High school sophomores may not need to debate the differences between on-and-off-campus housing if they choose to enter the University as freshmen in fall 2008.
If the University implements a proposed freshmen residency requirement, which is currently only in draft form, all incoming freshmen coming to the University in 2008 would be required to live on campus for their first academic year.
Deborah Schulze, residential life director, said the plan has been discussed for the past six years. The University previously had a freshmen residency requirement that was eliminated in 1979.
Schulze said the plan will be academically beneficial to incoming freshmen and will strengthen the Flagship Agenda by improving campus life.
For the proposal, Schulze looked at “regional peer” schools which require freshmen on-campus residency, such as the University of Tennessee, University of Alabama and University of Mississippi.
Schulze also developed a list of exemptions for the requirement. Students who live with a parent or guardian within 25 miles of the University’s campus, students with a medical problem and married students would not be required to live on campus.
But at the Student Government Senate meeting on Wednesday, SG senators voiced opposition to Schulze’s proposal.
Senators Donald Hodge and Evan Bergeron authored a resolution urging the administration to reject the proposal. The resolution passed with a 27-to-1 vote.
In his speech to the Senate, Hodge outlined a list of reasons why the requirement would be detrimental to the University.
According to Hodge’s resolution, students must sign a Residential Life contract agreeing to policies that are “intrusive and infringe on Constitutional liberties.”
Hodge said some students may wish to live off campus to retain Constitutional rights, such as the right to bear arms and to assemble freely with members of the opposite sex.
Schulze, who declined an invitation to the Senate meeting, told The Daily Reveille that all policies “are related to maintaining the safety and welfare of students.”
Hodge also said the requirement to purchase a meal plan from Chartwell’s Dining Services would be financially difficult for many incoming freshmen.
Senator Heath Hattaway also voiced his displeasure about the proposal.
“This has been sugarcoated to be an academic plan,” Hattaway said. “But this is a money plan.”
Schulze dismissed claims that the proposal is for monetary reasons. Schulze said Dining Services officials have never pressured anyone for the proposal.
“This has been on the table for six years now,” Schulze said. “It’s always been about educational value.”
University College Dean Carolyn Collins, who oversees the Center for Freshman Year, said the proposed freshmen residency requirement would benefit all freshmen.
Collins said living in a learning environment would provide “emotional, social and academic benefits.”
Collins said many freshmen experience loneliness from being away from home, and living in a residential hall would help students immediately bond with students and help develop friendships.
“This would give students and opportunity to experience a diversity of personalities and ethnicities,” Collins said.
The sole drawback to the plan would be students unable to meet financial requirements, Collins said.
“Financial issues can be worked out,” she said.
University Provost Risa Palm also said she recognizes the academic benefits from implementing a freshmen residency requirement.
Palm said a team of executive administrators, including herself and Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, will ultimately decide whether the proposal is implemented.
Palm and Schulze said the original date of implementation was fall 2007, but student leaders such as SG President Chris Odinet and Vice President Christen Heaton voiced concern and prompted the delay until 2008. Palm said students will continue to voice input in Provost’s Council meetings, a council that former SG President Michelle Gieg established to bridge relations between students and faculty.
“We wanted a commitment that this proposal would not be rushed,” Odinet said. “We want a slow, full opportunity to get student input.”
Schulze said input from Odinet and Heaton and other student leaders will help administrators realize what issues affect students.
Schulze said the delay also better coincides with the projected re-opening of Blake Hall in the fall of 2007 and Graham Hall in January 2008.
“[The delay to 2008] allows more time for discussion and working out details in a thorough manner,” Schulze said.
 
Contact Amy Brittain at [email protected]