You’re running around campus in between classes when you remember that you were supposed to borrow a book from your friend in Claver hall. So you head over to Claver, whip out your handy StagCard, and swipe it at the door, hear that old familiar click and go up to your friends room to retrieve the book. Many of us may have taken this simple process for granted, now that starting this year townhouse residents do not have StagCard access to the residence halls.
In past years townhouse residents were allowed access to all residence halls and the apartments from approximately 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., according to Michael Tortora, coordinator of information systems for student services.
This summer the Department of Residence Life and Housing decided via a survey of the residence access policies, that townhouse residents were not to receive access to the residence halls or apartments, said Tortora.
Tortora added that every year the administration of the university reviews and updates its policies, and that “this change was a result of that practice, with no particular incident leading up to it.”
Dean of Students Mark Reed described this inconvenience for students “fairly insignificant in the big picture.”
Reed also stated that he doubts that the 30 percent of the junior class who live in Kostka and Claver halls would “view the inability to access the residence halls via their StagCard as a deterrent to the many other benefits that come with living in a townhouse.”
Townhouse students see this policy as another unnecessary hassle.
“I have friends who live in Claver and it’s just a hassle every time I want to visit them,” said Marisa Caban ’05, a townhouse resident. “I’m a student here and a junior just like they are and I think it’s stupid that during the day I can’t be allowed into the dorms.”
Reed believes that this new policy seems to be fairly reasonable and a safety procedure.
Fran Koerting, Director of Residence Life and Housing said that townhouse residents are a separate population, and therefore do not have access to the residence halls or apartment buildings. Also as part of this plan, off-campus and apartment residents do not have access to residence halls (except for apartment residents having access to the apartment buildings, Kostka and Claver halls)
As of Friday only one student had complained about this new policy to the department, said Koerting.
“It’s kind of illogical,” said Lauren Fedechena ’05, a resident of Claver hall. “If they’re going to have a policy like that then technically I should only have access to the Village Complex buildings and not the dorms in the quad. It just doesn’t make much sense.”
Reed would like to remind students that each of the housing options at Fairfield has certain options, benefits or requirements and that the townhouses are one of, if not the most popular housing option on campus.
Students are reminded that anyone wanting to visit a resident of the apartments or residence halls can utilize the intercom system at each building, as the directories have recently been updated, said Tortora.
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