Oak Run apartments are being shut down for the 2021-2022 school year because of low housing numbers. These are not the same as Olde Oak apartments, which will continue to stay open for the coming school year.
While many students who were hoping to live in Oak Run will be displaced next year, they will have the option to sign up for housing before their peers’ scheduled time, allowing them to get priority in what housing they want because they cannot sign up for the same apartment next year.
Students getting displaced in housing is not a new occurrence, according to Housing Coordinator and Resident Director of Oak Run, Kristin Arwood. Last year, for example, One of the University Place female-designated apartment building was switched over to a male-designated apartment building, displacing all the females living there.
But what’s the reason for shutting down these apartments?
Arwood noted one reason for shutting them down was housing numbers. After looking at data of apartments and dorms across campus, they noticed that not all of them were being filled completely, mainly because of reduced attendance because of the pandemic. For instance, many apartments currently house only three people instead of four, and others were living by themselves in dorm rooms, where normally two people should be living.
According to Arwood, a housing team decided it would be best to condense the student body into fewer apartments, allowing the university to rent these apartments out to the community. This allows the university to get as much out of those apartments as they can, money and use wise.
This shift in housing was met with students concerned about the safety of the Olde Oaks Apartments, which are next to the Oak Run Apartments, according to Student Body President, Lily Jarzabkowski.
To help set up a distinction of community housing and university housing, Olivet plans on covering the sidewalk that connects the two sets of the apartments with grass.
“This distinction will hopefully help ease concerns of safety for the students in those apartments,” said Jarzabkowski.
Olivet is not the only university going through housing changes. According to an ABC 7 News article, other universities, such as UC San Diego, also have decreased attendance because of COVID-19 and are requiring students to live by themselves in dorms.
Some universities, like the University of Arizona, required students to put 6 feet of pace between their beds, live on opposite sides of the dorm room, and sleep facing away from each other, according to Patricia Salkin and Pamela Ko’s article titled, Should I Stay or Should I Go?
As housing numbers drop because of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in housing are necessary, but that is not stopping Olivet from continuing to provide housing options. In fact, housing sign-ups are taking place April 22 through April 26 in the housing gateway on my.olivet.edu under the housing tab. Here, floor plans for apartments and dorms, as well as sign-up instructions can be found.
For more information on budget changes affecting student life and clubs on campus, click here.
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