Photo: News_WCUResidence_1: WCU’s residence quad taken from West Chester University’s website.
On Friday, Sept. 6, the West Chester University (WCU) community received an email from newly-inaugurated President Lorraine Bernotsky providing an update on the university’s controversial housing situation. West Goshen Township has approved the university’s request to add short-term on-campus housing in an attempt to combat the ongoing housing crisis. The proposed solution is a modular housing community, set to be established across from the M parking garage on Matlack Street. The community is set to house 128 students, with 100 single-occupancy and 28 double-occupancy rooms. Amenities for single rooms include a private bathroom, TV, minifridge and microwave. Double rooms will come fully furnished, with a hallway bathroom. The “court-style” housing will also have community buildings, which will hold washer-dryers, vending machines, residence hall coordinator offices and mail pick-up. A shuttle will also be servicing the community.
The decision comes in the wake of a years-long battle for student housing security. Two years ago, 800 students received letters rejecting their on-campus housing applications, stating that the university was unable to accommodate them due to increased freshman acceptance rates. What followed were on-campus protests that attracted state-wide media coverage as students acknowledged the severity of the issue, leading to students having to drop out, according to CBS News.
Former President Christopher Fiorentino, now set to become interim chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), addressed the crisis in a town hall last March that seemed to place the blame on low enrollment and lack of student investment, citing the fact that residence halls did not fill in 2020 and 2021 — the years of the Covid-19 pandemic — as cause for the university to sour on potentially building another residence hall. He also cited the issues with the West Chester Borough’s attitude towards students being a roadblock in developing new housing solutions, with “parties” thrown by students on Matlack Street leading residents to feel animosity towards the idea of additional student accommodation.
President Bernotsky hails the decision as “a first step” in solving the crisis. “While we have much more work to do to add more permanent on-campus housing than we have currently,” she said, “this is a start.” However, the solution is emphasized as temporary and short-term, with the community planned to be removed within five years. The modular housing is meant to act as a “swing-space” for students while the university pursues authorization on renovations meant to add more beds to their pre-existing on-campus housing. As the university searches for more long-term solutions to what is proving to be a long-term issue, the temporary accommodations at least demonstrate a step in the right direction from the university and a willingness from the borough to work with President Bernotsky as a new class of first-years fill the residence halls. The president thanked West Goshen Township for approving the modular housing, adding that she will “continue to move forward boldly and with our students’ best interests at the forefront of all of our actions.”
Elijah Fischer is a third-year English and Media & Culture major. AF997636@wcupa.edu.