After changes to upper-division housing selection, some rising juniors were left with only a historically first-year residence hall as an option. After the remaining rooms in City Vista (CV) were gone by noon on April 3, the first day of room selection for rising juniors, students turned to upper-division dorm room selection on April 10. However, by the second day, a few students had no choice but to select Verna McLean Hall, intended for first-years. Others were unable to select a room at all, and are waiting for rooms to open up in the summer.
Rising seniors typically select rooms before rising juniors. Last year was the only year that the process was reversed. Rising seniors will continue to select before rising juniors for the foreseeable future. Broc Dumler, housing assignments coordinator, indicated that the decision to let rising seniors select rooms first is because of a misunderstanding in the past.
“Last year we wanted to try out having our rising juniors select first with the intention behind it that they are held to the three-year residency requirement,” Dumler wrote in an email. “In doing that, though, we found that some of our rising seniors felt as if they didn’t have the option to live on campus.”
Since all upper-division rooms filled up on the second day of room selection time for rising juniors, Residential Life allocated rooms on the fourth floor of McLean to the remaining students. While these students secured a room, the situation isn’t ideal. Cristian Martinez, sophomore urban studies major and “McLean-er” next semester, explained that this was unexpected.
“I thought we were guaranteed an upper-division dorm,” Martinez said. “I was just telling my friends throughout the whole thing, ‘At this point, honestly, we’ll be lucky if we get a dog house outside of North Hall.’ It’s a joke, yeah, but that’s how it went.”
As students celebrated securing rooms in North and Camille Lightner Hall, those who hadn’t selected rooms watched as their preferences disappeared from the housing portal. During the second day of room selection for rising juniors on April 11, Stephanie R. Keith, the assistant director of housing operations, sent an email to students who were yet to select rooms, informing them about the housing situation.
“There will be a small number of students who won’t be able to reserve their room today. Rising juniors, you are guaranteed a space in the upper-division area,” Keith’s email read. “We know that this can feel stressful, but rest assured that this is a part of the process.”
McLean is designated as a first-year residence hall on the Trinity website, but the fourth floor will have the same programming model as the rest of the upper division. Dumler indicated that the top floor of McLean was set aside for upperclassmen before room selection began.
“Our goal is always to house as many students as we can, and we have an obligation to house our rising juniors with the three-year residency requirement. Given the number of rising seniors that had expressed a desire to live on campus this year, we needed to create some extra spaces for our rising juniors and seniors,” Dumler wrote.
During the high-intensity time of room selection, many students come up with plans and backup plans. Dylan Nguyen, sophomore biology major, emphasized that even his backup plans didn’t work out.
“Of course, I was frustrated. Coming from the highs of like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna go live in CV’ to ‘Oh, I’m going to live in the same dorm that I was in freshman year,’” Nguyen said. “So, does it suck? Yes. Could it have been worse? Definitely. So in the end, it’s just kind of a shrug.”
Rising seniors were first to select upper-division rooms but they faced housing issues as well. Levolea Wallace, junior sociology major and Lightner resident next year, shared that the selection times for her roommates were pushed back the day they selected rooms even though they had room selection on the first day.
“The situation is fine because we’re still gonna be together,” Wallace said. “Selection on the first day doesn’t matter if you don’t have a good time, because everybody’s going in trying to get what they want.”
During this time, many students are reaching out to ResLife with housing issues and problems, but not everyone wants to reach out to them. Martinez explained the struggle of advocating for himself and this situation.
“I feel this sort of a weird pressure to not want to advocate for myself,” Martinez said. “Is it weird to be complaining that I have a roof over my head? But at the same time, this isn’t the roof that was promised.”