Students pick rooms in arena

After waiting for his arena number to be called Saturday morning, College freshman Joel Green was relieved to get the triple in the high rises that he and his friends had hoped for. "Can't complain with 1509 [High Rise North]," Green said. "Even though we had to wait through this whole process to see if it would work, it all did. We got what we wanted." Like many students, Green chose to test his luck in the arena for high rise rooms for next year. Students received their lottery numbers -- which were based on seniority -- last week, and then waited their turn to select rooms Saturday morning at McClelland Hall. "We had number 279, so we had no idea what to expect," Green said. "We heard there were about 400 numbers given out." In fact, 406 numbers were assigned to the approximately 700 students who applied for rooms through the arena, according to Ellie Rupsis, associate director for occupancy administration. Some students applied for single rooms, while others entered with groups of up to four people. Engineering junior Maya Walrond was one of the few lucky students to acquire a single for next year. "I had number 33, so I was optimistic," she said. But Walrond did express concern that there are not enough single rooms available to students. "Considering they were out of singles by the time number 43 was called, I think the University should take that as a sign," Walrond said. "The high rises are good because they are convenient and safe, but their simply aren't enough of the things we want." Other students at the arena also expressed frustration about various aspects of the process. "It was too early in the year," College freshman Benjamin Fleischer said. "We couldn't apply for community living because we had friends who were rushing and couldn't commit. We needed one more week to find out who would be in what houses." College freshman Peggy Hanefors was also unable to apply for community living because of time constraints. "We didn't have enough time to get our group together," she said. "It worked out alright, because I am going to get a triple with two friends, but I wish we had more time." But despite its mixed reaction from students, Rupsis was optimistic about the success of the arena process. "Everything seems to be running smoothly," Rupsis said. "Some people aren't getting the rooms they wanted, but that's just the luck of the draw." Rupsis explained that the Department of Housing and Residence Life is trying to adapt to an increase in student demands for two-bedroom doubles with kitchens. "Those always go really fast," Rupsis said. "We converted the three-bed room triples in High Rise North into two-bedrooms with kitchens." Those rooms, however, were not available to arena applicants because they were all retained by current occupants. Rupsis also said she expects all of the high rise rooms to be filled next year through arena. "We started with fewer rooms this year, because more were assigned through community living," she said. Students who did not receive the room selections they hoped for were placed on a waiting list. Those students will then be placed -- along with transfer students -- into units which are not full to their occupancy levels. Students also have the option of living in one of the University's college houses, each of whom sent representatives to arena to explain what the facilities offer. "We haven't had many people sign up this morning, but it's still early in the day," Nursing junior and Ware College House resident Sarah Floyd said. "But we expect to get more people later -- these people are still getting pretty much what they want." Students can still contact the college houses if they are interested in living one of them next year.