The Fall Semester has begun, a new batch of students has arrived, and once again Guilford has a housing shortage. There are currently four rooms on campus with three residents, all of them located in Shore Hall. “It sucks,” said Dean of Campus Life and Interim Head of Public Safety Aaron Fetrow “It was a problem and we did our best to fix it. We refused to take the Student Lounges in Milner and Binford like we did last year. We picked Shore because it has large rooms that can accommodate three people better than rooms in Milner and Binford.”
Guilford is currently in a transitional period; the administration keeps admitting more and more students in the hopes of making Guilford a larger institution while still keeping class sizes small. Both Fetrow and Randy Doss, the vice president of enrollment and campus life, have said that the school is trying very hard to get the funds to build a new dorm, but until then, housing shortages may occur.
The housing shortage has not only affected first-year students. In April of last year, when the housing lottery began, many people did not get the rooms that they would have liked. Some opted to move off-campus to places such as Friendly Hills or Legacy Apartments. Others decided to live in their less desirable dorm.
“It seems like they forced most of the juniors off campus,” said junior Morgan Kerr, who currently lives in an off campus house. “Maybe they should make it easier for people to move off campus without any loss of financial aid.”
Last year many juniors were left with the option of either living in Bryan, English or Shore, or move off campus. “There was no way I could live in Bryan State Penitentiary for another year; I had my fun but I needed out,” said Will Wollison, former Bryan Hall resident and member of the junior class. “They definitely need to rework the housing lottery system; there is no reason a junior should have to live in Bryan, especially if it would be their third consecutive year living there, which would have been the case for many of my friends”
Both Doss and Fetrow are aware of this issue and plan to hold open forums on the housing issue sometime this year. “We held four open forums last year but very few people showed up” said Fetrow “We were disappointed with the turn out. We do our best to help students share their views and it is important that they show up and do so.” Said Doss.
One idea that has been discussed has been giving sophomores precedence in the housing lottery. “We’ve talked about it; many sophomores are not quite mature enough to live on their own, so we would rather they live on campus. By the time you are a senior, maybe it’s about time you get your own place and move off campus.”
“I enjoy living on campus this year but it would be weird for sophomores to get precedence in the housing lottery” said current sophomore Conor Walsh. “I know numerous sophomores and juniors who are now living off campus due to housing problems. It’s like Guilford is trying to push an entire generation of Guilford students off campus”
“Be patient,” says Doss to the student body. “All of these problems will eventually work out.”
Both Doss and Fetrow stressed the importance of the upcoming student forums on the housing issue, which will most likely be held sometime early next year.