With second semester fast approaching, Boston University administrators are continuing to remedy this semester’s housing dilemmas and have plans in the works for additional projects to fix any problems that may surface in coming months.
One of the biggest obstacles facing housing officials this semester has been the use of Hamilton House to house the 73 Center for English Language and Orientation Programs students, whose occupancy has delayed the residence’s renovation.
The Daily Free Press reported in September that CELOP students were being placed on three of the building’s six floors termed “inhabitable” by the university. At the time, there was uncertainty as to how long the renovations, which were announced last April, would be put off.
Although he is still unsure of long-term plans for Hamilton House, Housing Director Marc Robillard said the building will again be used for housing next semester.
“We do intend to use it for next semester because of the demand for housing we have,” he said. “It will probably be all CELOP students.”
As for the building’s condition, Robillard said it is still structurally fit to house students, though no major renovations have been done inside yet.
“We did some work to the outside of the building to make sure the wind doesn’t blow off the front of the facility,” he said. “There’s nothing inherently wrong that makes the building uninhabitable. All the floors are habitable, but we made the decision to only house students on three of the six floors.”
The only main complaint he said he has heard from students has pertained to the inability of BU to wire the campus cable network to Hamilton House because of its location.
Because of the university’s guarantee to provide housing to students for all four years, the university has had to house students in local hotels since 1993, Robillard said. This semester was no exception, as more than 500 students were placed in the Hyatt at 575 Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
College of Arts and Sciences freshman Sarah Mayersohn said she was pleased with her experience living at the hotel because of the amenities given to her.
“My experience has been nothing but great,” she said, “because there’s a good number of benefits that balance out our having to live off campus our first semester – such as discounts at the hotel restaurant, shuttles to campus and best of all, no Guest Policy.”
In January, approximately 800 students will leave on-campus housing because of graduation, study abroad programs or moving off campus, and 214 students will return to BU from studying abroad, according to Robillard.
The Office of Housing will not assign a room until a student has checked out of it to avoid “double booking a bed,” he said, and this process normally takes place starting Jan. 3.
“Once we identify those students leaving, we assign the new students,” he said. “For the most part, they replace students who are going study abroad, though I don’t know how well the numbers will match up.”
Because some students leaving are not accounted for until the semester starts, Robillard said some students may have to live in hotels temporarily until rooms can be found for them on campus, though he does not plan on this happening.
Although there are no major plans for construction over Winter Break, Robillard said the university plans to finish the Student Residences at 10 Buick St. within the next few years and add more than 1,500 beds.
“[Winter Break] is too short of a time period to do anything major,” he said. “Facilities Management might have some minor projects, but those are more ‘behind the scenes.'”
CAS sophomore Zach Flanagan-Frankl said he would like to see some maintenance and updates done to the older dormitories on campus.
“They should modernize the rooms and equipment because everything is still straight out of the ’70s,” he said. “If BU doesn’t make housing better overall, kids are going to end up getting tired of poor facilities and moving off campus.”
Robillard said he attributes the increase in students living on campus to the current hassle of finding an off-campus apartment, growing class sizes and the conveniences on-campus housing provides.
“With very few exceptions, we don’t require you to live on campus,” he said. “So if something happened in the off-campus market, we could see a lot of students moving off campus. I don’t see that happening now, but that possibility is there. I think people want to live on campus because of the community here. We’ve got a lot of things going for living here.”
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