Over the summer, the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) reassigned an undisclosed number of students to rooms other than the ones they selected in the spring housing lottery. The reassigned students included eight upperclassmen living in doubles on the second floor of Mather Hall.
In a July 10 email to the eight students, Coordinator of Housing and Office Operations Beth Pae wrote that the move was necessary “to fulfill Kenyon’s commitment to housing all of our first-year students together.” Pae asked the recipients whether they would prefer a residence hall double or an apartment double, and if they would like to live on North or South campus. She then informed them that they would receive a new room assignment by the beginning of August.
Roommates Greta Propp ’22 and Grace Connery ’22 were able to choose between a room in Watson or one on a higher floor of Mather. “Knowing that our class was overenrolled … it was a little stressful at the time,” said Propp. “I wish I’d had better luck in the beginning with my lottery number.”
Propp and Connery made their initial room selection on April 23, the final day of the online housing lottery. By that time, ResLife staff had begun adding previously unavailable rooms on the second floor of Mather to the Residence portal.
Fewer upperclassmen lived in Mather last year due to the large size of the class of 2022. According to a Collegian article from Aug. 29, 2018, 48 upperclassmen were moved out of the third floor. Associate Director for Residential Life and Assistant Director for First Year Residences Jillian Yoder stated that this year’s freshman class was not any larger than ResLife had expected.
Some students were assigned to new rooms for reasons unrelated to the incoming freshman class. This group included “students on the housing waitlist, readmitted Kenyon students, transfer students, and students who had a housing need arise over the summer (i.e. an animal-inclusive space, if they were approved for an Emotional Support Animal),” Yoder wrote in an email to the Collegian.
Some upperclassmen in singles were offered different singles because their original room assignments “met a specific condition that [ResLife was] trying to make available for another student,” said Yoder. New spaces for the reassigned students became available for a variety of reasons, such as students transferring or taking time off.
“We are diligent in our efforts to make as few reassignments as possible,” Yoder said. A lower number of students were moved this year in comparison to previous years.
Editor’s Note: The author of this article was among the students who were rehoused.