A month later, 120 freshmen still remain in Joyner, which originally was scheduled to be closed this semester for renovations.
But now residents don't want to leave. "I wish I could stay," said Jacque Hall, a freshman from Asheville. "I like being so close to all my classes; it is just convenient."
To many Joyner residents' delight, the Department of Housing and Residential Education granted Hall's wish, allowing students to remain in their temporary rooms until the beginning of spring semester. "We determined that the renovation to Joyner could be done (later) so that students could stay there the rest of the semester," said Rebecca Casey, assistant director of the housing department.
A few weeks prior to the start of classes, housing officials decided to keep Joyner open to accommodate an increase in freshmen enrollment.
The housing problem was amplified by the large number of on-campus students who renewed their housing contracts, Casey said. "We had more demand than anticipated and more students than we had space for," she said.
Housing officials recently set a cutoff date of Oct. 1 to reassign students to other residence halls with recently vacated spaces. Spaces open up when students cancel their contracts or leave the University, Casey said. Any student still in Joyner after Oct. 1 will stay for the remainder of the semester.
Officials said they do not want to reassign students after the cutoff because moving could conflict with midterm and final exam schedules.
Until the cutoff date, Casey said, the housing office hopes to move another 15 to 20 students when spaces open, starting with those who expressed an interest to move out as soon as possible. Reassignments will then be done starting with students whose housing applications were received the earliest.
So far, all male students have received permanent assignments. But because fewer female students in other residence halls have canceled their housing contracts, 120 women still remain in Joyner.
