U. to potentially provide upholstered furniture in residential colleges

All six Residential College Offices announced this week that the University has been investigating the possibility of providing upholstered furniture in student rooms in the future.

Emails were sent out to the residential college listservs informing students of the furniture samples currently available for viewing at the Housing and Real Estate Services Office. Students who decided to go look at the samples were asked to fill out a short survey regarding their opinions about the new furniture.

“The furniture upgrade has been initiated by the Housing department. The residential colleges are helping this initiative by encouraging student input,” Laurie Hebditch, Wilson College administrator, said.

Angela Hodgeman, manager of Undergraduate Housing, did not respond to request for comment.

Michelle Brown, student housing coordinator, deferred comment to a press representative of the Housing department, who did not respond to request for comment.

Dorian Johnson, director of Housing, deferred comment to Daniel Day, assistant vice president at the Office of Communications.

Day explained that a number of factors were behind the University’s decision to study the possibility of supplying upholstered furniture dorm rooms. These included improving the quality and equity of students’ living experiences — and eliminating purchasing and storage costs that students incur year to year and reducing damage to walls, floors and trim in buildings due to the annual moving in and moving out of personal furniture, he noted.

He added that this initiative, if passed, could decreasethe amount of furniture abandoned at the end of the academic year, which often ends up in landfills,helping with University sustainability efforts.

“If the University decides to move ahead with this idea, upholstered furniture would eventually be provided to student rooms in all residential colleges and upperclass housing,” Day said, encouraging students to weigh in on the subject.

However, Day noted that the idea is still under discussion, a rollout plan has not been formed and funding has not been arranged.

With the University providing transparency in their initiatives to upgrade student housing, many students said they appreciate the school’s commitment to include student involvement as well as improving their living spaces.

“I think that the University's interest to upgrade student living spaces is a commitment to ensuring the best undergraduate experience possible. There is a large variety in the quality of rooms on campus but I think this may help to equalize it a bit,” Wilson College Council Representative Kimberly Peterson '19 said. “I think it's also admirable that the University is really trying to get as much student input as possible before spending a ton of money on this upgrade.”

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“I really feel that this upgrade will make incoming students as well as returning students feel more comfortable and at home in our housing. While some people couldn’t chair less, I’m actually really excited for this upgrade and I can only see the positive outcomes in this decision,” Nicole Kalhorn '19 said.

However, some students noted that they feel that the changes are unnecessary.

“I don't feel that it would cause any harm, but I think the dorms are fine as they are. I think it could benefit the students, but I also think leaving the space open and allowing students to fill the space how they want would be more beneficial,” Butler College Council member Josephine Pinnock '19 said. “It is definitely super important for the students to be a part of this decision. I have not personally seen the furniture myself so I cannot comment on that,” she added.