We will survive?
By Laura Chapuis, 12/05/05

Only a mere four months ago, I moved into college for the first time. It had been a hot day and it went by ever so quickly. The first thing I did was go to registration and get all the information I needed and signed all those “important” forms that they make you sign. By 2 p.m. I finally had everything moved into my room and put where I wanted it to be. I also discovered that I was now going to be referred to as a “Hatch Hall Survivor.” “Hmm… interesting,” I thought.

My roommate, a good friend of mine, showed up sometime throughout the day and we went around meeting all our fellow hall mates. There was this really nice girl across the hall that was also an agricultural journalism major and then there were several other girls from close to our hometowns. Then just a few more doors down there was a girl we both were friends with from showing pigs at the State Fair over the years. We were ecstatic. College had finally arrived and it was going to be the time of our lives…or so we thought.

Now that the semester is coming to an end, most Mizzou students are getting ready for finals and planning for the holidays. Sadly, that’s only half of what’s on my mind. Remember how I said that we were “Hatch Hall Survivors?” Well, I’m not sure exactly what the surviving part has to do with it, but all I know is that I’m getting kicked out of my dorm. Yes, that’s right. In the middle of our freshman year of college when we are supposedly just getting used to college life, all of the Hatch Hall residents are getting kicked out.

Starting over break, Hatch Hall will begin renovations. Why couldn’t they have waited until next May? Who knows. My guess is MU just wants to make more money off us poor kids who are just trying to get a decent college education. OK, maybe not, but it sure seems like it. Residential Life says that they will have room for every single one of us to move into other dorms at semester, but for some reason I doubt this. Hatch Hall houses close to 530 students, and this year the freshman class at MU was one of the biggest classes MU has ever seen. I guess Residential Life is hoping that enough of these students will decide that MU isn’t right for them and drop out at semester.

I know it may seem that I’m just complaining and whining, but who can blame me? When I signed a housing contract this past summer, no one told me that there was the possibility that I would get stuck in a dorm that was closing at semester. Which brings me to another fact on why this situation is terrible. Residential Life tells me that there’s pretty much no chance that I’ll get my roommate, which is the one I requested, back when I moved to campus. So my roommate and I got to thinking and decided to move off campus and get an apartment together. Sounds like a winning idea doesn’t it? Wrong again. Residential Life is still making us pay the 25 percent to break our contract. The contract includes housing and meal plan fees. For me that amount came out to being close to $700. Residential Life says that we must break our contract just like all the other people who are either leaving the school or moving into their sorority or fraternity. But yet these people have the choice to move, we don’t.

As you continue reading my rants and raves, you may have noticed that I have constantly used the words “kicked out.” Maybe this term isn’t politically correct, but it sure feels like that’s what is happening. MU has promised me a new room so technically I’m not being kicked out, just moved. I admit I haven’t exactly been very involved with my dorm, much less my floor, but truthfully it seems pointless. We are all leaving and getting put elsewhere soon enough, so why bother? Everyone in Hatch was given the opportunity to move out before November 18 by putting their name on a waiting list at other dorms, but I like where I live, I didn’t want to move. So I decided to wait until the end of the semester to fill out the preference form and put myself through the agony of waiting. Which brings me to present day. My roommate and I, along with the rest of Hatch Hall residents are sitting here impatiently waiting to find out where we get to move.

I do have to give MU a little credit because they hired a moving company to move all our possessions to our new rooms. Sometime during finals week I get to pack up all my things into the boxes they provide me and when I come back in January they will be in my new room. Also, I’ll have to find somewhere to store my TV and microwave over break since they won’t move our big items.

I’m not writing this asking for your sympathy, just wanting to make the situation known. I understand the university is working on a 15-year Residential Life Master Plan and must get started on Hatch in December. I just don’t think that the people at Residential Life kept the students in mind when devising its plan. They should have put themselves in our shoes and thought about how this move was going to affect us. The transition into college life from high school is a huge change for anyone and right when we are making new friends we have to pick up our things and move. Guess all of us “Hatch Hall Survivors” better get ready to become the new kid on the block and start all over again.

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