Residents in the White Hall dormitory received a form letter from the Department of Residence Life on Feb. 18 stating that upperclassmen would be required to move out of White Hall and into Bearkat Village I and II for the 2003-2004 academic year.
Bearkat Village I and II is Sam Houston State University’s newest housing facility located on the corner of Montgomery Road and Bowers Boulevard.
Kim Baechtel, assistant director for Residence Life operations, said the upper administration made the decision to offer the White Hall housing facility to freshmen who are required to live on campus.
“(The letter) told (students in White Hall) that the hall was going to be solely for required first year freshmen,” Baechtel said. “During renewal week they will have the first choice of where they want to live on campus.”
White Hall is currently a coed residence hall reserved for students of sophomore classification or higher. White Hall is located near the south end of campus, next to the Health and Kinesiology Center.
“We are opening Bearkat Village for upperclassmen, and they wanted to give freshmen another alternative of housing on campus for a more apartment-like situation,” Baechtel said.
White Hall residents share a two-room suite with a bathroom. Each suite has two moveable desks, chairs, closets, chests, and two bunk beds in the bedroom. White Hall and Bearkat Village are both furnished housing facilities.
Junior Nicholas Guidry expressed his concern after receiving the letter from the Department of Residence Life, saying the move would be unfair to the current residents of White Hall.
“I am in here right now and they said next year (White Hall) would be all freshmen,” Guidry said. “That is unfair for the people who are in here for this current year because we were looking forward to living here all next year. I think that is unfair, that is all it is.”
Another White Hall resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said she did not agree with the situation.
“I guess I was surprised and I really don’t think it is fair for them to force us out of (White Hall) without giving us the option to choose,” the resident said. “I just wish they would have given us a warning, but they didn’t, they just stuck the notes on our doors.”
Baechtel said the cost of living at Bearkat Village I and II would be more expensive than living at White Hall.
“(Bearkat Village) is going to be a little more expensive, but it has a full kitchen,” she said. “I have not gotten the new rates for (White Hall) in the fall. It is currently $1,600 a semester right now, but I believe it is going to go up a little bit.”
The cost of living at Bearkat Village I and II will be $425 a month per resident for the 2003-2004 academic year. Bearkat Village I and II are fully furnished apartments with two bedrooms, and one-bath for students classified at the sophomore level or higher.
Bearkat Village will hold 500 upperclassmen residents while White Hall currently holds 144 residents. The new housing facility is a two-bedroom apartment designed for two students. Amenities at the apartment include a full kitchen, a full bathroom, cable television and ethernet connections.
The Department of Residence Life will begin accepting reservations for Bearkat Village housing in April.