Once again, both students and the Office of Residential Life are dealing with a shortage of on-campus housing, although it is proving less severe than last year's situation.
Interim Director of Residential Life, Kimberly Pacelli, admits that housing resources have been stretched, but she believes that the additional beds from the School Street and Elm Street apartments, as well as those on the fourth floor of Coleman, have significantly eased the housing strain. The apartments on Elm and School streets were rented from the Maine State Music Theater at the end of last summer after the housing waitlist climbed to 78 students.
"This year and last year, housing has been tight. But this year we went ahead of time to rent the properties [Elm and School streets] and take Coleman fourth floor and make it upper-class," said Pacelli.
For Jen Xu '07, living in Coleman as a sophomore was not appealing at first, but she now concedes it has its benefits. "I was dismayed to find out that I would be living in Coleman. However, the triple on the fourth floor is quite roomy for two people and I'm happy with its central location on campus," Xu said.
"My only gripe is that it is not chem-free, meaning many noisy parties and plenty of pricey dorm damage," she said.
The Housing Lottery inevitably disappoints some students, who, after entering multiple lotteries, end up in a widely-loathed Chamberlain double. First-year Ben LeHay, while admitting that the system is fair, laments moving from a two-room triple in Winthrop to one of Chamberlain's cramped doubles.
"[The lottery] is fair. But it isn't that great for underclassmen. I mean, I'm basically going downhill from this year," he said.
In general, however, students seem more satisfied with the results of this year's lottery than those of last year. According to Pacelli, "only about a dozen students decided to opt onto the deferred list," which is significantly lower than last year's 78. Pacelli added that sophomores seemed unusually successful in getting popular quads.
"I was surprised and pleased to see so many sophomores get housing in the quads lottery," she said.
For next year's juniors studying abroad in the fall, housing remains uncertain, as they generally do not enter the lottery. Instead, Residential Life attempts to place them according to their preferences upon their return during Spring Semester. Despite assurances from Residential Life, many students studying away next fall remain skeptical. Sophomore Katie Grimm, who is studying in Spain next semester, shares many of her fellow classmates' concerns.
"I don't know what is going to happen when all the juniors come back. I'll probably be stuck in another Chamberlain closet like this year," she said,
Similarly, students planning to live in the Co-Op in Burnett House have been compelled to compromise and reduce the scale of their project. A number of safety and administrative concerns hampered its development. In addition, Co-Op participants will be joined in Burnett House by other students not necessarily prepared to adopt the same lifestyle. Despite the challenges, sophomore Ruth Morrison, one of the Co-Op's primary organizers, remains optimistic.
"The core idea of cooperative, group living is still what we're pursuing and, I think, what we'll be able to successfully experiment with next year," Morrison said.
In addition, Morrison and the group are committed to welcoming those students who did not necessarily want to join but will be living in Burnett next year.
"As for the folks who are in Burnett next year and not officially 'signed on' to the Co-Op? We've got a fantastic RA in the house, Mike Taylor '07, and just like on your first-year floor, not everyone "signs on" to be a part of that group intentionally, but in the end I think the point is made that these communities form," she said.
Housing continues to be a contentious issue at Bowdoin, despite the variety of options. But, for those unfortunate souls condemned to Chamberlain doubles, take heart. It can only get better after that.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: The web version of this story has been modified to correct an error in the lead sentence. Due to an editing mistake, the original story reported that there was a shortage of off-campus housing.