Most people are shocked when they hear about Christopher Newport University's requirement to live on campus for their first three years. It was something that made me question my final decision to enroll, but once I stepped foot on campus, those questions went out the door.
With a "breath-takingly beautiful campus," as President Trible calls it, the gorgeous buildings with columns and sparkling floors, along with fireplaces and suite-style bathrooms in the residence halls, are what draw potential students and their families to the university during campus tours. Having no hall bathrooms, supplied micro-fridges, thermostats in each room and upgraded furniture, CNU's dorms have been ranked number 5 on MSN's 25 Best College Dorms in the U.S.
But it's not as perfect as it seems.
Students received an email on March 9 in regards to upperclassmen housing stating: "Important availability update: A number of James River Hall apartments have been made available to upperclassmen students for selection."
As a rising sophomore last year, I found three other people I wanted to live with, and we each were assigned a separate lottery time. My roommate received the best time, and at that exact minute, we logged on with all four of our ID's and numbers. The only housing available was Potomac South, the "worst sophomore housing." At first, we were a little upset, but PoSo turned out not to be too bad.
We didn't think it would get worse, but it did.
Now, as rising juniors, we planned to go through the same process. Having all of our ID's and numbers written out, we got together at our allotted time, excited to finalize our rooming situation for next year.
When my roommate typed in all the information, nothing came up. The drop down bar had nothing to drop down. After a few minutes of confusion and panicking, she somehow accidentally placed herself into a room on East Campus, where she will be living with three strangers.
The rest of us? We didn't get to go until our allotted times the next day.
We immediately grabbed our things and headed to the Housing office. If you're a CNU student, you can probably guess how that played out. The woman told us there were no available suites remaining, and that we had no choice but to individually chose random rooms with random roommates at each of our own lottery times. The way the system was set up allowed groups of two and three to claim four-person rooms. Those with the earliest lottery times had no problems, everyone else: screwed.
There are three days for the upperclassman housing lottery, and we were on day two. That means there was a whole day after us who would be in the same situation as us: placing themselves in random units among strangers.
Going "random" freshman year is something that happens nationwide. It is not something that happens very often for your junior year of college. By that time, it is expected that CNU students will have their own bedroom and bathroom, along with a kitchen and living room in their suite—with their friends.
There have been a few roadblocks along the way, but this isn't the first year the housing lottery has been a major issue.
I want students to come to CNU. I want students to have all the opportunities and resources I have been blessed with from this school. I want students to share in the same love and appreciation I have for this campus. But I, along with many others, want to not get swindled out of a sufficient housing situation by the third year of the on-campus living requirement.
