By Kari Travis
As of last Friday, 127 seniors-to-be received the dreaded news.
Their applications for off-campus housing were denied.
The result was a waiting list of students who are no longer sure where they will live during the 2013-14 academic year.
Juniors Tiffany Kidder and Blair Tilson, a pair whose hope to rent a local apartment during senior year now appears bleak, decided to act on the situation and make an appeal to administrators.
So began the development of "Seniors Deserve a Choice", a petition campaign to allow rising seniors in good standing the decision to choose freely between on- or off-campus housing.
"It's not that we want a fight," explained Seniors Deserve a Choice co-author Kidder. "We just want to make sure that our ideas are heard and make known that we're not happy about it at all. This isn't just for the incoming seniors. This is for people who are going to be juniors, because it's eventually going to affect them as well."
Though commotion over lack of off-campus approvals is currently a central conversation for rising seniors, the issue has not been a problem in past years, according to Dean of Residence Life and Discipleship Steve Morley.
"This is quite the contrast to my experience over the last three years when we literally couldn't find enough students who were interested in living off-campus," Morley said. "The last three, maybe four summers, we've gone into the summer not just having someone who's applied to live off-campus, but inviting, sending letters, pleading with students, thinking about what incentive can we use to get upperclassmen off-campus."
The drastic difference this year is due to the removal of Fairlane as a form of off-campus apartment arrangement. Breuninger Hall, the new on-campus residence, was Taylor's solution to the housing crunch and will serve as a form of housing compensation for both freshmen and upperclassmen, Morley said.
But students like Kidder and Tilson protest the idea that a residence hall is an appropriate form of housing for seniors who wish to make a practical and educated transition to life after college.
"Taylor has helped us through the first three years of our (college) life, but it does nothing to prepare us for the real world," Kidder said. "The residence halls don't prepare us enough for that. It's as much about taking that next step, even if on-campus . . . a university apartment as opposed to a new dorm may have helped that."
Taylor's administration has discussed the possibility of a new, on-campus apartment structure similar to that of Campbell and Wolgemuth, but its immediate housing needs are better satisfied by an integrated residence hall, according to Morley. While the administration is willing to discuss the idea of automatic approval for off-campus housing for seniors, Morley believes there are other ways to prepare seniors for life after college.
"The solution isn't three years residential, and then one year off, and then just assume that people are going to learn those lessons," Morley said. "I guess I would want to talk about where (and) what preparation is lacking. . . . And we also have to gauge that some of the experiences of off-campus students aren't all positive."
Plans are underway to promote what Morley called a "more robust senior year experience." Taylor faculty members are looking at ways to utilize tools like the Calling and Career and Alumni Offices to better equip seniors for their future, Morley stated.
Any change to the current housing system would be a fundamental change to Taylor's community, according to Morley.
Kidder, who wants to continue encouraging Taylor community through more widespread involvement, sees off-campus housing as a way to further the positive impact of Taylor in the surrounding neighborhood.
"If we really want to be good stewards, we go out and take that into the Upland community," Kidder said. "If the landlords can't lease their houses, they're out a few thousand dollars a month. I feel that's not helping the Upland community at all."
Area landlords have expressed concern over the issue, but those such as rental property owner Robert Benjamin believe that there will continue to be an adequate number of student tenants in search of off-campus housing.
"In past years we have had many students call to look at our apartment, but this year we've had very few calls," Benjamin said. "We did end up renting our apartment to a soon-to-be married couple, and we have one of the better financial deals, so I think that we may be able to rent to more married couples in the future."
Morley, who owns a rental property himself, relates to the issue but doesn't view it as a factor in Taylor's decision to continue promoting on-campus residence for seniors.
"Taylor has always said it's residential," Morley said. "It's not like there has been a change in stance or philosophy. While I hope that Taylor benefits the local community in all sorts of ways, I don't know that it's our role to necessarily fill those properties with tenants. In that sense, we would almost be selling out students for the sake of someone who is not Taylor University."
