In an attempt to open the lines of communication between students and administration in relation to housing concerns, SGA hosted a Housing Forum on Thursday.
Student concerns centered on the problems with currents facilities as well as the destruction of Garner tower and cost of housing for next semester, while representatives from the residence life department stressed the need for the new freshman dorms and participated in discussion between students and the department over possible problems in the future.
First on the agenda for the night were questions directed to the students about their feelings concerning CAs and hall directors. Jenny Waters, panel member and acting assistant director of residence life, said while the department always has room for improvement, she believes CAs and hall directors do a lot to help develop students.
"(They) are definitely there to respond and provide help in any way. They develop programs weekly to help students meet and grow with each other," Waters said.
Panel member and Director of Residence Life Winston Baker discussed the strength of the University's residence halls and facilities.
"We send groups of custodial and maintenance staff to visit other universities in Texas and Louisiana. No other university in our region can match up to the kind of facilities that we have," Baker said.
When the discussion changed to the destruction of Garner, students started voicing opinions. Baker interjected to turn attention to the new freshman dorm, set to open in fall of 2011.
But one student stood up and said, "The new dorm is good and all, but we do not care about it. It does nothing for us. We want to discuss current housing problems, and we want answers."
Students began to voice concerns over such facility problems as bathrooms, cleaning schedule, maintenance issues, and problems with washers and dryers.
"I cannot guarantee a brand new building every time you walk in. We would love to provide the Lodge or Village to everyone, but people just cannot afford them," D'Nese Haddox, associate director of residence life, said. "You can go online for work orders for specific problems or (to) the front desk of every residence hall to turn in work requests."
The panel stressed the need to inform the residence life department about problems.
Baker emphasized the need for on-campus housing in response to a question about whether or not requirements to move off campus would be lowered.
"Living in a residence hall for the first two years of college is where students have success. So, we will stick to that policy right now," Baker said.
A 5 percent increase in housing costs for the next academic year was revealed to students, which then raised questions about where that money would be spent? While Haddox said that a 4 to 6 percent increase every year is normal, no definite answer was given related to future projects which might utilize some of the increase money.
"Many goals must get approval. A lot of things are in the planning stage," Baker said.
Moderator for the evening ,sophomore SGA Sen. Craig Bruce, said the main focus of the night was to open dialogue between students and the administration.
"We got the administration and students together to discuss issues," Bruce said. "We want students to know that this is one example of what SGA does to get student opinions bypassed to the administration.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!