Overcrowding eases
By Jillian BradyStaff Writer
At the beginning of the semester, it seemed as though there would never be enough space for students wanting to live on campus.
There were 74 returning students without a place to live, 24 tripled rooms in Wellons Hall, 14 rooms opened in Jacobs Hall, six beds in the West Hall Lounge and hardly room enough to breathe.
But, these numbers are changing. According to Preston Swiney, dean of students, the 74 “desperate” returning students waiting for somewhere to live is now down to zero.
Students were either accommodated or changed their minds and were taken off the waiting list.
As for the 24 tripled rooms in Wellons Hall, three have been relocated due to cancellations, but this issue was not as pressing as providing housing for returning students without rooms.
Since that problem is solved, the focus has now shifted to relocation. Students tripled in Wellons, residing in the 14 rooms in Jacobs Hall, and living in the West Hall Lounge will be relocated throughout the semester.
By the end of the semester Swiney says this problem will be resolved “and will not go into the spring semester.”
The overcrowding has not been a problem to all involved. One resident living in the lounge of West Hall, Derving Rios, was provided with a room to relocate in.
He, however, wants to stay in the lounge. The room was given to someone else and Rios is still enjoying the life of the lounge “for a while,” says Swiney, but the goal is to “get the lounge cleared.”
Swiney does not see this being a problem next fall because of the addition of Oak Hall which will bring UNCP’s bed inventory to 1,705 and the development of new off-campus student apartments.
But never say never; Swiney says, you can’t predict what the student population is going to be and “continuing to grow – that’s the goal.”
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The print edition of The Pine Needle is published 14 times a year during the fall and spring semesters. Updated: Sunday, October 1, 2006 © The University of North Carolina at Pembroke |
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