House in a box

Editor's note: In response to university officials who claim the housing crisis was impossible to predict, we are reprinting our Jan. 29 editorial unaltered.

Unless the university considers a tent city on McKeldin Mall or same-sex cuddling in freshman highrises to be reasonable options towards addressing the on-campus housing crisis, it's clear the situation is getting out of hand. Simply put, there are far more students than available beds - this year was the first where freshman spring admits were not guaranteed on-campus housing. Already, it is completely inadvisable for anyone to transfer to the university, and the situation is only going to get worse.

Transfer students are a proverbial canary in the gold mine for the university, and they're looking a bit peaked. Beyond receiving the worst priority housing points - which mean they are essentially blackballed from campus - transfer students are informed of admissions decisions well into the summer, when prime off-campus real estate such as the University View has already filled up.

Forced to live a shadow life miles off-campus, it's easy for transfers to end up with few friends and without crucial Maryland experiences of stumbling home from Cornerstone or waking up with a much lighter wallet after the currency shredder some affectionately call "The Mark."

But if you find it hard to shed tears for transfer students, just wait until the situation affects real people (we kid). Resident Life had been operating off assumptions a new dorm, capable of housing hundreds of students, would be built by 2008. All of the problems transfer students currently face will eventually creep into fall admits and worse.

What can be done? Simply, the university needs to build more on-campus housing, and the city of College Park needs to expedite, rather than obstruct, construction for student housing.

Resident Life is trying to pursue closer relationships with private developers, trying to make its housing terms more palatable for transfer students. But these actions are a couple million dollars short and a few years too late. It is hard to think of a higher university priority besides to provide a safe and comfortable environment where students can live, and it's mind-boggling to see such a serious issue being given nothing more than words.