Back in 1999, when the senior class was 604 students, 600 students were allowed to live off-campus.
Now, since the construction of the apartment complex in 2000, only 400 students are released for off-campus housing. This number was established in an agreement between the town of Fairfield and the University administration through letters and correspondence.
“Meeting a limit on the number of students released took on particular importance following the court-ordered injunction limiting the size of social gatherings at the beach,” said Dean of Students Tom Pellegrino.
Pellegrino said a number of factors determine the number of students living off campus, such as property availability and limiting the number of unrelated people sharing a residence.
“The number of students released is also balanced against the number of students we predict will be living on campus each year,” he said, “which in turn is predicated on projections from both our enrollment office and from study abroad projections.”
Duane Melzer, whose first year as off-campus coordinator was in 1999, said the apartments could house 200 more upperclassmen on campus. He said if any changes were made to the number of students, it would decrease “as soon as admissions starts to hit more on target.”
“Personally I would like to see [the number] lowered,” he added.
With regards to complaints, 400 is a good number, but the senior year experience should be more connected to campus so upperclassmen can serve as mentors, Melzer said.
“Half the senior class is disconnected with the University, they come to campus just for class and that’s it,” he said.
However, Melzer said that, realistically, living at the beach senior year will never change. “As long as Lantern Point exists, I think there will always be students living there.”
Yet not all seniors that want to live off-campus are released. The class of 2009 is confronting this disappointment – 570 applied and only 400 were released.
Living off-campus senior year is not guaranteed and students sign a four-year residency requirement to live on campus. The student handbook says:
“All full-time, matriculated undergraduate students be required to live in one of the University’s student residences for the four, traditional undergraduate years.”
Upperclassmen can apply for off-campus housing by participating in the off-campus lottery, but “approval of such requests is at the sole discretion of the University,” according to the handbook.
Jason Downer, the associate director of residence life, said “considerably less rising seniors applied last year,” and about 400 seniors and 50 to 60 juniors currently live off-campus. He added that there haven’t been “wide variances” in the numbers from year to year and that seniors always have priority in the lottery.
Director of Housing Operations, Gary Stephenson, agreed that, “The number of seniors that want to live off campus this year is more than last year.”
Seniors have priority in the lottery and “if juniors have been released, they are part of a senior group,” said Downer.
He added, “Signing a lease is not a valid way around the lottery,” and neither are calls and complaints from parents.
“I talked to a handful of parents – only a couple have been extremely angry, others just want to understand the process,” Downer said of conversations with parents who have been “frustrated by understanding.”
With more students on campus and no addition of new facilities, overcrowding amongst seniors and juniors is unlikely and as Downer said, until upperclassmen overcrowding becomes an issue, Residence Life will not begin discussing the release of more students.
“We anticipate having students in the same locations they are this year,” Downer said. “We opened this year with 18 percent of the first year class in converted triples and if our enrollment numbers are the same again we anticipate the amount of triples will not go up.”
Recent problems with the housing lottery system inspired the formation of a committee which would help students gain more voice in the housing system. Molly Byrnes ’09, the student leader of the group, said, “A merit-based lottery has been considered but it is very hard to accomplish. You have to decide what points go where and who keeps track of all those points. While it has its advantages it also has a lot of details that people seem to forget about when they bring up the idea of the merit system.”
Rising seniors, or students in the class of 2009, are outraged they have been denied off-campus status and will be forced to live on campus their senior year.
“[It’s] a right of passage – at 21 you’re old enough to live on your own, you shouldn’t have to live at school,” said Matt Rimmer ’09. “I’ve been screwed over three years in a row,” he added. Rimmer lived in a forced triple freshman year, Jogues sophomore year and Claver junior year, instead of a townhouse.
Jennifer Booton ’09 thinks it is unfair that some students are stuck with unfavorable housing more than once in their four years. She did not get a townhouse junior year nor was she released for off-campus housing for her senior year.
“I was told by students who previously attended Fairfield, including tour guides, that the townhouses were for juniors and the beach houses were for seniors,” said Booton.
“Being forced to live on campus for my senior year feels like I am being forced to live in a jail cell. I feel like I am being jipped out of the true Fairfield experience, the experience that every perspective freshman looks forward to when they choose to come to this school,” she said.
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