The Stampede

Issue date: 9/26/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Timothy Hurtak With enrollment at a high, all residence halls are full except Sutton.

Milligan College had a large increase in on-campus male residents this fall and there was not enough space for all of them in Webb Hall.

To solve the problem, Milligan administrators asked residents in Webb to move to MSA.

"We did not foresee last spring that male enrollment would increase this much," said Shauna Nefos, director of residence life and housing.

In an effort to make room in MSA for students without a room in Webb, some female students, who were planning to reside in MSA, were asked to move to Sutton.

"I got a call about two or three weeks before school started from (Academic Dean) Mark Fox," said senior Nikki Wilmer, current MSA resident. "He was asking us and other people to voluntarily move out of MSA to make room for boys."

Wilmer and her three roommates were offered free single rooms in Sutton if they would voluntarily leave MSA.

According to Wilmer, she and her suitemates declined the offer, but were told by Fox that if the space problem did not get solved the decision may have become involuntary.

The Student Handbook states, under the "Room Contract" subheading on page 25, that "the College reserves the right to … reassign students to different rooms or residence halls in the event such reassignments are determined necessary."

Graduate and married students living in MSA were also offered compensation to leave MSA. They were offered a small amount of money to move off campus to make room for undergraduate students. Two people took advantage of that offer, Nefos said.

Nefos said that the on-campus living policy will not change in view of the sudden shortage of space.

The college housing policy, found on page 22 in the Student Handbook, states, "all students are expected to take room and board on campus." The policy goes on to state the exceptions, including graduate students, married students, students taking less than nine credit hours, students 23 years of age and older and students living with relatives in neighboring cities.

"Changing on-campus living policy would be last-ditch effort to make sure we have the space," said Nefos.

There is still plenty of space on campus for residents, according to Nefos.

"We are nowhere near total capacity for undergrad …there is plenty of room in Sutton," Nefos said.

Continued...

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