Red Roof students to return to Oaks

photo by Jen Newman

Daniel Alacon, lead painter for Hernandez Painting, and a crew of three have been painting the interior and exterior of the new three-story Oaks building for the last month and a half. The interior walls are getting their third and final coat of paint and will be completed this week in preparation for students scheduled move in on Feb. 23.

by Deanna Reyes
Staff Writer

Red Roof Inn residents are getting ready to move back onto campus and into the new Oaks pod. The tentative move in date is Feb. 23, with the grand opening scheduled to be held on Feb 21. The residents were scheduled to move back on campus over in January, however framing and permit issues caused the month-long delay.

Despite being able to live in brand new rooms and not having to take a shuttle to school everyday, some Red Roof residents are hesitant to move into the Oaks. Students who have lived at the Red Roof have grown accustomed to the luxury of having private bathrooms, queen-size beds, refrigerators and microwaves. Once they move into the Oaks, these luxuries will no longer exist.

"I don't want to live in the dorms mainly because of the bathroom situation and the fact that now we have big rooms with queen-size beds," said sophomore Yuridia Sanchez. "Why would I want to go from what I have now to a tiny room with a twin bed?"

Students feel that the atmosphere the Red Roof offers might face change after the move. According to Sanchez, students are able to live more on their own and do not experience the close proximity with other students unless they want to. In a dorm setting, students are constantly around each other due to the close living quarters.

Freshman Esther Outten is looking forward to moving on campus and finds the social change as one of the positive things that will result from the move. However, she said that a negative effect will be the noise around the dorms that will make it difficult to study.

Many students said they see the move as an inconvenience at this time of the year. The original move-in date would have been more convenient since classes were not in session as they are now.

"I'm very upset," said Outten. "It's hard because I don't have a car so I'm relying on someone else to help me move. Moving in is a big deal and when they keep changing dates and giving us the run-around, it's hard to find time to get ready. This has been a burden we should not have had to deal with."

"We know it's difficult in the middle of the semester to have to do that [move in], so we want to make sure to give them a weekend [and] a couple of days to move in," said Julie Thurman Francisco, director of housing and residential life.