Move-in day in residence was no more hectic than usual this year despite thousands of first-years and their parents negotiating a campus under construction. The group of arrivals was lessened by about one third, however, because Residence Life waived early arrival fees, allowing frosh to move in earlier.
Kevin Wright, a senior don in Victoria Hall, said Residence Life tried to make up for the lack of spaces in the Macintosh-Corry parking lot by providing free parking in the underground lot on Stuart Street.
He said allowing students to spread their arrival over several days has helped relieve some of the stress.
“We allowed people to come in early, and we waived the early arrival fee,” he said. “Encouraging people to move in early has helped the congestion level.”
On move-in day itself, construction made the help of almost 150 volunteers more welcome than ever.
StuCons were stationed at 16 locations on and around main campus, each with specific instructions on how to direct pedestrian and vehicular traffic to minimize congestion.
Dan Whalen, head manager of the AMS Student Constables, said he worked closely with Residence Life to prepare his staff.
Whalen said he spent several hours on campus both in the morning and afternoon. Senior StuCons also circulated throughout the day answering questions
“I think things are running a lot smoother than I’ve seen in the past,” he said.
Marvin Ferrer, ArtSci ’09 and first-time StuCon, said construction posed several challenges to the move-in process.
“Construction has certainly made life interesting.” He said he had to rethink the way he gave directions to new students.
“There were some grad students looking for Vic Hall outside the JDUC and I was thinking I could just tell them to go through the passageways but they couldn’t.”
He said the biggest issue was parking.
“Trying to get to the Mac-Corry parking lot, there’s no real way up University except Collingwood.”
But despite delays, Ferrer said, things were running smoothly.
“I think people generally are pretty understanding. I mean, I think they’re expecting things are going to be a bit crowded.”
Teresa Adams, mother of a first-year psychology student moving into Ban Righ Hall, said parking was the only inconvenience she encountered, but the effort made to accommodate students and their parents made the day run more smoothly.
“Just parking is crazy. You have to hike, but you do what you have to do.”
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