94 students still in interim housing

Miller Hall rooms 3A and 3B could easily be mistaken for a janitor’s closet or a boiler room. It’s not until Caleb Thomas steps out into the musky hallway with a bag full of garbage that it’s evident there are student rooms down there.
Thomas is one of 91 male and three female students still living in interim, on-campus housing. The students are being charged a reduced rate of $7 per day compared to the normal rate of $12 per day for a regular room.
It’s possible those male students could remain in interim housing for the rest of the semester, said Director of Residence Life Ron Brunell, but the three female students would probably get permanent housing.

Miller Hall rooms 3A and 3B could easily be mistaken for a janitor’s closet or a boiler room. It’s not until Caleb Thomas steps out into the musky hallway with a bag full of garbage that it’s evident there are student rooms down there.
Thomas is one of 91 male and three female students still living in interim, on-campus housing. The students are being charged a reduced rate of $7 per day compared to the normal rate of $12 per day for a regular room.
It’s possible those male students could remain in interim housing for the rest of the semester, said Director of Residence Life Ron Brunell, but the three female students would probably get permanent housing.
Thomas, of Baldwin City, Kan., and a student at the College of Technology, along with his roommate Kyle Konopatzke of Columbia Falls, shares the room 3A in the basement of Miller with two other students. There were supposed to be six males in their room but one didn’t show up and the other didn’t come back after the first day.
Konopatzke and Thomas don’t have an Internet connection or cable, and both have been told they could be in interim housing until January.
Now Konopatzke and one of his other roommates in the basement are looking for an apartment near campus. Since both are over 21, they have the option to live off campus. He said he couldn’t continue to live like he is, especially since he needs the Internet for class.
Konopatzke, Thomas and their roommates in 3A share the one bathroom in the basement of Miller Hall with nine males living in the TV lounge down the hall and three neighboring males living in 3B.
The bathroom has one shower stall, urinal, sink and a toilet room that is missing a door – all for 16 guys. They have to go upstairs to use the bathroom.
Konopatzke said he called Residence Life when he discovered he was supposed to have five roommates. They didn’t tell him exactly what the living situation would be like, he said, just that there was an overflow of students for on-campus housing.
“If they would have been straight up with me, I would have made other arrangements,” Konopatzke said.
Dillon Ewals is one of eight male students living in the TV lounge in the basement of Miller Hall.
Ewals, 19, of Helena is a transfer student from Wisconsin who is majoring in applied health sciences.
Ewals said he wants to get back to a regular sleep schedule in a room he can fit his stuff into. His corner of the TV lounge is cluttered with clothes and shower supplies. Among the other twin bunk beds and cardboard-box closets is a picnic table cluttered with pizza boxes and Food Zoo to-go containers.
Ewals said he gets along with his roommates but he does worry about trusting eight other guys he doesn’t know. Once he came back to the TV lounge and one of the guys had propped opened the door because they didn’t want to take their key with them. Ewals said he has a $1,500 bike in the lounge, but right now, most of his possessions are stored in his car.
Like 3A and 3B, there is no Internet in the TV lounge. Ewals said he often goes to the library or “battles” for one of the few computers upstairs.
As of Wednesday, Brunell said, an exception to the Freshman Residency Requirement policy was made allowing 17 freshmen – 14 males and three females – to make other housing arrangements in town, most with family. But those students, along with the other 94 are still on the waiting list for permanent housing.
The Freshman Residency Requirement policy requires freshmen to live on campus unless they are married, live with parents, are single parents, or have other special circumstances.
Brunell also said that non-traditional students who are classified as freshmen would also be classified under that exception due to the large overflow of students wanting to live on campus.
Fifty-four students who had been on the top of the list for permanent housing were notified Tuesday and Wednesday that they could move out of interim housing and into permanent rooms.
Until enrollment numbers are released, it’s too early to tell if the demand for on-campus housing is increasing, Brunell said. But if it’s a trend UM will have to look at other options and the possibility of building a new residence hall.
Ewals said he understand UM’s policy of wanting to house all the students who request to live on campus, but he doesn’t think it’s good when students have to live like he is.
Since he has nowhere else to live and no money, Thomas said he would continue to live in interim housing.
“I’ll stay if they give me cable,” Thomas said.
But they won’t be living in the basement for the rest of the semester. Missoula Fire Marshall Bob Rajala said that all the students living in the basement have to be out in 40 days.
kayla.matzke@umontana.edu