Forced tripling in university housing

Imagine this for a moment, just to humor me. It is your first day at West Chester University and as a wide-eyed freshman you are more than thrilled to move onto campus. You have all your dorm decorations organized, a color scheme set in place and an extreme sense of excitement as you prepare to meet your new roommates. However, like a third act twist you suddenly discover that everything you imagined may not perfectly fall into place.

You learn that you are going to be a “tripled” roommate. This jargon means you will be an addition to an already bonded group of incoming freshmen. What’s worse, you discover that this new home is only temporary. You will spend the first few crucial weeks bonding with your roommates, but could be relocated at any time. Just as soon as you are settled in and bond with this new family, you could be plucked away from them.

This year West Chester University is welcoming the largest class of freshman to date, causing an overflow of students in need of housing. To compensate for this, University Student Housing (USH) is adding extra roommates to rooms and suites. Rooms with two people have been expanded for three, suites of six have been converted to seven and so on. In my situation, my suite intended for six now holds seven of us.

My “extra” suitemate (whom for the purposes of this article I’ll refer to as Jane) had to deal with an insurmountable amount of pressure while moving in. Jane came into an environment in which she knew no one and we seemingly all knew each other. Nobody was aware if she was staying for a few weeks or a few months. We were in the dark. Still though, the six of us quickly bonded with her and slowly the stress she had from this odd situation was lifted.

Just as Jane had begun to settle in and become comfortable with us, my suitemates and I received an email that enlightened us on our tripling situation. The email read:

“All units will be de-tripled no later than the end of the fall semester. To assist us with this process, USH encourages all residents to have an open and honest discussion regarding which resident will relocate to a new bed space.”

Upon receiving this email, a strange feeling encroached on me that I couldn’t avoid. One of us would have to leave. One out of the seven of us would have to move out of our new home that we had just gotten comfortable with and completely start over.

Of course, it was only natural to assume that Jane would move out since she was the “tripled” roommate–but why should she? She was a part of our dorm family now, she deserved to be here just as much as we did. She shouldn’t have to go through the stress of a new situation all over again. Furthermore, why should any of us have to leave? The idea of all of us coming together and casually deciding who must move out is honestly unrealistic in my opinion.  According to USH, though, if we cannot decide amongst ourselves they will make the decision without our input.   

“If, after having a discussion, you are unable to determine who will relocate, USH will make this decision for you. “   

Moving to college was stressful enough to begin with. My roommates and I all lean on each other for support and I’d imagine that most suitemates/roommates share this connection. Of course, I know there are other variables, such as financials and technicalities. But I don’t think that should matter. None of us should have to leave our home. None of us should have to lose one of the people we have so closely bonded with. It just shouldn’t happen. I understand the difficulties of the “triple situation,” but as I sit here staring at the nametags on our door I can’t help but feel a slump of sadness knowing one will soon be removed. If USH truly cares about the happiness of their residents then they wouldn’t force this eviction upon us or anyone or any other tripled students.