There are only a few days of classes left and students are clamoring to leave. While many independents have signed up for their rooms next year, there are a large chunk of students whose still don’t have a place to stay next semester.
The College plans to knock down Crawford Hall, home to around 30 students, and move them into the soon-to-be renovated College Hall, which is currently home to around 25 students. College Hall is undergoing renovations as part of the Fraternity Partnerships Campaign, which puts the TKEs next up on the list for a new house. This past year the FIJIs moved into a newly constructed house as part of the same program.
That means what used to be part of the TKE house will be transformed into rooms and living areas for College Hall residents.
If the independent numbers are as high as they were this year, students may not be able to fit in College Hall. It was so bad this year that Dean Raters came to each independent living unit in October ’06 and spoke with all of the residents mentioning how there was a possibility that he might have to turn the lounging areas into rooms if more students became independent. It never came to that, but the fact that a situation such as that had arisen caused questions to surface.
Regarding the space issues, there are doubles that will be turned into triples for next year and residents weren’t notified before they went to the Deans’ office to squat for rooms for next year. Thus, their housing was mixed up and those students had to find new roommates at the very last second. Those students are now forced to live in rooms that many believe will not be able to hold three students comfortably.
Resident Assistant for College Hall, Brock Johnson ’07, is upset at the way the College is handling the whole situation. “The fact that we had a crunch this year, and we will have one this coming year, this is just like putting a band-aid on a much larger problem,” he said.
Johnson also expressed frustration over the current conditions while the renovations are taking place. Johnson, along with other College Hall residents, was informed the construction would “incur a minimal intrusion on the independents living here.” That, students say, unfortunately, is not how things actually turned out.
“There were some issues in the beginning about people having their cars towed without being told. We’ve lost internet a couple of times, we’ve lost water and our washer and dryer space has been taken up in the basement because of construction. We have to listen to noise constantly throughout the day,” Johnson said. “Basically, our home has been turned into a construction site. I don’t think that qualifies under minimal intrusion, but the Deans’ office has been working on the issue.”
Emmanuel Aouad ’10 is ready for anything that may come his way. “I loved College Hall before construction because every day it’s a surprise what might go wrong. It keeps us on our toes,” Aouad said. “I wake up in the morning wondering if I will have internet to send papers to professors or have water to brush my teeth. I keep bottles of water around just in case of emergency.”
Independent housing has become controversial the past few years. Four years ago talks first emerged about a possible new dorm being built due to the increase of independents.
Dean Raters was optimistic about the College Hall renovations and knows that there is going to be some sort of inconvenience. “This is the first venture where there has got to be, for a lack of a better phrase, ‘pain for some gain’ and I don’t like it, but at the same time it’s a price we’ve all got to pay in order to improve facilities.”
Raters also addressed criticism for allowing construction to go on during the end of the school year, a time when many students need as much concentration and study time as possible. “If we waited until May when the students are out, we wouldn’t have it ready by August and we have got to have it ready by August [because] we have 75-plus students going in there.”
It will be more difficult to provide additional amenities for College Hall if more students will be moved there. Furthermore, fraternities take certain things for granted. Independents do not have night kitchens, or sinks, for that matter, to wash their dishes. When independents are not given the simple luxury of a kitchen, students are forced to create mini-kitchens in their rooms composed of microwaves, toasters, and other assorted cooking electronics. That only complicates matters because it becomes a fire hazard.
“There seems to be a lack of interest in independent housing. There are lots of buildings with mold and chipped paint and every independent washes his dishes in the same sink that he washes his teeth in. It’s absurd that we don’t have cooking spaces and there is going to be a cooking space in here next year and the independents won’t be able to use it,” Johnson said.
The new cooking space will only be available for use when summer residents are living in the hall for internships – not for students during the regular school year.
It is slightly frustrating to students when the College is constantly promoting fraternity over independent. For instance, the Wabash College website claims that 35 percent of the student body is independent. That is obviously inaccurate, especially after the huge catastrophe that took place this year – students being crammed into rooms due to inefficient space for independents. The numbers are more around 57 percent fraternity and 43 percent independent.
However, not all students are complaining. College Hall resident Forrest Craig ’10 said he was annoyed by the situation, but not inconvenienced. “Yesterday they shut down the power, but I haven’t been to my room much. It’s not bothering me completely that they are coming in early because I am not letting it bother me.”
Dean Raters plans for the College Hall renovations to be completed before students return back to campus. “It had better be completed by the time [everyone gets back] because otherwise I will have students sleeping in my children’s beds because I won’t have a place to put these guys.”