Fall '98 campus housing applications available

Hating the far walk to his classes, Barry Schlansky said he hopes to avoid receiving an East Halls housing assignment for next year.

"Only a wacko would enjoy walking through the freezing puddles of Lot 80 slush at 7 in the morning," Schlansky (freshman-engineering) said.

Beginning Monday, students who wish to live on campus Fall Semester 1998 may pick up a housing contract at any commons desk, said Lynn DuBois, assistant director of housing.

However, unluckily for Schlansky, housing assignments for students other than incoming freshmen are drawn at random, said Kathy Krinks, manager of the assignment office of Housing and Food Services. Incoming freshmen are the only students assigned rooms according to the date their housing contracts are received, she said.

Schlansky said he thinks his freshman standing has forced him to live in a far corner of campus this year.

However, East Halls is not just reserved for freshmen, Krinks said.

"Contrary to popular belief, East is not the freshmen area," she said.

Many freshmen are assigned to East Halls because they request housing there, DuBois said.

"They want to be in a place that is pretty lively," she said.

Although 20 percent of each housing area is reserved for freshmen, DuBois said many freshmen live in East Halls because of the number of vacancies there.

"As students become older they request other areas," she said. "Now that they are not freshmen, they want to be with other upperclassmen and they perceive (East Halls) as being further from classroom buildings and downtown."

A number of variables are taken into account when determining a student's assignment and roommate, Krinks said.

First, the housing office considers which students would like to continue living in the same room or on the same floor. Also, spaces are reserved for students who request a specific roommate. Both students have to request each other in order to be assigned to a room, Krinks said.

For those students who remain unassigned, each are divided by semester standing and randomly assigned a housing number, she said.

Roommates are assigned by their college of study, she said, but their prioritization of living area is also considered.

Also, Krinks said roommates are usually not assigned to live together if one is at least 21 years old and the other is under 21. Having roommates who are separated by that age barrier is avoided because it may place students on different maturity levels in the same room, DuBois said.