Several Terriers displaced by “creative” housing solution
Written jointly by Eyon Brown and Jacob Hollifield
At any college or university, housing can shape and/or alter the student experience. At Wofford, whether you live in Marsh, Shipp, or Lesesne halls, or in the Phase V apartments, being able to live on campus—as most Wofford students do—is what helps to shape not just the college experience, but the Wofford experience in particular. This year, however, some students found themselves displaced by a lack of bed space around campus as Wofford awaits the opening of the new Jerome Johnson Richardson Residence Hall in the coming year. This housing crisis has left some Terriers living in rooms in Converse College’s Andrews Hall, while others have found housing in local apartments.
With 11 members of the Wofford community living at Converse, the Office of Residence Life has had to ensure that they have the same resources available to them as every other student: a Resident Assistant, transportation to and from Wofford via shuttle and reserved parking on campus should they decide to drive over. In addition, students who considered living away from Wofford were offered free room and board fees for the fall semester, as well as a $2,000 stipend and priority in the 2020 Housing Lottery. However, says Andrews Hall RA Jara Dogan, “it was pretty cool until I actually walked into the building.” Dogan laments the apparent age of the building, as do several of her residents. According to Dogan’s residents, the “lack of Wi-Fi and having to drive to school every day,” in addition to trying to plan for unpredictable Spartanburg traffic, are concerns that Wofford students living in Andrews Hall confront daily.“On the GPS,” Dogan added, “it says it’s a 4-minute drive, but you never know how traffic’s going to be and the lights coming up and stuff like that.” Additionally, the shuttle system, which runs 30 minutes before the first class of each day until 8:45 p.m., has been described as “awkward” and “inconvenient.” Another resident remarked, “no one ever got the $2,000 stipend, which is unfair…we are still commuters from Converse College.” Perhaps most important, though, is the fact that, as Dogan states, “if an event happens or something catastrophic happens, you can call Converse’s Campus Safety, but ultimately Wofford’s Campus Safety has to come.”
Despite these inconveniences and worries about the age of the building and ready access to Campus Safety in a timely manner, one of the positive aspects of being housed in Andrews Hall is that residents enjoy living in single rooms and not having a roommate. However, when residents first stepped into Andrews Hall, says Dogan, “the parents were pissed, residents were pissed…and it kind of felt like a waste of space and a waste of time especially because they want us back on campus in the next semester. So it’s like, why are we moving all of our stuff over here just to move back in January?”
If those who live in Andrews Hall are able to successfully move back to Wofford’s campus later this year because of room openings, they would be losing what they cite as the best part of living at Converse, but they would be gaining all of the small conveniences that they must live without for now—such as water fountains and vending machines.
As the school year continues and the end of the fall semester approaches as well as the come and go of students studying abroad, it appears as though the Office of Residence Life will again face a tough predicament while trying to accommodate students returning to campus, as well as those who wish to return from down the road.
