Housing to introduce new options
Changes in housing will optimize the on-campus living experience
Stacie Calhoun
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: Culture
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Mary Broyles, assistant director of administration and operations, said a new self-select process for on-campus housing assignments will go into effect March 1.
"The system is called RMS, Residential Management System," Broyles said. "UTC Place was always able to self-select, and it worked well. Now the whole campus will be able to choose who they live with."
With this new feature, students will be allowed to pick other students they would like to room with, Broyles said.
Students apply online as usual. The only difference is both the application fee and the registration fee have to be paid before students can select a room, Broyles said.
"It's now in the students' hands," Broyles said.
Lindsey Jordan, a junior from Chattanooga, said she thinks the self-select option could be a good and bad idea.
"It's a good idea and will fix problems students have with roommates that they don't get along with well," Jordan said. "However, freshmen do need to meet new people."
Jan Benes, a second-year graduate student from the Czech Republic, agreed with Jordan.
"It's not good for freshmen," Benes said. "They're here to meet different people and they need to mix, not stay with people they are used to."
According to Ryan Hall, Residence Hall Association advisor, the learning communities that were started for freshmen at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year will also play a part in housing beginning in the fall of 2010.
"Freshmen who enroll in English classes that are in conjunction with a learning community class with topics courses will also be living together," Hall said. "These are living learning communities."
Hall said some of the benefits of living learning communities are having an easier transition into college, maintaining a higher GPA and making friends quickly with people who share common interests.
These living learning communities will be in designated sections of housing complexes around campus, Hall said. These students will not only live together and have at least one class together, they will participate in group activities, social learning projects and social events.
Hall said some of the living learning communities for fall of 2010 are Lockmiller Integrated First-Year Experience, History of Hip-Hop and Popular Culture and Philosophy.
