Friday, November 16, 2001

Housing sign-ups move to the Internet
By Aaron Chimbel
Staff Reporter

Students living on-campus this semester were sent residence hall room assignments for next semester Wednesday via e-mail, marking the first time for all housing sign-ups to be completed online, Associate Director of Residential Services Karen Baker said.

All students currently living on-campus were sent e-mails explaining their housing options and a link to the specific web address where they submitted their hall, roommate and other housing requests for next semester, Baker said. Students who wish to stay in their current room with their current roommate would not have to do anything, she said.

Since this is the first time for the all online housing assignments residential services sent post cards to all students living on-campus to remind them to check their e-mail, Baker said. She says no problems with the new online system have been reported.

Baker said the decision to go online was in accordance with the university’s effort to make services more accessible to students. The transition to online assignments occurred to save paper, Baker said.

Residents that have not decided their minds can still change their housing assignments, she said.

“Many may want to make a change and we will make changes as space becomes available,” Baker said.

She said freshmen that have been living in Worth Hills, the Moncrief Hall lobby and with resident assistants were given first priority in room assignments. Those students were given the opportunity to submit their spring semester residence hall assignments before other students, Baker said.

“We do not expect anyone to live in the temporary places (Greek halls, lounges or with RAs) next semester,” Baker said.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills said no decision has been made whether freshman students will live in Greek residence halls in the Fall 2002 semester if space is not available in residence halls.

“Our preference is to have all freshmen in regular residence halls,” Mills said. “We think it is better to have them on campus even if it is in a Greek Hall.”

Mills said a decision will likely be made in January regarding non-members living in Greek residence halls.

Greek organizations are not required to allow non-members to live in their hall, said Student Affairs Director of Special Projects Rick Barnes. The university asked fraternities that had space available to house freshmen this semester because of a lack of room for the men, he said.

Barnes said it is a “win-win” situation for the fraternities and university because the fraternity does not have to pay for the rooms and the university can house the men on campus.

If a fraternity does not fill its rooms then it has to pay almost $1,900 per person per semester, Barnes said.

Aaron Chimbel
a.a.chimbel@student.tcu.edu