Lounge living: Dozens denied dormitory dwellings

Freshman Tenaya Logan is confined to tight quarters.
Crammed next to her twin-sized bed, in the fifth floor study lounge of Jesse Hall, are the beds of three strangers; a picnic table acting as a desk/drawer cluttered with laptops; hot pink nail polish; laundry detergent; clothes and papers.
Logan, of Shady Cove, Ore., is one of 148 students at the University of Montana living in interim, on-campus housing.
As of Tuesday, Ron Brunell, director of Residence Life, said there are 121 males and 27 females without permanent placing in the dorms. All of the students without rooms are being put up in the study lounges, TV rooms or other locations in the dorm buildings. 

Freshman Tenaya Logan is confined to tight quarters.
Crammed next to her twin-sized bed, in the fifth floor study lounge of Jesse Hall, are the beds of three strangers; a picnic table acting as a desk/drawer cluttered with laptops; hot pink nail polish; laundry detergent; clothes and papers.
Logan, of Shady Cove, Ore., is one of 148 students at the University of Montana living in interim, on-campus housing.
As of Tuesday, Ron Brunell, director of Residence Life, said there are 121 males and 27 females without permanent placing in the dorms. All of the students without rooms are being put up in the study lounges, TV rooms or other locations in the dorm buildings.
Brunell said the numbers are up compared with the 40 to 45 students who were in interim housing last year.
There is always an overload in the dorms at the beginning of fall semester, he said, since Residence Life is dedicated to ensuring that all students who request to live on campus have that opportunity.
Brunell noted that just because the numbers are up for interim on-campus housing, it doesn’t mean UM’s enrollment is up. It could mean there are more freshmen or more upperclassmen that have chosen to reside on campus.
Brunell said he thinks that among colleges and universities nationwide there is a movement of students living back on campus because of pragmatic and economic reasons.
While other universities turn students who want to live on campus away after a certain number of applications have been taken for the semester, UM doesn’t.
“We give everyone a chance to have permanent housing,” Brunell said.
Denying students’ request to live on campus is not an option, he said. “We wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
The impact of that decision means a different beginning to the semester than Logan imagined. Even though she admits she did apply late for housing, she never imagined she would be put up in a small study lounge.
Six girls were slated to be in the study lounge Logan is in. She said if the last two had shown up, she would have checked herself into a hotel room.
The room is stuffy, filled with four girls and their belongings. Each student assigned to interim housing is given a bed and a “closet,” — a tall, narrow box with a bar to hang clothes on.
Logan said she gets woken up when her roommates come home, and often she just goes outside or to the library to get away and concentrate on schoolwork, rather than “writing on top of things.”
According to Brunell, 72 students have not yet shown up to their assigned rooms. Their spots will be held until Friday, and then room-less students residing in study lounges can be placed permanently.
Residence Life calls students before the semester to find out if they are planning to live on campus or not, so they can offer the room to someone else if they aren’t; but some students don’t reply.
Students are offered a reduced rate while living in interim housing, Brunell said, and they will receive a refund check when they are placed. There are generally four to six students per study lounge or TV room. And the students are offered a storage unit to put some of their stuff in.
Brunell said he hoped to have interim housing students in permanent halls in two weeks, once registration ends on Sept. 15.
Cody Davis, a freshman from Ennis, said he hopes he is placed permanently in a dorm sooner rather than later, and that he doesn’t have to lug his stuff across campus. Davis resides in a tiny corner of Miller Hall’s fourth floor study lounge.
His shoes are neatly laid out, while duffle bags and boxes fill up the rest of his space. His MacBook sits on a box acting as a desk, right below a poster he hung.
Davis said he didn’t realize more guys were going to live with him until three of his four roommates showed up one day while he was taking a nap. He didn’t know they were there until he woke up and saw their stuff.
Davis said he doesn’t know any of his roommates.
“It sucks,” he said, because it’s hard to have privacy. He said he normally likes to stay up late at night hanging out, but he can’t do that until he is placed in a permanent room.
Despite the crammed corners, Logan said he has found a positive to living with three strangers.
“I have met two cool people I didn’t know before,” he said.

kayla.matzke@umontana.edu