After 32 Anne Arundel residents were told they could not return to their dorm next year, Honors College and Resident Life officials reworked the hall’s gender layout to ensure they could stay in their old, on-campus home.
This decision comes after a March 12 email to Anne Arundel residents from Honors College Assistant Director Dean Hebert that stated incoming Honors Humanities freshmen would be moving into the dorm next year since their current location (Wicomico Hall) will be demolished by fall 2014 to make room for Prince Frederick Hall. This meant the 32 rising juniors and seniors would not be allowed to stay, and many said they did not have enough time to secure adequate housing and petitioned the Honors College for the right to stay.
The students were informed after the lease deadline for a room in South Campus Commons and Courtyards had ended. The Honors College responded to the students’ complaints with a one-day pass to apply for leases for the two apartment complexes, according to Honors College Director Bill Dorland.
The students in Anne Arundel rejected this option, saying they still felt they were being pressed for time, according to sophomore general biology and management major Alex Duplessie.
Sophomore aerospace engineering major Sylvie Delahunt and Duplessie met with Hebert last week to discuss other possible solutions.
Hebert drafted a survey to find out exactly how many students wanted to return to Anne Arundel next year and realized they could all be accommodated – but with some slight changes to the layout. The Department of Resident Life reassigned the gender of some rooms to allow current residents to stay.
Duplessie was surprised the Department of Resident Life was able to accommodate all parties.
“I was very happy with how they responded to student concerns,” he said. “I think they found a good solution.”
According to Hebert, there will not be room for students to return in the 2013 school year – by then, Anne Arundel will be exclusively for Honors Humanities students. But this time, there will be no surprise to the students, according to Hebert.
“We’ll make sure to notify students much, much earlier next year,” Hebert wrote in an email.
Duplessie said he is more than happy with the compromise. He and other Anne Arundel residents just did not want to be blindsided by any more surprising news, he said.
“[The result] was not what I was expecting,” he said. “We have much more warning than we did before.”
akinnibi@umdbk.com
