Photo: Residence Life Office located in Tomson Hall Atrium Mexica Greco/The Olaf Messenger
“We’re aligning ourselves with who we are,” said Dean of Students for Residence Life Christopher Medley in an interview with The Olaf Messenger, when explaining the College’s push to remain a residential campus. The housing process for the 2024-25 academic year began Jan. 18 when Residence Life’s first statement on affiliate housing was made available to the public. The official period for housing selection, aside from affiliate housing, began March 14 at 4:00 p.m. with selection for townhouses. Despite the care that Residence Life claims to have put into housing selection, many students were left disappointed and even slightly dismayed.
Learning from last year’s housing selection process, Residence Life decided to improve their communication with students by using clear terminology and communicating with individual students about where they were in the selection process. Additionally, Residence Life staff were present in the Ytterboe lounge during each selection day to be available for questions.
“There were various nuances … we wanted to be prepared and have time to respond to those nuances,” Medley said about planning for this year’s housing selection process, which began earlier this year. The said nuances that Residence Life had to take into account were the complicated nature of housing selection and the closure of Hilleboe and Kittelsby Halls for renovations.
While there is a push to remain as residential as possible, rules for housing exemption were broadened slightly for the 2024-2025 academic year. Per the College’s website, the housing exemptions now include students who are 23 years or older on or before Dec. 31, as well as students living with parents or guardians who reside within the Northfield School District or live within a 30-mile radius of campus.
About an hour each selection day before the selection process began, Residence Life sent out an email informing those at later start times that they may not get housing during this process. By the end of the official selection process, March 21, many students were left without housing.
When asked about the timing of the email Medley had stated that because roommate linking closes at 8:00 a.m. each day, they are only able to see the demand for that type of housing on the day of selection. Students were then informed that they may relink with their roommates on March 22. This relinking process then closed on April 3 at 8:00 a.m. Residence Life then proceeded to call roommate groups based on class year from April 3 at 1:00 p.m. until an unspecified date last week.
According to Residence Life, “less than five percent of students” are currently on the “to be housed” list, all of whom had chosen to be on the list instead of taking the available housing. According to some students who were placed on this list, the only housing available was the Ytterboe duodectets. Students on this list will be contacted by Residence Life throughout this semester and into the summer and should have housing by July 15.
