Santa Clara Housing over capacity

By Casey O'Connor

"We always have a bit more than capacity, but this year we have quite a few more," Director of Student Housing and Residence Life Linda Franke said.

This year's freshmen class is the largest ever in the history of the university. The majority of freshmen live on campus in one of the three freshmen residence halls: Graham, Swig or Campisi. The new students are feeling the brunt of this housing overload.Lounges in Swig are being turned into cramped triple rooms, and doubles in all residence halls are now triples.

The housing staff claims to be doing their best to accommodate the large amount of freshmen. "The only things we can do are either use space that we normally don't use (lounges), triple rooms that are normally doubles and double rooms that are already singles," Franke said. "We can just hope that some students decide not to be housed by the university."

Freshman Alicia Johnson, who lives in a forced triple, said she would not stay in her room if the situation continues for an extended period.

"If they don't move us out by Christmas, I'll move out," Johnson said.

Johnson's concerns about living in a triple have somewhat subsided.

"I was worried that [my roommates and I] wouldn't get along, but we actually get along reallywell," Johnson said. "We moved our room around so it is not too cramped anymore."

Housing hopes to have all students "un-tripled" or "de-lounged" by Christmas break. The university expects some students who live in the area to move back home, while others might decide to withdraw from the university altogether, thus opening up spaces for others to move in. Last year, all the students who wanted to be "un-tripled" by the second quarter, were.

"We have students who do not want to leave the building they are in, so they decide to stay with their triple," Franke said. "Hopefully all that want to change will be able to soon. I'm hoping that the worst scenario would be that a resident would have to stay in a crowded room for the entire quarter."

Housing staff is trying to do what they can to make the cramped rooms more livable. They are working on installing third telephone lines and data connections to make triples more comfortable.According to Franke, complaints have been low.

"For the most part, students and their parents have been reasonable," Franke said.