You Can Go Here, But You Can’t Live Here
“It felt like I was isolated from everyone,” Joey explained, “I never felt like I actually belonged here”.
Joey Vidal, a sophomore student at Stetson University, had an unusual experience his freshman year at Stetson, when he was handed a Hampton inn key on move in day.
As an incoming freshman, move in day has to be one of the most nerve-wracking feelings you’ll ever experience. All that time spent counting down the days until you leave for college, it’s almost hard to believe when the day finally comes.
Incoming freshmen scramble around the parking lot of Stetson University, attempting to unpack all of their belongings into one tiny dorm room. Parents struggle holding back tears as they kiss their babies goodbye one last time. The sound of squeaky mattresses ring the halls as students plop down on their new beds. Friendships are sparked with comments about the lingering scent of moldy air vents. Ah, yes…
The college freshman experience has begun.
But what about the students who missed out on the freshman dorm life experience, simply because there was no room for them? Dorm rooms at Stetson University have been overflowing with incoming freshmen, and when Stetson couldn’t absorb all of those students; it became an issue.
For the past three years, housing has been forced to lease floors of a nearby hotel in order to accommodate the increase in the student population. The remaining students are required by housing to reside in the Hampton Inn Hotel. “I was limiting the people I surrounded myself with by being so far away from campus,” Joey said, “While everyone was making friends with people in their halls, I’d be sitting in my hotel room. It took so much effort to meet new people”.
Making new friends in college can be hard enough, and it can be even more difficult when you feel like an outsider at your own school.
This additional stress added to these students, who are already facing difficulties transitioning to a new environment, has raised quite a controversy throughout the years. Seven of the twenty five students who were placed in the Hampton Inn transferred or left Stetson after one semester. The whole college experience suddenly sounds less exciting when your neighbors down the hall are screaming children and boring adults on business trips, instead of your close friends.
After a semester of living at the Hamptons, Joey requested a spot to live on campus if a room became available. Second semester he was granted permission to live in an on-campus building, called Stetson Oaks. Although Stetson Oaks is identified as on-campus residency, it’s location is considered the farthest point of school housing. Stetson Oaks is located behind Sigma Nu; a fraternity house that is no longer affiliated with Stetson, due to its distance from Stetson.
Prior to Stetson purchasing the Oaks, the residents that lived in the building were Deland local citizens. The buildings were run down and infested with rodents as a result of poor hygiene from previous tenants. Due to the unexpected number of incoming freshman, students were being moved into the Oaks before the renovation even began. Stetson Housing and Residential Life seemed overwhelmed and out of options when their best solution was moving students into a building before renovating.
Robbie Robertson, a senior at Stetson, was also placed in the Hampton Inn his Sophomore year. Robbie’s unfortunate circumstance of lacking a transportation seemed to be his biggest issue with living off campus. Under the impression that he would be living on campus all 4 years, he was not prepared for the inconvenience of trying to find transportation.
“There was a handful of us without cars and every single one of us missed the bus at least twice a week” -Robbie Robertson
Becoming reliant on a bus that comes every thirty minutes to take students to and from class doesn’t sound promising to the students who are always running 5 minutes behind. Students are guaranteed to miss half their class time waiting for the next bus. Those living at the Hampton inn never had the privilege of waking up 15 minutes before class starts and sprinting across campus without being late. Robbie started noticing more and more students skipping class because it was such a hassle getting to campus. Living on campus helps students perform better academically by making the things they need more accessible.
Housing students at a hotel is not only inconvenient , but deprives them of a comfortable living environment. Hotels were not intended for tourists to put up with rowdy college kids. Noise complaints about students were frequently made by guests staying at the hotel. Hotel rooms were never intended for housing college students. A place where families and elders go to relax, is not where students are able to be themselves.
Stetson’s Department of Housing and Residential Life show little concern about the disadvantages of students living at the Hamptons. Stetson’s decision to expand on the student population without providing students the right resources, contradicted their goal of expanding on a diverse community. Actively increasing enrollment, while restricting students in a hotel, is not an effective way to build a community. Countless numbers of alumni and students call Stetson University their home away from home, and incoming students deserve to experience a University the way it is intended to be.
The freshman experience is about molding new perspectives on places, people, and things and learning to live in the moment. It’s being forced to awkwardly brush your teeth with strangers in your hall; and it’s eating with them later in the Stetson Commons. You are able to share college experiences with students who are going through the same ups and downs of missing home. Students find comfort in feeling connected to people. What gives someone the right to decide which students aren’t allowed to have the same experience as the others. Every student attending a University deserves to feel like they are not just some number. But that seems difficult when there’s not enough room for them.
