With the closing of Maple Hall for renovations, more students than usual will begin their year living in temporary housing.

Dave Popelka, assistant director of business operations for the Department of Residence, said changes in policy were implemented to alleviate some of the overcrowding as soon as funding for the project was approved.

This year four floors that were previously co-ed will be all-female floors, to accommodate some of the 500 female students formerly housed in Maple Hall. In addition, changes were made in the policy concerning the double-as-single policy.

“Any student that had a double as a single at the start of fall term [1997] would be allowed to keep [a double-as-single] into this fall term,” Popelka said.

Popelka added that the lack of new double-as-single contracts cut the total number of doubles-as-singles from 500 to 200.

Changes have also been made at Westgate Hall, where until recently all rooms had been used as singles.

“Any time there is a cancellation in any room [at Westgate] we will convert it back to a double,” Popelka said. “Anyone who signed up for a single still has it.”

Students placed in temporary housing will be living in the dens of residence floors. As many as four people may be assigned to each den, and the dens will contain the same furnishings as normal rooms.

“We really set these rooms up to be the same as any other room,” Popelka said. “In terms of space there is probably more [per person] in a den than in a normal room. [We] tried to make the living space as normal as possible.”

Gina Wernimont, a sophomore transfer student, is one of the people trying to adjust to life in temporary housing. Wernimont is currently living in a den in Knapp Hall with three other women.

“Living in a den isn’t that bad,” Wernimont said. “We’re usually not all here at the same time.”

However, Wernimont said that space in the dens is hard to come by.

“There’s no place to put all all our stuff,” Wernimont said. “There’s nowhere to put our personal belongings; no storage space.”

Although she will probably be placed somewhere in Towers, Wernimont is apprehensive about getting to know people.

“I want to get to know people, but then I’ll have to start all over after I’m off this floor,” Wernimont. “It keeps it interesting.”

In an Aug. 14 press release, the number of students who will be living in temporary housing was estimated as 40 males and 120 females. Popelka said, however, that those numbers have probably decreased in the last week.

Although this is the first time that an entire residence hall has been closed, Popelka said ISU has successfully dealt with overcrowding in the past.

“The last time we had significant numbers in temporary housing was in the mid-1980s, due to high enrollment,” Popelka said. “We had 500 to 1,000 in temporary housing.”

There is good news for some students in temporary housing. Popelka said there have been enough cancellations that all men should be assigned to permanent housing by the end of the first week.

For women, the outlook is not so good.

“Some women could be there until November,” Popelka said.