OU move-in proceeds smoothly except for an occasional bump
By Kristin Majcher
September 8, 2008
Ohio University students living on campus moved into their new homes this past weekend, but some had more trouble than others. Graduate student Michael Jaynes, of Houston, Texas, spent his first night in Athens in a hotel.
Jaynes, an English major with a teaching fellowship, started orientation on Tuesday, Sept. 2. He spent that Monday night at the Days Inn after driving 18 hours from Nacogdoches, Texas.
“When I called the Housing Office last week, I was told there was no way I could move in early and I was then directed to the temporary housing office, where it went straight to voicemail. I left a voicemail and was never called back, so when I got to campus on Monday I stayed in a hotel,” said Jaynes.
Jaynes contacted the housing office again on Tuesday, and moved into Brough Hall Tuesday evening, a day early. He said he chose to live in university housing because he did not have enough time to find an apartment before moving to Athens.
Beverly Wyatt, OU’s director of housing, said some students had to be turned away from interim housing this year. Normally, a student in Jayne’s situation is housed temporarily in a residence hall until the move-in time.
Students who need interim housing should call the housing office in early August, Wyatt said. An increased number of international students and uncertainty about the number of students needing temporary housing led to a shortage of rooms, Wyatt explained. She said this is the first year she has noticed students being turned away.
“Two people slipped through the cracks this year,” Wyatt said.
Louise Bell, records management coordinator at OU, reported last week that 7,689 undergraduate students and 28 grad students are enrolled to live in OU’s 42 residence halls. The numbers are slightly up from last year.
Officially, freshmen were told they could start moving in Thursday at noon, and Friday after 9 a.m. (However, one police officer directing traffic Thursday on the East Green said freshmen could have started moving in as early as 8 a.m.).
Returning students moved in Saturday and Sunday after 9 a.m.
Although rumors circulated among students that sophomores no longer have to live on campus, Judy Piercy, director of Residence Life, confirmed that second-year students are still required to live in the residence halls, unless they have an exemption such as being commuters.
Piercy said that although the university has considered permitting sophomores to live off-campus if enrollment becomes too high, the university has not recently considered that option.
Ebony Hodges, a sophomore resident assistant (RA) in Tiffin Hall moved in Aug. 25 to start preparing for students. She and the other RAs underwent training sessions to talk about some of the problems that may arise during the year, and how to make students feel at home.
“We talk about how to work with freshmen and upperclassmen to resolve confrontations and work on diversity,” said Hodges.
Hodges said she was scheduled to check in students from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and then spent the rest of the weekend helping students get settled in with floor meetings and taking them to the Convocation Center for the president’s address on Sunday.
Temperatures reached the 90s on Thursday, but it did not stop incoming students and their families from fighting traffic, squeezing into a rare parking place, and then unloading their belongings and checking into their rooms.
OU employees volunteered to help with parking during move-in. Space outside dorms was limited, and some parents reported over an hour wait to park outside the residence halls on Thursday.
Jane Palmer, an HDL Center employee, spent her Thursday afternoon handing out 30-minute parking slips to parents and directing traffic on East Green. Palmer, who was born in Athens, said she and other OU employees volunteer every year to help with move-in.
“We’re all about students, and we want them to have a good time.” Palmer said. “We want students to be happy.”
Students in the class of 2012 are the first to live in the newly renovated Lincoln Hall, which now replaces MacKinnon Hall as the Fine Arts Residential Learning Community. President McDavis and his wife, Deborah, arrived at 2 p.m. on Thursday to volunteer for two hours with the moving process.
“This has been an annual tradition for us,” said McDavis. “It is exciting to welcome the class of 2012 and show students we appreciate them moving to Ohio University.”
Piercy said the new residence hall is equipped to serve the needs of fine-arts majors. Some of the renovations include all-new built-in closets, cabinets and shelving, sinks in each room, and central air conditioning with individual thermostats in each of the rooms.
“We have made some amenities in Lincoln available that are particular to fine-arts students,” added Piercy.
Some of these special amenities include a room with mirrored walls for performing arts students to practice, as well as a rubberized floor for dance students. The fourth-floor study lounge has been turned into an art studio complete with concrete floors, utility sinks, easels and drafting tables.
A display case in the front of the residence hall will display work from students, the first installation being two lithographs on loan from the Kennedy Museum of Art.
Students who participated in the Fine Arts Residential Learning Community last year had first priority of rooms in Lincoln, and incoming freshman could indicate their preference for a room in Lincoln on their housing applications.
Hailey Jackson, a freshman from Worthington, Ohio, decided to move into the residence because it’s closer to the art buildings and people with the same interests. “Its really nice,” she said.
Jillian Dowis, a freshman art history major, said she picked OU because of the art program and likes the campus thus far. Her mother, Sue Dowis, approved of the new residence hall.
“Its awesome,” she said. “Much better than my dorm at Bowling Green, which had orange shag carpeting all over it.”
Piercy said the university tries to renovate one dorm each year. Renovations will begin soon at Shively Hall, on East Green. Jefferson Dining Hall will have extended hours to compensate for the closing of Shively Dining Hall, and will temporarily house the Shively Market.
Some other Welcome Week events included a community picnic for international students at the west-side park on Friday, and annual events for freshmen, including the president’s annual welcome address in the Convocation Center and the freshman march through College Gate on Sunday.
The annual volunteer fair on College Green also took place Sunday, with representatives from more than 200 clubs and activities talking to new students.
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