When asked about living in Claver, one particular irate junior picked a bottle of Glade disinfectant and threw it against the wall of his dorm room.
Then, Kevin Farrow ’04 yelled, “Every time I think of my housing situation it gets me wicked pissed! This shit would never happen in Boston.”
This may be so, but it does happen at Fairfield University, and has been happening for the past 10 years.
There is just not enough upperclassmen housing on campus to fit the amount of upperclassmen students.
The Apartments house roughly 200 people, the Townhouses 560, and about 400 upperclassmen live off campus.
This leaves 488 juniors in the dorms this year, and most of them are not at all happy about it.
Mike Catanese is also a junior on Claver One; but he is the resident assistant. “As an RA for juniors my title stands for responsible adult,” said Catanese.
“It’s not hard being an RA for juniors, I enjoy it a lot and they give me the utmost respect,” Catanese added.
He and his roommates set up their room like many in Kostka/Claver: beds and desks in one room, couches and TV in the other.
“We set it up to entertain people, but of course no one comes over,” he said.
“All my friends are in townhouses, I’m always up there hanging out and then I have to come home to this, it feels so unfair,” Farrow said as he looked around his room in despair.
“It sucks,” said Bill Albro, ’04. “I do not like the situation of having an RA, but at least I have my own bathroom.”
Albro, like many juniors, was not aware that he has more privileges than that.
Juniors who live in Kostka and Claver are allowed to stay over breaks.
“As semi-independent living students there is no charge, and no inconvenience, the only problem is card access in dorms, so they have to let us know,” said Gary Stephenson, director of housing operations.
“We ask townhouses or apartments if they are going to stay and what days, we like to know, especially for security purposes,” Stephenson said.
Typical complaints about living in dorm rooms are the new smoking policy and the inability to throw parties. Students feel if they’re considered part of the “Village Complex,” they should be treated no differently than anyone in the apartments.
“Not being able to smoke in your room as a junior has nothing to do with personal rights, the ventilation system in dorms is different from that of the apartments carrying the smoke into other rooms,” said Fran Koerting, director of Residence Life.
As for renting a keg and throwing your own party, it may not be your living room, but the social lounge in the apartments can be rented and juniors can have a keg in there. A little known fact is that there is also a keggerator right there.
“We try to make living there as good as we can even though you do not want to be there.” Koerting continued.
“We changed a lot of things to make it better in Kostka/Claver, students can have all stag bucks as a meal plan, can stay over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Spring Break. We are open to any more suggestions and creative ideas.”
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