Dean of Administrative Affairs John Meeske said next year’s housing process has finally been settled. He found room for the extra Saybrook College rising juniors in Lawrance Hall and McClellan Hall, but he is worried about the following year’s housing.
“Saybrook needed 34 [annex] spaces,” Meeske said. “[They got] three suites in Lawrance and three on the first floor of McClellan.”
Meeske said he had some extra room to work with in Lawrance because the Branford College freshman class is smaller than the Ezra Stiles College freshman class. Stiles freshmen usually live in Lawrance but will be in Swing Space next year while Vanderbilt Hall is renovated.
Meeske said he gave the last suite in McClellan to an extra group of Branford students, so now everyone who asked for an on-campus room next year will have one.
“Everyone is very tight, just barely fitting,” Meeske said. “This year [we have] 200 annex [students]; next year, 275.”
Meeske said he was able to accommodate all annexed students without planning to overcrowd any freshman suites. He said he has set aside space for 1,304 freshmen in the Class of 2006.
Timothy Dwight College was hoping to take a few more freshmen in next year’s class because the renovations have created a few more spaces, but because of higher demand for upperclassmen to live on campus, Meeske said, they will only take their usual number of freshmen.
“TD had a kind of scare,” Meeske said. “They had planned on taking more freshmen — but now I’ve agreed to give them their normal number of freshmen.”
Salima Remtulla ’04 is annexed from Saybrook to Lawrance next year, and she said it will be great to get to know other annexed students on Old Campus.
“It’s going to be tough living away from Saybrook and we’re going to have to make a little bit of an effort to come to the college for meals and just to make sure we stay in touch and continue to get to know the Saybrook community,” Remtulla said. “But the housing is really nice.”
Meeske said he is worried about next year’s housing draw because this year there was more space available and housing will still be tight. With Morse, Berkeley and Stiles freshmen living in Swing Space, 75 extra annex spaces were available on Old Campus. When Pierson College is renovated next year, there will be less space available overall because freshmen live in quads in Swing Space, while upperclassmen often live in doubles.
“Next year is the question,” Meeske said. “Hopefully, we’ll figure out a solution by next spring.”