Although the University typically assigns sophomore housing through a room selection process undertaken in March, fewer than 200 rising sophomores have yet to be assigned living spaces for the next academic year, according to Director of Housing Operations Sherry Ebrahimi. Emory Housing hopes to assign all rising sophomores housing by the end of this semester, but it’s possible that students on the waiting list will not receive their housing assignments until sometime this summer, Ebrahimi said.
According to the Office of Residence Life and Housing policies, students should be able to select a room during their assigned date and time during the housing selection window. Although the housing process was originally slated to close on March 16 at 11:59 p.m., students participating received an email at 5:07 p.m. that day informing them that the window had closed.
According to Assistant Dean and Director of Residence Life Scott Rausch, some students still don’t currently have assigned housing because Greek organizations have yet to submit their rosters of students who will be living in the fraternity houses and sorority lodges. Some students who currently have spots in the sophomore residence halls will actually live in Greek housing, freeing up their rooms for students on the waiting list.
Next semester, the ground floor of Harris Hall, traditionally a sophomore residence hall, will house freshmen along with Sophomore Advisers (SAs) and Resident Advisers (RAs), according to Rausch. For the purposes of Songfest, orientation and freshmen programming, the ground floor of Harris will be associated with Complex Hall, which will remain a freshmen dorm. Rausch said this arrangement was “not ideal” but it is the best way to handle the larger incoming freshman class – an expected 133 more students than this year’s freshman class. If sophomores do not receive housing, there are rooms on hold in Clairmont Campus for sophomores, Ebrahimi said.
Some rising sophomores were taken off of the waiting list and assigned rooms this past weekend when Greek-affiliated students opted to live on Eagle Row and relinquished their spots in residence halls.
Mino Cha (20C) said he felt relieved when he finally received housing this past weekend.
“[Not having housing] was very sad for me, and because I didn’t know where I was going to live, it actually affected my course registration,” Cha said. “Some people told me that I might have to live on Clairmont campus, but that would affect my morning class schedule.”
Although Housing sent him one email saying that housing would be guaranteed to him, Cha found Emory’s lack of communication “annoying.”
The University permitted Greek organizations to open up their houses to non-members this year, Ebrahimi said. Sororities and fraternities must evaluate whether their organizations could fill the house or lodge themselves, the national chapters’ rules and the preferences of the members and executive officers.
Though traditionally there are designated freshmen and sophomore residence halls and Clairmont Campus is typically reserved for upperclassmen, Housing has decided to deviate from the norm with housing options to accommodate all students who live on campus.
Vivian Fan (20C), who currently does not have an assigned room, expressed frustration with her lack of housing and Emory’s response.
“I’m annoyed by the possibility of living at Clairmont next year — I don’t want to live so far away from other sophomores,” Fan said. “I’m also angered by how slow the process is and the silence on Housing’s part. They sent me an email after the housing process [was over] but that was it.”
Seungeun Cho contributed reporting.
Correction (4/5 at 5:39 p.m.): The article originally misidentified Mino Cha as a female. Cha is a male.
