After being told they would have to stay behind for a short time this semester while officials in the Office of Housing found on-campus locations for them, the several remaining students in the Hyatt Regency Cambridge were relocated into campus housing last week, BU Director of Housing Marc Robillard said Friday.
Robillard said BU completed the moving process last Wednesday, Jan. 22. All students housed first semester in the Radisson Cambridge and half of Hyatt residents were relocated the weekend before second semester started.
The size of BU’s class of 2006 forced officials in the Office of Housing to find a home for 470 freshmen at the beginning of the year. The students were housed across the river, but told throughout the semester they would be moved into on-campus locations after the semester.
Students living in the Hyatt were given new housing arrangements after returning from winter break, according to Robillard.
‘We still had a handful of students that we had to relocate over break,’ he said.
Many students said they were upset over the delay in housing assignments, but understood the situation.
‘It was kind of a hassle to not know where I was living when I went home,’ said College of Communication freshman Ida Ziniti.
College of Arts and Sciences freshman David Blanton agreed.
‘It was a hassle, but I don’t think BU had much of a choice,’ he said.
Robillard said the remaining Hyatt students were relocated all over campus, due to the large number of students in need of housing. He said most of the relocated students ended up with housing assignments on South Campus.
‘We could only go where space was available,’ Robillard said. ‘They’re all over the campus.’
Some freshmen said they found themselves in housing typically held by upperclassman.
‘Most of the girls on my floor are upperclassmen, which makes it more difficult to adjust to,’ Ziniti said. ‘At the Hyatt, I was friends with all the people on my floor, now they live all over campus which makes it difficult to keep in touch.’
Many students received new roommates after being relocated despite the efforts of the Office of Housing, Robillard said.
‘We tried if we could to keep roommates together,’ he said.
Some students said they disagree with those efforts and have mixed views on the situation.
‘I requested one of my friends from the Hyatt to be a roommate,’ Blanton said.
‘Apparently the BU Office of Housing didn’t care. My roommate now is from the Hyatt, but is not the person I requested; he lives two floors above me.
‘If the roommate request section of the housing forms we filled out means nothing, then why have it?’ he continued. ‘It’s absurd and it’s a waste of ink.’
Ziniti said she still lives with her roommate from the Hyatt and said despite the difficulty of the relocation process, she feels she was not short-changed.
‘Even though it was a hassle, they did a good job,’ she said. ‘They split some of us up but they did what they could as far as keeping us together. It would have been really hard to not have Lindsay for a roommate so I’m glad everything worked out the way it did in the end.’
Robillard said he doesn’t expect a problem in housing to occur in the future, though he left the possibility of similar arrangements open.
‘If the demand for housing exceeds our capacity, we would use hotels again,’ Robillard said. ‘The Hyatt was a gracious host for our students.’
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