Renee Yu
Edited in Prisma app with Gothic
Residence halls are sometimes seen because the finest housing choice due to the benefits they provide to college students. For instance, they permit residents to be extra academically engaged due to proximity to assets. UT even encourages freshmen to think about residing in College residence halls, however with the intention to even entice residents, all dorms should be as much as par.
There are presently 15 residence halls on campus. The College claims to “present clear, enticing, secure amenities for campus residents,” however curtains as a substitute of doorways for communal showers is neither enticing nor does it go away residents feeling secure.
The College must renovate residence corridor dorms by altering communal showers curtains to doorways to extend pupil privateness and luxury.
The truth that some communal showers in residence halls have doorways whereas others have curtains isn’t truthful to college students. Whether or not or not a communal bathe has doorways may rely on the ground inside a selected dorm. This inconsistency creates unequal requirements of privateness. Some college students are involved with this lack of privateness, and if the scenario doesn’t enhance, it may probably flip away potential on-campus residents.
Enterprise honors freshman Ramya Nambala mentioned the College may very well be discouraging college students from residing in residence halls with the present setup of communal showers.
“(Communal) loos and the dearth of safety inside them makes individuals extra hesitant to decide on that dorm,” Nambala mentioned.
Making a secure and welcoming setting for all college students must be a prime precedence for the College. Present dorm residents won’t really feel safe utilizing communal showers, as college students have cited numerous embarrassing occurrences prior to now.
“There’s one incident the place I had the curtain closed and somebody needed to test and see if there was any individual within the bathe I used to be in. The curtain was barely open and that was actually awkward. (Bathe doorways) would make issues much more comfy,” Nambala mentioned.
As many as 70% of college college students develop emotions of homesickness. It’s already exhausting sufficient for college students to go away house in pursuit of their research; it shouldn’t need to be uncomfortable too.
Don Ates, director of residential amenities for UT, mentioned the funds constricts sure renovation tasks however that the College has been taking a look at potential methods to extend privateness in dorms due to previous pupil considerations.
“Anytime we hear any considerations from college students, we take them very significantly. … We at all times search for alternatives to renovate to try to meet pupil wants,” Ates mentioned.
The perfect answer to handle these pupil considerations is with bathe doorways. It must be a precedence to make the residence halls really feel as home-like and safe as potential, so college students really feel comfy staying in dorms.
With a view to make residence halls extra enticing and cozy for college students, the College ought to renovate dorms by altering communal showers to incorporate doorways. All college students deserve the precise to a secure, comfy and personal on-campus residing expertise.
DonJuan is a Plan II and economics freshman from Quanah, TX.