While many noted that this year's move-in went more smoothly than in the past, students still had many complaints about the difficulty they experienced getting into their rooms.
Though most of the renovations have been completed in Harrison College House, the elevator system continues to cause problems -- -and, at one point, three of the four elevators were inoperable.
"One of my roommates had to drag two suitcases up nine flights of stairs, because the [elevator] line" extended into the lounge, College sophomore and Harrison House resident Suma Chennubhotla said. She also noted that her oven and refrigerator were broken, and that she was still waiting for them to be fixed.
On the other hand, Hamilton College House, which underwent renovations during the summer of 2003, experienced relatively few problems during this year's move-in.
Hamilton House Dean Tabitha Dell'Angelo said last fall's move-in was difficult due to the ongoing completion of the building's entrance lounge and information center. Students were forced to enter the building through back doors or underground emergency exits.
This year, though, "There was no day where we couldn't stay organized. ... Housing did a great job," Dell'Angelo said.
Because the high rise apartment buildings house a limited number of freshmen as compared to other dorms, a more consistent flow of students arrived during the week prior to the start of classes.
A central information center distributing move-in passes, loading carts and room keys was set up in the shared space between the high rise apartments, helping to limit student traffic.
Another noticeable difference this year was the number of freshmen who decided to move in on Sept. 1, the day before they were officially scheduled to arrive.
Philip Nichols, faculty director of College Houses and Academic Services, noted that this has been a growing trend over the past few years.
"Every year, there [are] more and more students moving in early. ... More than half our freshmen are already on campus by move-in day," Nichols said.
"It helps with the move-in but hurts New Student Orientation [and] creating a community," Nichols added, observing that the situation is something that might need to be addressed in the future.
Nichols also said that steps had been taken to make drop-off and loading faster, including limiting the amount of time that cars were allowed to stop in front of dormitory buildings before having to be moved to a University-approved parking lot.
Officials' work at "keeping cars out in the periphery clearly made a difference," Nichols said.
Nearly all of the University's 6,000 on-campus residents have moved into their respective college house buildings.
