4 The Compass Wednesday, October 21, 1992
Motels, taxis and four-to-a room: students
struggle to cope with the overcrowding blues
Photo by James Sims
♦ ♦ ♦ ^ *
Queein iElizabeth
ECSU student Charles Belfield t)egan his semester as a guest of the Queen Elizabeth
Motel, miles from campus. Belfield was one of several dozen students caught in this year’s
housing crunch which resulted from the highest enrollment in ECSU’s history.
By Kysha Gary, Evonne Martyn, and
Lavenia Dameron
When Charles Belfield returned tocam-
pusin August after attingouta semester,
he had no idea he'd be staying in a motel.
He attempted to register for housing and
was told by housing officials that there
were no more available rooms on cam
pus.
"They told me to go home and come
back in the morning," said Belfield, a
sophomore criminal justice major. "I
stayed with a friend. It was two days
before I was placed in Queen Elizabeth
Motel."
Although Belfield said he enjoyed
Queen Elizabeth's air conditioning and
cable television, his biggest problem was
transportation. Queen Elizabeth on High
way 17 South is several miles away from
ECSU'scampusand Belfield doesn't own
a car.
"The school was supposed to provide
transportation but they really didn't,"
said felfield.
Even though the school planned to
reimburse students, Belfield felt that hav
ing to rely on taxis almost every day was
still an expensive inconvenience.
"We had to think about saving for the
rest of the week. Sometimes we couldn't
eat breakfast because we had to choose
between cab fare and food."
Belfield said he and the other students
had to vacate their rooms on Labor Day
weekend.
"An ECSU official suggested that we
stay in the infirmary over the weekend
but 1 stayed with a Wend."
Since then, the students who were
housed in the motel have been moved to
either on-campus rooms or into private
residences leased by the University.
Belfield, whohasbeenmoved to Wamadc,
said he is glad that the school has im
proved his housing.
"I'm satisfied with Wamack because
I'm closer to the cafe, my classes and the
library," he said.
Theovercrowdingproblemin Wamack
caught ECSU sophomore Keith Elliot by
surprise.
"When I got here, there were already
three guys in the room I was assigned,"
said Elliot. "I couldn't get a key b^use
they didn't have any left."
While waiting for a key Elliot bunked
with friends. He eventually went to live
with his aunt off campus.
Belfield and Elliot are two of approxi
mately 75 students directly affected by
the housing shortage. According to Dr.
Leon White, Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs, only 45 students have been af
fected by overcrowding, fifteen students
in Mitchell Lewis and 30 in Womack.
P
However a statement from ECSU's Di
rector of Housing, Kenneth Roberts indi
cates as many as 75 may have been af
fected, including students who have been
put in motels and private residences. The
University only has the capacity to house
929 shidents, according to Roberts.
"We are housing 1004 students this
semester," White said.
The University's shident population
has increased by 15 percent for the fall
semester of 1992-93 compared to the fall
semester of 91-92, according to White.
ECSU now hasapproximately2003 stu
dents enrolled, including 542 new fresh
men.
ECSU officials say the housing crunch
stems, in part, from a higher percentage
of students who are accepted at ECSU
actually enrolling.
"For the past two years 49 percent of
accepted studentsactually enrolled," said
White. "This year 64 percent of accepted
students enrolled. As with any business
or profession we rely on data for our
planning. With a significant increase in
the rate of students enrolling, our plans
and projections took a beating."
The University also has to play a guess
ing game as to the number of accepted
students who will actually enroll, said
Chancellor Jimmy Jenkins.
"When we accept students, we have no
guarantee that these students will actu
ally enroll," said Jenkins. "Students will
often times apply to three or four uniyer-
sitiesand get accepted by all threeorfour.
So we can only count that student when
he or she shows up. The difference this
year is we had a higher percent of stu
dents to enroll than in previous years."
Jenkins said hebelieves the overaowd-
ing the University has encountered with
the increase in enrollment is a "good"
problem.
"It is good that the school is growing,"
said Jenkins. "It is an inconvenience that
we did not have sufficient housing to
accommodate the numbers."
The increase in enrollment at ECSUhas
also had an impact on parking and dass-
rooms.
Some ECSU professors and students
feel the effects of overcrowding in their
classrooms, especially the GE courses.
Dr. Erwin Ford, an assistant professor in
the Department of Language, Literature
& Communications, said he has 39 stu
dents in a Composition and Literature
class and 39 in a World Literature class.
Having that many students "makes it
impossible to give students the kind of
personal attention that they need to be-
comegood writersand scholars," hesaid.
Ford said that compared to other uni
versities he has taught in, 25 students is
normal for composition classes. "Inlarger
classes, students feel left out and are per
mitted to hide," he added.
One student who is one of 54 students
in a World Qvilization class said she
doesn't feel she is gettinga quality educa
tion.
"It'ssomanythattheprofessordoesn't !
even take roll," the student said. "If 1 go
I usually just go to sleep because he doesn't
know if I'm there or not." j
ECSU officials say the overcrowded j
classes are temporary, pointing out that
they can use the expanded enrollment to |
jusfify hiring more facul ty. |
Roger McLean, Vice Chancellor for j
Business and Finance, said tha t the Janu
ary, 1993 opening of the new residence
hall will alleviate the housing crunch on |
campus.
"TTie new dorm will sol ve a lot of hous
ing problems," McLean said. " It
provide a state-of-the-art facility for stu
dents to live in."
McLean said the University is continu
ing to work on the parking problem.
"Every day we're trying to address the
parking situation," said McLean. "There
will be pa rking spaces after the new dorm
is finished, an improved parking lot near
Vaughan Center, and a new parking lo*
near the Jimmy R. Jenkins Science Con'"
plex."
ECSU of ficials are also considering the
possibility of renovaring Butler Hal(