Housing for upperclassmen at the University of St. Thomas has been an ongoing issue. Priority housing was nixed for upperclassmen last year, according to a Dec. 10 email obtained by The Crest.
Associate Director of Residence Life Zoe Chang sent an email to upper-division students who received past accommodations.
“All students who are not required to live on campus will go through a housing lottery process to determine a selection time on February 26,” Chang wrote.
According to the university’s Medical/Disability Accommodation Requests Statement, there are “reasonable and appropriate housing options for physical accessibility in various halls.”
Single-efficiency units are available in some residence halls. They include bathrooms and showers designed for students with disabilities.
In addition, students can request accommodations for other reasons—such as extreme allergies or mental health—but are required to provide medical documentation to Disability Resources.
In the email, Chang wrote that students with approved accommodations would no longer have the option to request a priority timeslot.
“This is a change from years past due to the limited number of bed spaces available for upper-division students,” Chang wrote. “Students who receive a time slot that DOES allow them to select a bed space will be able to select a space that meets their accommodation OR we will work directly with them on alternative options.”
There was also an email sent out in December to upper-division students to inform them that housing would be limited, said Director of Residence Life Aaron Macke.
“With respect to Upper-Division students, our obligations generally are different than with first- and second-year students, because housing is not required,” Macke said.
Since Residence Life knew not all upper-division students would be granted housing, it decided to eliminate the priority timeslot for students with accommodations.
This allowed for an “equally random process for all students,” Macke said.
“There are a small number of students whose housing accommodation is actually to live on campus versus off campus, and those students were manually assigned to housing,” Macke said. “This differs from most housing accommodations that refer to a type of room, like a single or air conditioning or private bathroom, etc.”
Sophomore Owen Frid said he received priority housing last year but ended up not using it. This year, he reapplied but was not granted it again.
“I went to Res Life multiple times, and they were very vague about the answer of whether it was gonna work or not,” Frid said. “I ultimately received an email explicitly telling me that it was not gonna work because I’m now an upperclassman; in the fall, I’ll be a junior.”
Frid said that he tried to pull himself and his roommates into a four-person room on campus, but his selection time on Feb. 26 ultimately left him with no housing at all.
“I believe an hour or two hours before my time slot, I got an email that they were completely out of rooms,” Frid said.
Director of Student Affairs Karen Lange addressed housing concerns for rising juniors and seniors in a Feb. 27 USG meeting.
“This year, we switched our process a little bit because we wanted to make sure all of our rising second-year students got housing, so about 400 rising juniors and seniors applied for housing, and 130 got spots,” Lange said.
With the consistent growth of underclassmen cohorts and the destruction of Cretin Hall last year, there are fewer beds for juniors and seniors, Macke said.
“I mean, that’s great for getting more people on campus and for having people on campus, but I feel like for student health, student well-being, that’s not always a positive thing,” Frid said.
For now, the housing process for underclassmen is staying the same. The accommodation process for those students is staying the same as well, Macke said.
“We will continue to require and guarantee housing for our first- and second-year students,” Macke said. “Each year, we review our current enrollment and enrollment projections for the next year to determine how many beds we will have available for each cohort, including upper-division.”
Bridget Schmid can be reached at schm1520@stthomas.edu.
