RPInsider

We wanted to catch up a little on what the housing lottery situation looks like, so we asked just a few questions of Residence Life.  Tom Tarantelli responded, and the full text is below.

RPInsider: We were curious about whether Blitman Commons filled after the last lottery.  Since there was so much talk about students not wanting to live there and it was important to the amount of upper class students who might have been pushed off campus, we were hoping to find out if the building filled up.  It looked like there were some pretty high lottery numbers.  Can you tell us anything?

Tom Tarantelli: There are some rooms available that will be added to the upper class room assignment process.  In order to participate in the lottery for Blitman, students completed an application that asked them to outline their programming interests.  Overwhelmingly those students were excited about the opportunity to live in Blitman and to participate in CLASS programming.

Also, how do you think the process as a whole is going so far?

We all think the process is going well.  We realize that some students did not get the rooms they wanted because of high lottery numbers.  That has always been the case and we want students to understand that we will do what we can to accommodate them.  We still have the upper class lottery and room assignment to complete.  That will be completed on February 28^th.

Do you expect the remaining upper class halls to fill?

We do.  Because this has been a change we have tried to communicate each step as clearly as possible and in ways that students and parents had access to the information needed to participate in the various housing lotteries.  We anticipate that students who wants to live on campus will be accommodated.

Is there anything else you’d like the students to know?

Just that there are a lot of details involved in ramping up the lotteries and the room selection process.  We are working on those details and appreciate the many questions we are getting.  An upper class room selection information session is being held at 8 pm, Wednesday (tomorrow) in RU 3606.  Since the process is “compressed” into a tight time frame we appreciate any effort to help students get the information needed so that they can participate.

Photo credit

Share Uncategorized blitman, housing, residence life, tom tarantelli

"Good fences make good neighbors"

Most of you have probably seen this already, but in case you haven’t been to Freshman Hill lately, this is a photo of the new apartment which is attached to Hall Hall.  As part of the CLASS Initiative, the Assistant Deans in Residence Life will live in residence halls.  To facilitate this, they’ve built apartments on Hall Hall and Crockett Hall.  What are your thoughts about staff living in residence halls?

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Another housing post!

We got a tip a couple days ago from a Student Senator that the Senate passed a motion, which was sent to us (and isn’t posted online yet as far as we could find) to attempt to give a voice to the student body about housing reform.  The motion announces student dissatisfaction about a variety of the facets of Housing Selection.  Some quotes are below.

To address that sophomores should live mostly in residence halls and that upperclass students should live in apartments:

To express the dissatisfaction of the student body with the current system of on-campus housing, which we believe does not, in all cases, place students in housing which is most appropriate for their class year or the goals of the CLASS Initiative.

Responding to the Friday, Dec 18th email right before all students were leaving campus:

To express the dissatisfaction of the student body with the communication method employed by the Division of Student Life

What are they doing about it?

To invite members of the Student Life Division to a Roundtable Discussion on the Housing Process with members of the Student Senate…no later than March 1, 2010.

Share Uncategorized housing, residence life, Student Senate

Perhaps the imagery is a little strong, but you get the point

Were you invited to this Facebook group?  Well, so was I.  1,200 people joined the thing. 1,200 people said that they are against the somewhat vague notion of “RPI Housing Reform”.  From the first announcement of these changes, the majority of students have been opposed to the proposal (mostly on the grounds that some easy fixes would alleviate a lot of problems, e.g. Blitman is designed perfectly for sophomores), and we were glad to see that students were actually thinking about the issue, working together, and planning their response.

Today is January 15th.  Classes start the week after next.  There hasn’t been a post on the Facebook group since January 8th.  A whole week of no posting! This is incredible considering the fire and brimstone students were posting for several days after its formation.  Student interest in this issue appears to be gone.

We don’t blame the students.  They’ve simply fallen into the trap that the RPI administration has set time and time again:  they announce an unpopular policy via email at the beginning of a long break, and by the time students come back, they will have forgotten.  Look at the anger and emotion of Uprise at Five.  That continued on through the semester (for some), but after the summer, students came back willing to let it all go.

Classmates: You have an important decision to make.  Will you find a way to constructively voice your opinions about this issue or will you let it go?

I’m not being idealistic.  I know that the likelihood of changing this policy is very low.  The Vice Presidents who make these types of decisions are not usually willing to go back on them.  But this isn’t about changing the housing policy.  This is about giving students a voice.

The formal communication channel for students voices is the Student Senate.  The Senate had its last meeting before finals even started, so they weren’t able to make any sort of statement about the housing policy.  A grassroots Facebook group started, but seems to have fizzled out.  This issue needs a clear and strong leader (or group of leaders) who can make sure that the student voice is heard.

It’s not only about voicing negative concerns.  Students should be voicing the things that they do like about the plan (the most important of which is probably the timeline).  Get a sheet of paper, and start writing out what’s good and bad about the plan. Call it a List of Complaints, a Manifesto for Change, a Student Perspective on Housing — it doesn’t matter.  Make it intelligent, and make it public.  Get student input from across the spectrum.   Make it look pretty.  Publish it. Make copies.  Send it to student government.  Send it to Residence Life.  Send it to Student Life.  Send it to the President.  Heck, even send it to the Board of Trustees.  Send it to the media, and send it to us.  Get the student voice heard, and you will have accomplished something.  Explain that you attend a university, not a business operation.  Do SOMETHING before you lose your chance.

Or, just sit there and complain.  See what happens next time.

Share Uncategorized housing, residence life, sophomore housing

Roughly speaking... Red is for freshmen, Blue is for sophomores, and Orange is for Juniors, Seniors, and Grad students

We received word from a source on the Student Senate, after a report by Vice President for Administration, Claude Rounds, at the Senate meeting today, that the housing selection process for school year ‘09-’10 has been announced (or at least the draft form of it).  Here are the basics of the plan:

• Warren, Nugent, Davison, Sharp, part of Quad, part of BARH, Colonie, Stacwyck, RAHP, as well as the apartments in Bray, Crockett, and Cary will house almost exclusively sophomores (though some spaces in these halls will be available to upperclass students depending on a variety of factors, including the Greek Life Commons Agreement).
• Upper-class students will choose from Blitman Commons, North Hall, E Complex, and Polytech Apartments.  Students currently living in these buildings will be able to squat their rooms.
• Those upper-class students who live in the sophomore-designated housing will be allowed to enter into an Inter-Commons Lottery, allowing them to take the unsquatted rooms in Blitman, North, E, and Polytech.
• Sophomores will then participate in a lottery for the designated buildings.
• Any remaining students who wish to live on campus can then enter an all-campus lottery for any remaining spaces.

The administration does not expect that many students will be forced off of campus, since this allows beds for upper-class students in an amount equal to that of the current upperclass on-campus population.

According to our source at the Senate meeting, Tom Tarantelli, the Acting Dean of Residence Life, said that the Greeks are the “wildcard” in this process.  The Greek Life Commons Agreements (which will be signed or not by each house individually) have the potential to take a very large numbers of sophomores away from residence halls.  If several houses sign, it may be possible that there will be open rooms in some of the sophomore-designated buildings for upper-class students.  However, they will not be able to squat those rooms; they will simply be opened on a case by case basis or put into the all-campus lottery.

We’ll post more information if and when we receive it.

Share Uncategorized residence life, room selection, sophomore housing, student rights

We got a tip that laundy is going to be free next year in the residence halls, and we checked it out.  Turns out that according to ResLife, it’s true!  We also noticed that some of the residence halls have brand new machines (which makes sense if they’re free now) — Quad for sure.
Thanks, RPI!

Share Uncategorized free, laundry, residence life

You might remember the RA Compensation cut, and the subsequent student demonstration.  We sure do, and we were wondering what the latest news is regarding the Residence Life Staff.  Then, we received an email which was sent to all juniors, seniors, and transfer students in an effort to recruit more staff members for the coming year.  That’s unusual.  What prompted it?

We talked to a member of the student staff, who filled us in on the scoop.  It turns out that there are approximately 18 vacancies on the staff of 74 RA’s.  That adds up to a 24% vacancy on staff!

In the opinion of this author, this is a disgrace to the students living on campus for the coming year.  Dr. Knowles (VP for Student Life) stated at the town hall meeting that he wanted to relieve the RA’s of some of their duties because he felt that they had too much responsibility.  How does he solve the issue?  By directly causing a short-handed staff — he gave the directive that sophomores could not be RA’s.

What best interest is in mind when a Vice President causes such a deficiency?  If the students are a top priority, then there is only one way to solve this issue: hire the qualified sophomores who were turned down.

Share Uncategorized RA compensation, residence life