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Fayetteville, NC
Vol. XXXVII, No.
Monday, September 20,1999
Record Numbers Lead To Housing Shortages
By Whitney Larrimore
Staff Writer
This October, Methodist College will
break ground on a new 68-bed apartment
complex behind the Riddle Center.
This is the first of three apartment com
plexes that will be built to help ease over
crowding problems.
According to William Walker, Direc
tor of Residence Life, the number of stu
dents staying on campus this fall is 755.
The normal number of resident students
runs around 700 in the fall and 600 in the
spring. “We can house 722 comfortably if
Resident Advisors have private rooms.”
said Walker.
A man is living in overflow housing
in the downstairs portion of Institutional
Computing, and five women are staying
in the apartment m Garber. Assistant Foot
ball Coaches were moved out of that
apartment and into Cumberland Trace to
make room for the women.
Other students are living with Resi
dent Advisors, who typically have pri
vate rooms. Freshmen are being housed
I
in the Honors Residence Flail with honors
occupants. There have even been two cases
of female students in triple occupancies.
Why are there so many students? Ac-
cordmg to Walker, Methodist is experienc
ing its largest upperclassmen return ever.
There is also a record number of female
students living on campus.
“The student population of Method
ist is growing,” said Walker. “We intend to
have the total student population grow, but
we are concentrating on increasing the
number of residential students, specifically
upperclassmen.”
That is why the new apartment com
plexes are being built.
Each apartment will consist of a
kitchen, living room and four private bed
rooms. Once the three new residence
halls are complete, around 200 students
will make their homes behind the Riddle
Center, near the current location of the
Challenge Course. If need be, the Challenge
Course will be relocated.
The new residence halls are meant to
attract upperclassmen and raise the num
ber of them living on campus. Once these
residence halls are built, upperclassmen can
move out of residence halls like Weaver or
West Hall, and make more room for un
derclassmen, increasing the total capac
ity for resident students.
“The first of the three residence halls
should be complete next fall,” said Walker.
After the first residence hall is complete,
work should begin on the others.
Until then, students will get time to
know their new roommates. A Resident
Advisor and Residence Hall Association
president, Jeiuiifer Packard, junior, was ac
customed to living alone. “It’s different
(having a roommate) because last year
when I was a RA (Resident Advisor) I
pushed my two single beds together and
had a king size. My room was a sanctuary
for me.”
Now Packard has a roommate, fresh
man Tonia Campbell. Packard was sur
prised how much Campbell reminded her
of herself when she was a freshman.
“I feel like a mom.” Packard said. “You
revisit your past and see how much you’ve
changed. Tonia stays on the phone just like
I used to.”
Campbell is happy she is rooming with
Packard. “I knew I was going to have a
roommate, but I didn’t know it would be
an RA. This is my first year, and I didn’t
know what to expect. Jennifer gave me
study tips and helped show me around cam
pus.”
“As students withdraw or decide to
move off campus, students that are in tem
porary housing will take their places.”
Walker said. “If our apartment complex
is built, we won’t have this (overcrowd
ing) problem next year, but eventually we
may face it again.”
Emergency Call Boxes Are "A Good Safety Measure'
By Cindy S. Bridges
Editor
What’s new on campus this year? The
annex to the library, the renovations to the
Lion’s Den, improvements to the campus
bookstore, new faces amongst both the pro
fessors and the students, and three emer
gency call boxes are all new additions.
The installation of the call boxes is per
haps the least noticed addition to the Meth
odist College campus. They were made
possible by a cooperative effort between
the Police and Public Safety Department,
Student Government Association, and the
Residence Hall Association. Without the
involvement of all three of these groups,
call boxes at Methodist College would not
have become a reality. These boxes were
installed in July of this year, just prior to
student orientation.
The idea for the call boxes evolved
when students in the RHA expressed con
cern that they did not have the means to
contact the Police and Public Safety De
partment when on campus at night. One
member of RHA stated that she went to
the Science Building one night, found it
locked, and had to make a return trip to
her dorm room to call for assistance. She
stated that she felt uncomfortable making
three trips in the dark when it was not nec
essary. The call boxes would prevent these
types of occurrences from happening.
The call boxes are located in various
positions around the campus. One is on
the north side of the Math and Science
building, one is on the north side of the
Student Union, and one is on the north side
of Clark Hall.
The goal of the three departments
working on this project is to install three
call boxes every year for the next five
years. “What I would like to see in the near
Continued on page 3
In an emergency, don 7 hestitate to press the button!
Photo by Cindy Bridges