2008 Woodie Awards
First year students push for compensation for forced triples
Maeghan Ciampa '11
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: News
As the SGA and individual students put continual pressure on the administration to fix the housing crunch, some first year students who were in forced triples for 2007-2008 are joining in the push for compensation for those placed in forced triples.
In a letter to President Crutcher, Jennifer Bourgoin '11 and Julie Comart '11 asked the administration to address the "quality of life" issue of forced triples.
"We feel deceived and manipulated that what had been guaranteed to us, before we even arrived on campus, never came to fruition," Bourgoin and Comart wrote. "Our poor quality of life this semester has forced each of us, and probably many others, to reconsider the continuation of our education here at Wheaton College."
After receiving her lottery number two weeks ago, Bourgoin said that it was one of a series of disappointments regarding housing.
Bourgoin said that she was promised a double for her second semester by Student Life but was told in January that there was still a housing crunch.
After seeing her lottery number, which she expected would be better as a means of compensating for her forced triple, she thought that it was "an April fool's joke." Comart '11 was also frustrated by her lottery number, 336.
In an email to the Wire, Dean of Student Life Nancy Just said that rumors that students in forced triples would receive better lottery numbers as compensation were not true.
"I am not sure where students have gotten the idea that those in forced triples get different lottery numbers. May be all the talk at some SGA meetings. It has been well over 5 years since any compensation was given to students," Just wrote.
Senator Jessica Coons '11 has been working this year to establish compensation for students living in forced triples and quad parlors.
"I think that currently forced triples are
seen at almost every institution, but most of the other schools that have to have forced triples give some sort of compensation from lower room and board price, to higher lottery numbers, to money students can use on campus, such as our Lyon's bucks," Coons told the Wire.
She went on to say that an SGA committee is looking into using Lyon's bucks or better lottery numbers as compensation for forced triples.
During office hours, Crutcher said that monetary compensation for housing would create economic class divisions on campus, which is why, he said, Wheaton charges a flat rate based on a salary-blind system. He said that compensation for forced triples residents was being negotiated.
For now, though, Bourgoin and Comart believe that "better lottery numbers would even [the situation] out."
In a letter to President Crutcher, Jennifer Bourgoin '11 and Julie Comart '11 asked the administration to address the "quality of life" issue of forced triples.
"We feel deceived and manipulated that what had been guaranteed to us, before we even arrived on campus, never came to fruition," Bourgoin and Comart wrote. "Our poor quality of life this semester has forced each of us, and probably many others, to reconsider the continuation of our education here at Wheaton College."
After receiving her lottery number two weeks ago, Bourgoin said that it was one of a series of disappointments regarding housing.
Bourgoin said that she was promised a double for her second semester by Student Life but was told in January that there was still a housing crunch.
After seeing her lottery number, which she expected would be better as a means of compensating for her forced triple, she thought that it was "an April fool's joke." Comart '11 was also frustrated by her lottery number, 336.
In an email to the Wire, Dean of Student Life Nancy Just said that rumors that students in forced triples would receive better lottery numbers as compensation were not true.
"I am not sure where students have gotten the idea that those in forced triples get different lottery numbers. May be all the talk at some SGA meetings. It has been well over 5 years since any compensation was given to students," Just wrote.
Senator Jessica Coons '11 has been working this year to establish compensation for students living in forced triples and quad parlors.
"I think that currently forced triples are
seen at almost every institution, but most of the other schools that have to have forced triples give some sort of compensation from lower room and board price, to higher lottery numbers, to money students can use on campus, such as our Lyon's bucks," Coons told the Wire.
She went on to say that an SGA committee is looking into using Lyon's bucks or better lottery numbers as compensation for forced triples.
During office hours, Crutcher said that monetary compensation for housing would create economic class divisions on campus, which is why, he said, Wheaton charges a flat rate based on a salary-blind system. He said that compensation for forced triples residents was being negotiated.
For now, though, Bourgoin and Comart believe that "better lottery numbers would even [the situation] out."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Benjamin Spunt
posted 4/23/08 @ 6:30 PM EST
I was in a forced triple in Fall 1990, but it was quickly resolved. (Within a few weeks) In housing there is a limit of how many people unrelated can live in a space, (say 150 square feet. (Continued…)
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