Lounge living not luxurious

Moving in to the dorms for the first time is an exciting experience, but a trying one. For new students adjusting to being away from home is supposed to be made easier by having a place to call their own, even if it is a 12 by 14 foot cinderblock room. But many freshmen this year were denied a dorm room, and instead were forced to live in a floor lounge for an indefinite period until more rooms open.\n The overcrowding of dorms at IU has been a problem in the past, but it was exacerbated this year by the large incoming class and incomplete renovations. Students who applied late for housing used to be placed in whatever rooms were still available. Now students are living in what is supposed to be a communal area for a floor to socialize and study. With the shortage, housing problems have once again moved to the front of IU's to-do list.\n Any solutions to make university housing more available in the future will not help those who are affected by the housing shortage this year. Once open rooms are made available to the students in lounges they will need to move out, but do not receive any assistance from IU in the move. Many students moved in with the help of parents who provided transportation and extra muscle. It is ridiculous to expect students who are new to IU to manage to move all of their belongings without help, and it is unreasonable to ask parents to take another day off work to help.\nThe students who are living in the lounges are also paying for a room that they do not have. It is too much to ask students who have been displaced to pay the same amount in rent as those who were immediately placed in rooms. They are not receiving the same services from the University, therefore they should not pay the same amount.\nThe whole purpose of Welcome Week is to make students feel welcome at IU, and IU has done the exact opposite by housing students in floor lounges. The least the University can do is place the students in their room assignments as quickly as possible, but they should also provide people to help students move out of the lounges. IU should also adjust the rent these students will pay to more accurately reflect their housing situation at the beginning of the semester.\nStaff vote: Unamimous