Gone are the days of first-year only residence halls and Living Learning Communities (LLCs). Instead, some new students will be mixed in with upperclassmen in various dorms.
By Sarah Knepp, For The Miami StudentNext fall, the Office of Residence Life (ORL) will introduce a new general housing option for first-year students as an alternative to the living-learning community (LLC) system, which traditionally placed first-years with other, like-minded students. The switch means that some first-years could end up living in residence halls with second-year students.
"There will probably be some [with both first-years and sophomores], but not every hall," said Tresa Barlage, associate director of ORL.
In fact, the coexistence of first and second-year students in residence halls is not new. For example, the Honors LLC has included both first and second-year students for years.
Sophomore Rosie McCormick lives in Wells Hall, which currently houses first and second year students. She said she doesn't know all that many first year students in her building.
"The CLT (community leadership team) in our building still tries really hard to put on events almost every week to get freshmen involved and give them a way to meet people," she said. "But honestly, I never go. My roommate and I know very few people in the dorm because most people don't really talk in the bathroom or hallway or anything."
While McCormick said she doesn't mind having a deep bond with her hallmates, she can see how mixed halls might make it difficult for first year students to get adjusted to college life.
"I can see how this would be a strange freshman experience if you are expecting to meet best friends in your dorm," she said. "It might not happen in a mixed dorm like Wells."
Next fall, the ORL will continue to renovate certain residence halls as part of the multi-year plan to renovate all residence halls for students living on campus.
In the past few years, the renovations have been for an entire quad, thus eliminating around four residence halls from the lineup each year. Next year, however, instead of displacing an entire quad, the university will renovate four separate buildings.
Hamilton and Clawson Halls, on Central Quad and Western campus, respectively, will undergo renovations and will not be available for students to live in. Mary Lyon and Wilson Halls, on Western campus and East Quad, respectively, will also be out of commission for this fall, said Matthew Frericks, senior director of auxiliary planning and facilities in the H.O.M.E. Office.
Frericks also said the enrollment projections show all on-campus students will be accommodated as a result of the four North Quad halls opening again this summer.
The re-opening of North Quad will accommodate approximately 1,000 additional students. Based on this and the enrollment predictions, it is not likely that any second-year students will have to live in off-campus facilities, such as Hawk's Landing, Miami Preserve or Level 27 apartments, Frericks said. Some students live in these facilities now to accommodate the renovations and higher enrollment numbers.
The North Quad re-opening also contributes to the larger influx of resident assistants (RAs) that will be working in residence halls next year.
"We're going to have 261 RAs in the fall, which is eight or 10 more than we had this year," said Barlage.
Barlage said that if/when first and second year students live in residence halls together, ORL will be strategic in the grouping of students they put together.
"We're always trying to accommodate and make sure students have the resources to the things they need," she said.