RHA sees 2 sides to housing plan

Student leaders are voicing mixed feelings about the final plan to combat overflow housing next fall.

Members of both Residential Programs and Services and the Residence Halls Association who are part of the Space Utilization Committee announced earlier this month a plan to create 321 bed spaces and help accommodate students remaining in lounges.

The plan includes moving staff members from double-singles to single rooms, reducing the number of double-singles available and increasing the amount of students in larger rooms.

The overflow problem stems from the separation between RPS and the IU Admissions Office, said junior Marianna Eble, director of arts and culture for the RHA.

“With housing prices and tuition increasing, the admissions office must accept more students to generate the same income flow as before,” Eble said.

“To account for drop-outs or students that don’t show up to school, they admit even more students.”

This sometimes results in too many students and not enough rooms — the same situation this fall and in past years.

One of the first plans called for using lounges as rooms. However, this issue has been taken off the table, said sophomore Sarah Wells, Read Center president.

“I wasn’t a fan of the initial plan because I think floor lounges are a great way to build community. Also, putting so many residents in one room could diminish their quality of living,” Wells said.

Eble agreed with Wells; lounges are not the best housing option for first-year students.

“Lounges are not the real college experience,” Eble said. “RPS tries as hard as they can by offering all the amenities, but with up to five residents in a room, this is cheating the students.”

Another point still being discussed by RPS is moving residence assistants to single rooms.

However, Wells said in Read, this could pose a problem.

“With the length of our hallways and the way Read is set up, this would make the RA position more difficult and would diminish the sense of community,” Wells said.

“Now, with RAs living in the middle of the hallway, it makes them more accessible.”

Due to the compromises RPS has made, Wells said she is pleased with the plan.

“I think this is the best plan given the circumstances,” she said. “Obviously overflow housing is not ideal, but RPS has worked with us to resolve the issues.”

Senior and Collins Living-Learning Center President Sarah Epplin said she thinks the plan will be beneficial overall for campus.

According to the plan, no changes will be made to Collins besides a cap on the number of residents — 530 — for next year.

“The LLC staff is so happy about the cap,” Epplin said. “Before there was a set number, we didn’t know how many freshman to expect, but now we can’t go over 530, which is about how many residents we have now.”