After some investigation, I have reason to believe the Department of Residence has not been wise or open in matters concerning changes to its policy regarding moving out of the dorms at the end of the semester or in the middle of the school year.

I specifically remember reading how Wallace Hall would be flexible with a student’s lifestyle by not penalizing them for moving out during the year.

You can even find part of the quote from their sales pitch on their Web site (go to the search page within the DOR site, and search for “Wallace” — it will be in the quotes under the first link about 18 lines down).

You can tell these terms were changed fairly recently, because the quotes I took from the old page no longer match up with the current Web listing.

This change makes the residence halls less attractive, undermines recruiting efforts for the greek community and only gained clear definition after it was too late for students to address the problem without penalty.

And while most off-campus apartments require a yearly lease, with these you can pursue a sublease option to avoid problems and fees. This option is not available within the residence halls.

While I was able to avoid the penalty, I advise everyone in the ISU community to seek full answers as to when this policy changed.

We should also ask why the DOR’s sales pitches and promotions didn’t reflect this change.

How do our residence halls expect to maintain a position of respect and desirability with policies that do not meet student needs?

Additionally, for anyone who knows a future student who is not sure about their college plans, I would advise them to find housing elsewhere.

While the residence halls have some strong attributes, the lack of flexibility and clarity from the non-student element of their administration is too much of an inhibition to make this a viable and intelligent option for those who fully wish to pursue the ISU experience.

Andrew Kothenbeutel

Senior

Political Science