“Why didn’t the school wait for the new apartments to be built? Will I be stuck in Vaughn as a senior? I’ve done my time in the hotel! What am I suppose to do with all my furniture and kitchen supplies? Will hotel residences still have to move out mid-year?” These are just some of the common questions circulating around UT’s campus.
Last Tuesday night, students received an email regarding the new housing selection. The email gave minimum information but included the two main concerns: the Barrymore hotel will be considered an upperclassmen dorm and the students with the lowest amount of terms living on campus will have higher priority selecting their housing.
The email provided three information sessions that students could attend and I was able to attend the first one. Students were told there were going to be six dorms for freshman (McKay, Austin, Smiley, the Boathouse, Vaughn, and Morsani) and six dorms for upperclassmen (Brevard, Jenkins, Palm Apartments, Straz, Urso, and the Barrymore Hotel). The biggest issue in this is the Barrymore Hotel. Ever since UT started to use a hotel for overflow of students, it has been for freshman. Now, they have decided the Barrymore Hotel will be for upperclassmen. That way, new students will get the on-campus experience.
Students immediately took their frustration out on social media; from Twitter, to Facebook, to Yik Yak. Students even created a petition for signatures and comments to reverse the housing rule. In one day there were over 1,000 signatures. Here are some of the comments from the petition:
UT has said they will be helping with the off-campus housing search, but now every student who gets placed in the hotel will want to move off and that will create more competition for students who planned to move off before this issue occurred. There are many things to consider while moving off campus. To name a few UT is in the heart of downtown Tampa and it is costly to move elsewhere.
UT encourages continuing students who want to stay on campus to make sure they are educated about all the deadlines, starting with putting the housing deposit of $175 in by February 1st.
It’s important to look at this from each side.
The upperclassmen are upset because they have done their time and have been told from the beginning with the more credits they have, the better housing they will receive. Now students with fewer terms at UT will be able to select their housing first. This could possibly mean that soon to be sophomores could potentially take the nicer dorms that include kitchens, which were originally for juniors and seniors.
But, remember back to when you were a freshman? The hotel was not your first choice on where you wanted to live. Some ended up loving the hotel and the community feel, while others ended up leaving the school entirely because of it. Those who lived on campus were more involved than the students who lived in the hotel.
Now try to look at it from the schools perspective. UT must be trying to stop using the hotel. The only way to stop is to give the hotel a possibility to the more mature students who could potentially move off of campus. They do plan to work closely with students who want to remain on campus because they know that the hotel is not someone's first choice.
To find out more information and ask your own personal questions, the next info sessions are on the following dates:
Tuesday, October 6th from 8-9pm in Brevard Community Room
Thursday, October 8th from 1-2pm in Reeves Theater
Overall, the next year will be an interesting process, but years to come may be less hectic. When you are all picking your housing this February – May the odds be ever in your favor.
