Living on campus is one of the joys of college for many. Oakland University’s dorms and apartments may be home to over 2,000 residents during the academic year, but only a fraction of those residents remain during the summer. 

Jeff Waters is a resident assistant in the student apartments over the summer who appreciates the change in pace.

“Campus is much more relaxed,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about parking.”

During the fall and winter semesters, all residents, including housing employees, must take classes. This is not the case over the summer.

“Since I am not taking classes over the summer, I usually don’t have much to do besides relaxing, catching up on sleep or catching up with video games,” Waters said. “I also work at PetSmart, which can take up quite a few hours.”

The relationship between resident assistants and residents is also different in the summer. Waters said the RAs do not have to do some of the work traditionally associated with the job. 

“We don’t have to check up on them and do the normal RA thing,” he said. “We do our rounds and make sure everyone in the apartments are following housing policy.”

However, there are more than just RAs living on campus. Brianna Jaczynski is a student maintenance worker working over the summer, and lives in on-campus housing.

“There are tours and orientations which happen almost every day, so it’s not uncommon to see every seat in the food court filled,” she said. 

Currently, Vandenberg Dining Hall is closed for residents due to construction. Both Chik Fil A and Moe’s are closed, meaning residents only have the options of Panda Express, Subway, Au Bon Pain, or Create. All of these locations have different hours during the summer as opposed to during the school year, and none are open on the weekends. 

Summer living changes for James Zentmeyer, director of University Housing, as well.

“The biggest difference is that during the regular year I am heavily and directly involved with students and lightly involved with administration,” he said. “During the summer the reverse is true.  Needless to say I much prefer the student interaction.”

On-campus activities are different during the summer as well. Waters explained that Conference Assistants, CAs, host programs in the residence halls for summer residents. This would normally be his job.

“As an RA in the apartments, there’s not too much over the summer, but there’s always the rest of Rochester,” Waters said.

Another struggle for residents over the summer is the new construction across the university. Waters didn’t think that the construction would pose that much of a hassle at first, but he finds it frustrating like many others.

“Now my favorite part of campus is no longer available to the public,” Waters said. “There are also limited ways to get into the Oakland Center, which makes things a bit more difficult.”

Vandenberg construction will be finished before the start of the fall semester. However, the construction around the Oakland Center will not be finished until 2018. When students return in the fall, campus is expected to have a more crowded feel.