Three residents per room causes clutter
As of Sept. 19, 125 students are living in temporary housing across the University of Indianapolis campus.
There were 152 women living three per room in Cravens Hall and 40 students living in suites ranging from two to five occupants in the basement of Warren Hall. The lounges on both sides of Cory Bretz Hall were filled with students and there was also temporary housing created in Central Hall.
“We may have people in temporary housing for the remainder of the year or we may have everyone moved out,” said Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Kory Vitangeli. “I just can’t 100 percent say at this point.”
Vitangeli said that all students who are living with three or more students received a reduced housing rate, $500 less than the regular price.
A glimpse into freshman Callie Fehr’s dorm room on the second floor of Cravens Hall shows the clutter resulting from three beds in a room that in previous years held only two. Photo by Chris Hartley.
Freshman Amanda Ackles noted that residents were told ahead of time about having an additional roommate.
“Showers are an issue, as is washing your laundry,” Ackles said. “There are roughly 80 people with only two dryers and two washers. It’s hard to find a time where you can get it done.”
UIndy’s official records indicate that 4,966 [undergraduate day division] applicants were accepted for the 2010-2011 academic school year, which is an increase of 1,281 accepted applicants from the previous year.
“Once we started to identify housing issues and space issues, we had to communicate with people that we had on a wait list,” Director of Admissions Ron Wilks said. “In the past, what would happen is that people would have changed their minds, and we’d pull them off the wait list. We did not see a lot of movement from people [this year] after they put down their deposits.”
According to Wilks, some students accepted on advised admission were turned away. Due to his or her academic credentials, an advised admission applicant is required to live on campus and limit his or her credit hours taken. However, due to the overcrowding issues, there was not adequate space for some of those students who were required to live on campus, and therefore they could not attend UIndy in the fall.
Residents from the second floor of Cravens Hall hang out in friend Callie Wehr’s (middle right) dorm room. Photo by Chris Hartley.
“We are in the process now of communicating with those students that are interested in coming in second semester,” Wilks said.
According to Vitangeli, students in temporary housing will have first priority in available rooms over incoming students.
Wilks noted that by catching the increase before the semester began, the university was able to plan ahead in terms of hiring faculty. This gave the university the opportunity to open up more sections in general education and other mandatory courses for freshmen and upperclassmen.
Concerning whether the 13-to-1 student teacher ratio and the average 18 students per classroom ratios would be affected, Wilks said that there is a reporting process and information is submitted in October, so statistics for this semester won’t be available until sometime after the submission date.
Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management Mark Weigand said that there is discussion with the Board of Trustees about building a new residence hall.
“We need another residence hall even if we cap our growth,” Weigand said. “Even if we don’t grow at all, we need to catch up to where we are right now.”
