Freshman floodgate opens today

Freshmen will be able to sleep soundly this year, in their own rooms. \nDespite past problems of overcrowding, like last year when more than 60 students temporarily lived in lounges, Residential Programs and Services is optimistic for the incoming class.\n“The worst case scenario: if we can’t find a regular room, we can put them in temporary housing in Eigenmann Hall until we can sort out available rooms from people who can’t stay at IU,” said RPS Assistant Director for Housing Assignments Sara Ivey-Lucas.\nIU is expecting roughly 7,950 new students in the residence halls this year, with 7,000 freshmen and 950 transfer and graduate students. Even with such a high number, RPS is not expecting any more problems than normal.\nThe usual problems are common on many big campuses: not enough carts and a shortage of parking and traffic, Ivey-Lucas said.\n“We’ve been preparing all summer,” Ivey-Lucas said. “(We’ve had) lots of conversations with IUPD for traffic flow, no marking zones, making 30-minute unloading zones, working hard to recruit Orientation staff.”\nAnd after all that work, its finally time for a new class of freshmen to start their college careers.\n“There will be more than 7,000 students moving into the residence halls,” Ivey-Lucas said. “It’s going to be crowded and hard to get into Target and Wal-Mart, but everything should move pretty smooth.”\nRPS is working hard to make the residence halls a home away from home for most new students. It has worked with the Orientation staff to schedule events that complement each other, including a residence hall pep rally before Friday’s Traditions and Spirit of IU program.\nRPS has also designed a new online system for emergency contact information. But about 2,000 students who applied late for housing or did not complete the information online will have to fill out paperwork, Ivey-Lucas said.\nRenovations have also recently been made for the comfort and entertainment of the students. The biggest were in Teter, McNutt, Foster and Forest quads. Certain floors of Teter and McNutt now have individual bathrooms for residents. The relatively new Hoosier Den, a large gaming and entertainment center beside Gresham Dining Hall, was completed last semester in Foster. Forest has a new air-conditioning unit in one tower, and work will be finished on the other tower sometime this school year.\nThese renovations have not \ngone unnoticed.\n“A lot of people have done a lot of work to get this ready for everyone,” said RA Len Newton of Forest Quad.\nRAs like Newton have been preparing their floors all week for move-in day by checking rooms and putting up name tags on doors.\nBoth Newton and Ivey-Lucas had advice for incoming freshmen.\n“Don’t be stupid,” Newton said. “That’s the rule of college: don’t be excessively stupid all the time.”\nIvey-Lucas’ advice included making friends so the campus would be smaller and more inviting.\n“Keep your door open, meet as many people as you can (and) don’t be afraid to ask people to repeat their names or appear foolish because that in some way is how you make friends,” she said. “You can’t hide in a corner and expect to meet other people. Take advantage of orientation events.”