the ResLife email, Stuyvesant Hall’s reopening next fall means they anticipate having “adequate housing for all students who are not commuting from home.”
Student response to this development has not been uniformly positive.
“I think people are upset because living off-campus is an opportunity to experience greater responsibility before you graduate,” said junior April Warner.
Juniors Anthony McGuire and Carly Hallal, WCSA president and vice president, agree, although they understand the university’s motives.
“I know the main reason is enrollment,” said McGuire, “They would love to let people off-campus, but an empty floor in Stuy would look bad.”
Communication between ResLife, WCSA and the student body has also been a problem in the past, which both Hallal and McGuire want to improve.
“I was upset when I received the email because my committee had worked closely with the Residential Life office, and they hadn’t mentioned it before,” said Hallal. “Most of the issues with ResLife have been communication.”
Hallal and McGuire, along with other WCSA members, have come up with a few ideas to make off-campus living a possibility, and campus administration has been receptive to listening to their ideas.
“We’ve had several meetings with (OWU President) Rock Jones and Craig Ullom (vice president of student affairs). One idea is to put three people in Smith Hall instead of four, so it would take fewer students to fill those rooms, and then more people can have singles,” said Hallal.
“It would also help cover costs because singles are a little more expensive,” said McGuire.
“It was something Tim Carney (former WCSA vice president) and Sharif Kronemer (former WCSA president) came up with before they left WCSA.”