SOMETIMES random and unfair things happen in life. Millionaires win the lottery. Another boy band pops up on MTV. It rains on your wedding day. Woody House doesn't open on time.
Ok, point taken. These things happen all the time for no reason. And most of the time they are beyond the average person's control. That's when it's time to look at the bright side of the situation. The new dorm on Alderman Road, Woody House, may not be opening until November 15. As a result, 140 students temporarily will be placed in triple rooms in the other Alderman Road residence houses. It's not that big a deal.
In an interview, John Evans, Director of Housing, said that the Woody residents will be placed in some of the "fishbowl" rooms -- those Alderman Road Dorms ending in a "1" -- until Nov. 15, when they will move into a double room with a new roommate. It's understandable how this might seem unfair to the students placed in triple rooms, but the pluses really do outweigh the minuses.
The fishbowl rooms have been used as triples before without many problems, so these two months should not inconvenience residents. The three roommates won't be missing out on much space. The fishbowl rooms are slightly larger than the other rooms in the suite. Also, two of the beds will be bunked, and the Woody resident will get to use the larger, locked closet in the common area.
Most of the time the suitemates will be congregating around the TV or Nintendo in these common areas, so there shouldn't be too many three-way conflicts over room use anyway.
Some students in this situation probably aren't looking forward to having to adjust their social life two months into the school year. They may feel comfortable with their first suitemates, or afraid it will be too late to make friends in their new dorm. Some may even think that their first suitemates won't make the effort to bond with them, since they know they will be moving in November anyway.
This won't happen. Each person will meet and befriend every other person in that dorm. Any upperclassman can attest to this fact. The Woody residents will meet everyone in their first dorm, and then they'll meet everyone in Woody come November. So, in a funny twist of fate, these students will end up having more friends than most people at the University. Their network of friends will grow exponentially once the new dorm is built and residents get settled in. Since every person living there will have already met a whole other dorm, they will be able to bring together huge groups of people.
Woody residents will get lots of practice dealing with roommates as well. By the time they're done compromising and learning how to live with two other people, they'll get to downsize to just one roommate, as will the other two permanent residents of the fishbowl rooms. This transition will make the rest of the year so much easier to handle.
Evans stated, "the delay in the completion of the building is something that no one at the University is happy about, but it is something that we all need to take in stride and work around." The Housing Division is helping fishbowl residents take it in stride. For those first two and a half months, each member of the triple room will pay only 80 percent of the normal cost of living. When this time is up, Housing will move all that is needed into the new rooms in Woody House. They understand the concerns of students, and will try to help in any way possible.
It could be worse. The triple situation could last all year. Due to increasing enrollment numbers, some universities such as UCLA, have been forced to place the majority of students in a triple room. Three-fourths of UCLA freshmen are in this situation, so 140 University students isn't that bad.
The subcontractors are doing their best to erect the new dorm by Nov. 15, but until then the students that are affected by the construction shouldn't be too worried about it. These things happen, and this situation is not that inconvenient. When Woody House is done, it will be the newest residence on Grounds. It will be right in the middle of the rest of the Alderman Road residence areas, so friends and classes will be close by. Most importantly, Woody House is hall-style like the McCormick dorms. Hopefully these students who have had the chance to live in both types will finally be able to settle the age-old debate about which residence areas are better, thus doing the University a grander service than they'll ever know.
(Brandon Almond is a Cavalier Daily associate editor.)
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