Students still in off-campus hotel despite new dorm
Addition of new dorm still not enough for rise of student population.
Having over 300 students on a waiting list for any department can be unnerving. But when the need to get students off the waiting list directly corresponds with the student’s ability to attend OU — with issues ranging from lack of transportation to living out of state — the pressure is even worse.
With the introduction of Oakview Hall, OU housing added over 500 beds last year. The growth rate of students applying for housing has increased so much though that there is still no way to accommodate all students.
Every one of the double and single rooms that the Extended Stay America Hotel had available is currently being occupied by an OU student, James Zentmeyer, director of housing, explained. This resulted in a max of 82 residents being moved into the Extended Stay off campus.
Zentmeyer also said that every day, students are being moved out of the hotel and into the residence halls.
“People are still signing up for housing as recently as today,” Zentmeyer said.
Hotel staff at Extended Stay America said that almost once a day, a new student moves into the complex from OU housing with no warning.
“I thought the deadline for students to move into the hotel was Sept. 3,” a desk worker at the Extended Stay said.
Resentment has spread to students like Keeley Higgins, a freshman resident in Extended Stay America. After a roommate conflict, she explained how a new girl came in claiming she had been informed an hour earlier that they were new roommates.
“I never got an email from housing saying I was getting a new roommate or anything,” Higgins said. “It felt sort of unprofessional and confusing how we were all being shuffled around.”
Zentmeyer said he’s doubtful that all students on the waitlist will make it into housing come January. However, he has high hopes for all students to be out of the hotel by the end of the winter recess, due to a typical drop in residents after the holiday.
More information on when to apply for housing to avoid being on a waitlist or being in the Extended Stay America can be found at the www.oakland.edu/housing.
