Agnes Bischoff came to the United States in the fall of 1996. She left her small Swiss town on the outskirts of Geneva to attend Iowa State where she is earning a degree in physics.

Agnes considered herself lucky when a spot opened up for her and her roommate in the University’s Hawthorn Court apartments at the end of the 1997-98 school year.

Sure, there was mention of the master plan to tear down the apartments and build new spots in their place, but no date was set in stone.

Agnes figured the relocation request wouldn’t take place before her graduation in December of 1999.

However, not even half way through Agnes’s lease, the Department of Residence sent all Hawthorn residents a letter informing the students that all the apartments must be vacated at the end of the school year.

Of course, the generous administration offered to find the “best alternative housing” to students who had planned to stay in Hawthorn Court after May.

Single students and families have been promised a $400 relocation allowance if they chose to keep residing in University housing, but only $100 if they chose to move off campus.

With the high costs of education and traveling, Agnes enjoyed the low costs she incurred as a resident of Hawthorn Court ($180 per room in a two-bedroom apartment). A victim to an unstoppable situation, she opted to be put on a waiting list for the apartments in Schilletter Village.

However, there are only about 32 single student apartments there, all of which are all full at this time. She remains close to number 16 on the waiting list.

The university’s other “best alternatives” include moving back into the dorms.

Like many older students who have tasted the freedom and serenity of apartment life, Agnes has no intention of moving back into the dorms where she would go back to sharing a room with someone for around $500 a month.

“When I lived in the dorms my freshman year I could deal with the fact that there was no place to study because my classes were easier. Now it is different.”

Like most undergraduate students, housing in Buchanan, another “best alternative,” is off-limits to Agnes.

So Agnes and others are forced to move out and find housing in the city of Ames with only $100 in their pockets (barely enough to rent a truck, let alone make even half of the security deposit on an apartment).

Agnes was somewhat content knowing that until May she could enjoy the benefits of living in Hawthorn Court: close proximity to the bus stop, a laundry facility just a few hundred feet away and being a part of the University Village community.

But following the news of their unavoidable move, Hawthorn court residents received a friendly note that “told us it would get dusty.” What they failed to mention is that things were going to get downright dirty.

Enjoying a walk home from campus in October, Agnes first came across “the fence.” Residents were surprised to see that a fence had enclosed the large space of land between their housing and Pammel Court Grocery. Even more disturbing was the loss of the sidewalk that students once trekked back and forth upon to reach the bus stop, the study room, the recreation room and the grocery store.

Hawthorn residents, a majority of whom are international students without cars or licenses, always enjoyed the mere few hundred feet they walked to reach the Pammel Grocery.

Now residents must tow laundry, books and groceries closer to half a mile around the fence (more when there is snow and mud that prohibits a little cheating rather than walking another 400 yards around the buildings).

“It’s making life quite hard. The bus stop is usually abandoned.” After all, by the time they walk to the end of the fence, they might as well just keep going until they reach campus.

Inside the apartments, the Department of Residence seems to be sluffing off their part of the agreement as well.

“They don’t want to fix anything now because they will be filling the new apartments with better stuff.”

When Agnes called in a complaint about the toilet in their apartment a maintenance person came to “fix it.”

Agnes said the man informed her that it is really too old to fix it completely, but it will do for now.

Agnes and many of her neighbors are starting to feel as if they are already no longer a concern to the student housing community. “They used to hang up signs about activities and stuff for students living in the villages.”

Basically, folks, it breaks down to this. Whoever is running this project is either incompetent or just insensitive.

The fact that this is affecting mainly international students is the only reason things have gone unnoticed thus far.

As students and as Americans it is our duty to speak for those who do not have the means to be heard.

Hawthorn Court residents should be treated with respect.

They should all be given an equal relocation fee regardless of their decision whether to move into University housing.

The administration should make some sort of compensation for the extra inconveniences being placed upon its tenants.

I implore you to support your fellow students.

You never know when the next injustice may be directed toward you.

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Ellyn Peterson is a senior in journalism and international studies from Algona.