by Diana Crandall
This past week, social media erupted with the revelation that the university will be housing approximately 30 students at Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark. Emotions ranging from incredulity to apathy have graced Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds, prompting attention from the mainstream media – from local news to the national Huffington Post.
When the news first broke, I was taken aback. Since my first year, each housing lottery has left students without assigned rooms. Yet, autumn has always brought the relatively stress-free transition back to campus where everyone has a place to stay.
What was different about this year? Hadn’t the administration planned for this? How could university officials not have known months ago that this would be an issue? Why are we finding out two weeks before classes begin?
After sitting down to talk with Jennie Smith and Jon Geyer, Director and Assistant Director of Residential and Commuter Life, as well as Nichole Johnson, Director of Media Relations and Communications, I found they answered my questions and altered my initial negative perspective.
The reality is that projecting the number of beds that will be available in the fall isn’t an exact science. It’s complex because of the ebb and flow of students who change their minds about staying or leaving – whether that’s to transfer, move on or off campus, or to come to the school as a first semester freshman – and the numbers can change daily.
Moreover, a new residence hall can’t easily be built. It’s less about being land-locked in Bexley, and more about the vigorous planning and millions of dollars that go into planning a hall. Long-term questions abound: Will we need this residence hall in 30 years? Who will we contract with? How much money will it cost? How long will it take to make that money back?
The complicated process is not one that the university is currently exploring. “As of now, we are not discussing building a new residence hall,” Johnson said. That being said, Johnson stated that housing is not remaining stagnant. “We continue to expand our housing options for juniors and seniors every year – adding apartments and houses [in the community] for them”.
Well, what about allowing juniors and seniors to move off campus without slashing their financial aid?
“Financial aid is a plan that is tailored to each individual student,” Johnson said. “It’s a university policy that offers on-campus incentives; there’s also a correlation between living on campus and being successful and involved. We want that for our students. It also factors into the cost of attendance – not just through the school but through the federal government as well,” she said, indicating that there would be no change in the financial aid policy for the foreseeable future.
Another of many criticisms that the student body expressed about administrative decisions is that enrollment numbers continue to rise, prompting questions about the academic rigor required for acceptance, and the reasoning behind accepting more students when issues in housing have arisen for the past few years.
Johnson explained that the record enrollment at Capital results from a targeted goal that the university sets to gradually increase the number of incoming students.
“Part of the record enrollment is intentional, but sometimes demand increases past our target goal,” said Johnson. “The past few years we’ve almost reached full capacity with our housing options, and this year we happened to go over that capacity.”
After watching the numbers closely and solidifying them after the May 1“college decision date,” the university began exploring other options for housing – all of which are less attractive than staying at an indoor waterpark.
When asked about alternative options, which included adding more beds to residence halls or converting common areas to living spaces, Jennie Smith stated that it quickly became out of the question.
“We wanted more than a place to lay your head,” Smith said. “I hope that this speaks to students that we care. We’re not going to put our students just anywhere.”
Some areas still remain blurry, however. Students have already begun to move onto campus and will continue to do so throughout the next week. August seems inconveniently late to inform residents of a housing situation unprecedented in our university’s recent history. Moreover, shuttle services by public safety were offered to students before any officials at the Department of Public Safety had been contacted.
Sophomore Brian Rosfelder, one of the students chosen to live at Fort Rapids, agrees that students should have been informed of an alternative housing option outside of campus earlier in the summer, even if the details hadn’t been solidified.
“I was honestly nervous that I didn’t have a room. There was no communication; I had thought I was just forgotten,” said Rosfelder, who found out about his assignment on August 12.
Despite the amenities at Fort Rapids, Rosfelder is still skeptical of the experience. “It’s annoying that I have to drive to school, have class at 7:45 a.m. three days a week, as well as having to get food on campus before I return to my room. My meal plan does me no good at the resort.”
What Rosfelder refers to are the two swipes per week that students are awarded at Fort Rapids. And while students without cars will be shuttled to the university, and have access to extended meal plan hours on campus, the situation still isn’t ideal.
“No one is saying, ‘This is great!’ No one acknowledges that this isn’t an inconvenience. It’s not ideal – but we’re asking for patience and to make the best of it,” Johnson said. “We understand the anxiety, questions, and concerns that students have. It’s new for us too.”
Smith and Geyer built upon this, stating that they are working to make the experience at Fort Rapids not only enjoyable, but exactly like on campus.
“We have an RA and a staff member living onsite, we will hold programs for residents, and we will shuttle them to and from the university for extracurricular activities or after-hours events as well as their classes. It’s important to our students to be involved [on campus] and it’s important to us,” said Smith and Geyer.
Despite a less-than-graceful emergence of this story onto social media, I learned a lot from these interviews. Things aren’t as black and white as they seem; the university has worked on this for months to try to find not just adequate housing, but superior housing for their students.
No one is perfect – could things have gone smoother? Probably. Should they have communicated this situation to selected students sooner? Yes. But now that the university has worked to make the best of the situation, any issue with housing that may arise in the future will be handled with established protocol and clear communication between the administration and the students
“We’re in the business of creating second homes. We listen to the good, the bad and the ugly,” Smith said.
dcrandal@capital.edu
