Today: Mar 29, 2024

Reslife gives more housing options for residents

Ellis McGinleyCopy Editor

The University’s ResLife recently announced that students living on-campus will be permitted to leave their belongings in their dorms over winter break if they are remaining in the same dorm for both semesters.

Previously, it had been decided that students would need to bring all belongings home through this upcoming January, regardless if they would be moving into dorms or not. As a first-time resident who has spent an awkward amount of time trying to work out how I was going to get all my stuff home, this comes off as a huge relief.

There was hardly enough room in my home for the bins I packed before I moved in. I never thought I would leave with more physical objects than I had brought, but I rapidly found out that I was nowhere near as prepared for the semester as I thought.

Within the first hour of living as a resident, my roommate and I found ourselves at the campus bookstore, purchasing the largest fan we could find. Neither one of us had any idea how to get it home, again writing it off as a problem for later.

In the months since, we also came into the possession of a vacuum, new coats and shoes, blankets, and two more fans. Notably, we have not invested in new boxes yet.

Besides, wrangling awkwardly sized fitted sheets onto a stiff dorm mattress and putting my desk back together is not the welcome I dream for myself when we come back in January.

It is also a powerful incentive for residential students to stay on campus, one that comes after the university’s previous decision to give residential students early registration times than their commuter peers.

While this puts commuters at a clear disadvantage for determining their spring schedules, letting residential students leave our belongings in dorms does no obvious harm (assuming everyone cleans out their minifridge well enough).

I know the convenience of leaving my bedding, desk supplies, fans, and everything else I will not need at home was enough to convince me to stay in my double for another semester. I will admit to briefly entertaining the idea of a single, or even a fully online schedule, but it really cannot be understated how much easier this will be for all of us.

I still worry, though, what would happen if the university announced our spring semester was to be fully online.

Even then, I would almost rather come back to New Haven and pack up the second half of my things than figure out how to bring them all in one trip.

I will also be staying overly optimistic that Connecticut and Southern’s community will maintain the incredibly good fortune we have had in keeping our COVID-19 numbers on the low.

Residents may also be concerned about leaving valuables or objects susceptible to humidity or temperature changes. Yet, living in a dorm, it is understood that there is not always a well-controlled climate.

These are problems that will be negated by common sense and a little extra care when deciding what does and does not make the cut to return for the winter.

My final concern might be of an inconvenience to the janitorial staff, but we will have to trust students to sanitize and clean our dorms for the coming of next semester.

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