Think the dorms are bad? Try a box.

That was the message students from St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 2210 Lincoln Way, wanted each passer-by to ponder as they camped out in “cardboard cities” in front of the Campanile from noon Wednesday to noon Thursday for the seventh annual Homelessness and Housing Awareness Sleepout.

“A lot of people complain about the condition of the dorms, but some people are living with five or six people in a room designed for one or two or don’t have a solid structure over their head,” said Christian Nissen, member of the church’s Service and Justice Team, which sponsored the event.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 32.9 million Americans live in poverty. The survey, released in September of 2002, said one in eight U.S. citizens lives below the poverty line.

Nissen, freshman in biochemistry, admitted the mild weather prevented participants from experiencing the full range of frustrations that come with surviving the elements, but he wasn’t complaining.

“We’re not necessarily striving for realism,” he said. “We’re out here so people can see us, not necessarily to experience what it’s like [to be homeless].”

Thomas Kent, senior in aerospace engineering, said the cookies, chips, granola bars and even the sleeping bags the group used to survive the 24-hour demonstration were all comforts not available to homeless people.

Kent said a heavy rain at 2 a.m. during last year’s event provided him with a reality check he didn’t receive this year because of Wednesday’s mild weather.

“By morning we were all soaked through and had gotten no sleep,” he said. “Having to go through that whenever it rained would really suck because you’d always be struggling.”

Nissen said he believes homelessness and poverty are caused more by lack of access to affordable housing than by lack of access to good paying jobs.

“Many people living in poverty have jobs, but they only pay minimum wage or slightly better,” he said. “Many also try to get an education to provide a certain lifestyle for themselves and their families.”

Several people who walked past looked at the structures, created from cardboard donated by local businesses, in puzzlement. Others paused to pick up the groups’ handouts, which included poverty facts and information for contacting state representatives about possible budget cuts to low-income programs, such as food stamps and child care.

“We’re just inviting people to take a moment to realize how fortunate they are to have a roof overhead, a hot meal to eat and clothes on their back, while many people struggle to meet their basic needs,” Nissen said.