By Elise Vasko, Staff Writer
According to the Housing Options, Meals and Events (H.O.M.E.) office, an average of 630 students lived on Miami University's campus during winter term. Compared to the 16,387 undergraduates on campus during the fall and spring semesters, Oxford is significantly less populated in the first few weeks of the year.
Due to fewer students living on campus during winter term than during the fall and spring semesters, campus services and community centers such as Armstrong Student Center, King Library and the Rec center operated with restricted hours.
Fifth-year Amy Desai took a software engineering class during winter term and said campus felt much emptier with most students still away.
"I was in King one day for a group project and it felt really weird because almost no one was on campus," Desai said. "I wasn't sure if the buses were running or not, so I didn't take any of the buses."
Even places Uptown remained closed.
"A couple of the stores were open, but the smaller ones were closed," said Desai. "I guess they just assume that they would be paying someone to work more than they would be making."
First-year Arushi Chelke, who lived in Scott Hall over winter term, also felt the impact of the restricted campus services. Chelke said she was surprised by the lack of dining services available during winter term.
"We didn't have many dining options, and students didn't have any food available to them on the weekends," said Chelke.
In addition to dissatisfaction with restricted dining hall hours, Chelke said she felt the heat was lower than normal.
"I felt like a survivalist," said Chelke.
According to physical facilities senior director of operations Jeremy Davis, the heat in residence halls is monitored for those living on campus during winter term.
"During [winter term], in the academic and administrative buildings we have occupied and unoccupied mode," said Davis. "In unoccupied mode, we set the heat back a little bit. For residence halls, we get a schedule from the H.O.M.E. office and they tell us which rooms have occupants and which don't, and based on that we set the temperatures back in certain rooms."
According to Davis, physical facilities also maintains its standard for snow and ice removal during winter term.
"The expectation is still the same. Our goal is always to keep the sidewalks clean and safe, and even if it's [winter term], there's no reduced priority," said Davis. "We do know which residence halls have students, so if we do have a residence hall that doesn't have any students in it, we might clear that one after we clear the ones that do."
Davis also said the physical facilities staff operated at normal capacity.
"It's the same level of staffing during [winter term], it's just a different flavor of work force," said Davis. "Regardless of if it's custodial, grounds or maintenance, it's the same people here."