Scattered magazines and candy stuck to furniture greeted John Kresser as he moved into his triple in Sleeper Hall a month ago. He realized that unlike his luxury crib in the Hotel Commonwealth, there was no housekeeping on West Campus.
Once he got settled in, however, the College of Arts and Sciences freshman said he discovered a definite perk of dorm living – a social life. At the hotel there was a closed-door policy, and only four students could be in one room at a time, he said.
The hotel was “a lot more secluded” than campus residences, Kresser said he now realizes.
“I know everyone on my floor now,” he said. “They all introduced themselves the first day.”
Kresser is one of 173 Boston University freshmen who were moved out of hotels and into campus housing at the beginning of second semester. Due to a shortage of housing for freshman first semester, students were placed in the Hotel Commonwealth and the Holiday Inn in Brookline.
Even with cable, freshly washed towels and freedom from security guards at the hotel, Kresser said he feels more a part of campus in his cramped triple.
“A lot of people never felt like they were going to BU just because they were so out of it,” he said.
College of Communication freshman Jordan Newman said his move to Shelton Hall makes it easier to hang out with friends because they do not have to walk more than a mile to the Holiday Inn to hang out. In addition, Shelton Hall has female residents, a foreign concept to the students who lived in the all-male Holiday Inn.
“The university by far is more female than male – what are the odds of this happening?” he said.
Though both Newman and Kresser said they have adjusted well to their new living situations, for others, it took a while to get settled.
CAS freshman and former Holiday Inn resident Kevin Schrecengost said his new suitemates in Shelton “forced” him to swap rooms with their friend living in 575 Commonwealth Ave.
“They made me feel ridiculously uncomfortable in my own room, and it just was bad,” he said.
Schrecengost said he is content with his roommates now and enjoys how close he is to campus. He still remembers walking through 22 inches of snow to eat at one of the dining halls last semester.
But Office of Residence Life Director David Zamojski said he has not heard complaints like Schrecengost’s about this year’s relocation process.
“I have not heard of any concerns at this time, which is encouraging,” he said.
Zamojski said he knows students have moved out of an “established community” at the hotels and hopes they will find their places again in on-campus housing.
“We hope that students … are taking advantage of opportunities to join Residence Hall Associations and activities planned by faculty-in-residence,” he said.
But the RHAs and friendships made in the hotel communities are fading now, some former hotel residents said.
Schrecengost and Kresser, both former officers in their hotels’ RHAs, said the groups no longer exist now that everyone has moved out, and neither one has joined their new dorms’ RHAs. With the move and classes, there simply isn’t enough time to get reacquainted.
“I was thinking about going to the meetings and such, but I have a lot on my schedule at the moment and haven’t found time for it yet,” Schrecengost said.
Though Zamojski said students were given the option of requesting a roommate for second semester, some students decided they would have a better chance of getting their first housing choice on their own. That has spread former hotel residents out even more, Kresser said.
“Out of everybody I know, only one group of kids are living together from Hotel Commonwealth,” Kresser said, who got his first choice for housing – West Campus – for deciding to go in with random roommates.
Former Hotel Commonwealth resident and College of General Studies freshman Allison Moore said some of her friendships from first semester are disappearing.
“It’s kind of sad that everyone got split up,” she said. “A lot of the people who live near West are still in contact, but I have only seen Myles [Standish Hall] and South [Campus] people a couple of times.”
It is still not known whether BU will need hotel accommodations for freshmen next year, Zamojski said, and Hotel Commonwealth spokeswoman Didi Lutz said BU has not asked to house more students at the hotel yet.
But as far as who should live in the hotels if necessary, Newman and Kresser said the solution should be to offer hotel rooms to upperclassmen.
“It really isn’t right to move freshman midway through the year,” Newman said. “We’re just getting used to the whole college thing. We set up a base of friends and they just scatter us about on campus.”
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