Aaminah Sareé Foye

For the past few months, the housing department has caught major heat over the housing placement of new freshmen and current upperclassmen residents.

Some may argue that housing has always had its issues; however, this year has been exceptionally chaotic due to the freshmen class size, the largest in DSU history with over 1100 students.

Delaware State University Campus

Typical housing arrangements for freshmen include: Meta V. Jenkins Hall (co-ed), Medgar Evers Hall (Co-ed), Harriet Tubman Hall (Females), W. Richard Wynder Towers (co-ed Honors students), and Warren Franklin Hall (co-ed Athletes). However, with such a huge number of incoming students and returning students, space was sparse. One of the main factors why the housing spaces were limited was because of  the demolition of Lydia Laws Hall, a former all-female residence hall. The new residence hall will not be completed until 2019.

To resolve the problem, the authorities decided on spreading the freshmen & upperclassmen with unassigned housing in various locations. DSU also contracted with hotels such Holiday Inn and Best Western for available space.The housing department has even placed freshman in traditional upperclassmen housing such as The University Village Apartments.

Naima Dangerous

The students on campus have had mixed feelings on the situation. Majority of students who got tangled in the housing web expressed frustration. According to sophomore Naima Dangerous about her experience with her housing process: “Well, for one I wasn’t even guaranteed a room until days before move in! I was about to rent an apartment off campus but that fell through. If that happened, my mother would have had to take a semester off from her schooling or I would have had to be a commuter student. The whole thing is just a mess.”

On the other hand, Arnold Wynn, a sophomore currently staying at one of the contracted hotels,  has this to say about his situation: “At first, I was very aggravated. I wanted to be on campus just like the rest of my friends. But overall, living in a hotel isn’t that bad. To take the shuttle to campus everyday is inconvenient but at least I’m near the stores that I like to go to.”

Campus Housing has not released an official statement.