Family residents of Slocum Heights upset with the proposed family relocation plan were told Tuesday night by Syracuse University housing and residence life officials they had the option to stay in their current apartments and live among undergraduates or move to the proposed family housing area within Slocum Heights.

The decision was announced at the Slocum Heights Family Community meeting held Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Slocum Heights Community Center. They were asked to inform the Office of Housing, Meal Plan and ID Card Services of their decision by next Friday, April 28.

The meeting was attended by Assistant Director of Housing Kris Millett, Associate Director of Housing Eileen Simmons and Associate Director of Residence Life Bill Longcore, as well as members of the 15 families affected by the changes led by Kimiharu To, a second-year graduate student at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

At the meeting, the families were able to express their concerns with the plan, and the officials were able to explain the difficult housing situation they were in when they made the decision to offer Slocum Heights apartments to undergraduates.

The university officials explained why undergraduates were offered Slocum Heights housing.

Simmons said during the housing reservation process, officials within the Office of Housing realized they had received more undergraduate housing deposits than there was housing available. This was mainly because of the 623 unexpected freshmen who entered SU last fall. She listed the various housing that had been used to house them, but said that they had been told that in the fall, the Sheraton Hotel would not be an option.

‘We’ve done everything we can to find places (to house undergraduates) that we don’t normally do,’ Longcore said, echoing Simmons’ frustration. ‘This was next.’

Simmons also mentioned the proposed new residence hall building, which could have alleviated some of the housing problems, is not currently happening.

Longcore said the housing difficulties seem to be because of a new direction the university is taking to get out into the community and outer areas. He mentioned such changes as the 342 freshmen who will be living in the South Campus Skyhalls next fall, as well as the architecture students who now must be bused downtown to attend classes.

‘The shift appears to be that students are going to live wherever they need to be in order to be at the university,’ he said. ‘And we have to make that happen.’

Simmons added that former Chancellor Kenneth ‘Buzz’ Shaw had held a goal of downsizing the undergraduate population. She said the university is not heading in that direction anymore.

‘I’ve not heard where we are going to be in years to come,’ Simmons said, in response to the families’ concerns that they may be forced to move out permanently or relocate again in a year. Many of them had two or more years left in their various programs.

The families, most of whom are from other countries, expressed their frustration and hurt for being left out of the process that may force them to leave their apartments, which have become home to them.

‘I think one of the biggest concerns is that they are our homes,’ said Lauren Calandruccio, a communications sciences and disorders graduate student who has lived in her apartment with her husband for several years. ‘None of us have second addresses.’

Calandruccio and her husband, Eric Ripley, a graduate student at SUNY-ESF and a master’s student at SU, expressed the concern that since they sign a yearlong lease, which they can renew, they are unlike undergraduates, who are used to moving from year to year. They both said they would have a ‘houseful of stuff to move’ if they were forced to relocate.

After more than an hour of avoiding the question, Simmons and Longcore told the families they would be able to stay in their apartments, but they would have to deal with undergraduates as neighbors. Longcore said undergraduates have very different lifestyles from the families, and could cause disturbances.

‘I just can’t be optimistic for any of you that your experience isn’t going to change,’ he said. ‘That is why we want you to consider relocating.’

To passed out handouts at the meeting outlining the families’ concerns and alternative solutions to the proposed relocation plan.

One of their primary concerns was the safety of their children who often play in the upper playgrounds rather than the lower ones located near the proposed family housing.

To said undergraduate students often drive erratically and could possibly hurt or even kill a child who was crossing the street to get to the upper playground, daycare center or community center. He said they were worried about the extra cars undergraduates would bring.

To also emphasized the effect moving would have on the many international families who had developed a ‘safe place’ in their current apartments.

‘I came with my family from Japan,’ he said. ‘It makes it easier for us to live here.’

To said the changes could result in less international students with families choosing to study at SU.

While the meeting did not ease all of the families’ concerns about living near undergraduates, the decision to stay in their apartments seemed to calm their major relocation fear.

Published on April 18, 2006 at 12:00 pm