Student Senate Update

Housing selection for the 2014-2015 semester is nearing a close, and soon all of PSU's students will know what their living situation for the fall semester will be. There are many students however, who are going to be living off campus that knew much earlier where they would be living.

Last semester, meetings were held between off-campus landlords and PSU's Student Senate about housing selections, and a resolution had been passed by Student Senate stating that housing selection for the 2014-2015 fall semester would begin after spring break. While housing selection is typically held after spring break for students who plan on living on or off-campus, local landlord, Don Stoppe, moved the housing selection process for off-campus living earlier, allowing students to apply for off-campus housing earlier, to the dismay of Student Senate.

The reasoning behind pushing the application to an earlier time in the year (in this case, students were able to begin selecting off-campus housing last semester) is a simple one. Landlords want to show their availabilities first. Off-campus landlords began to advertise their properties that were available, and other businesses were forced to follow suit in order to keep up with the competition. With so many local landlords in the area, including Stoppe Management, Inter-Lakes Properties, and Off Campus Rentals, along with several other private landlords, this caused a large ripple effect that confused many  students who were unsure of housing application deadlines, and added extra stress on top of exams that were happening at the time.

These actions did not sit well with PSU's Student Senate, and a resolution was drafted opposing the actions that were taken by off-campus landlords. This resolution was passed by a tie-broken vote and was a way for Student Senate to tell local landlords that they are not happy with what happened this year.

While some members of the Student Senate see this resolution as a way to make it so similar situations don't happen in the future, others don't see a purpose in such action.

"I don't really know what they're trying to get out of it. At the end of the day Student Senate can't control what a private business is doing," said Joe Boisvert, the Student Senate representative for Belknap Hall. "I also don't think it's good for the students. If nobody can sign up early, then it's going to create a lot of competition for the apartments. Because everyone is going to be going in the same week period."

Some students appreciated the early selection process, while stress was created for others. All in all it came down to the students' choice of when they wanted to apply.

"Kids aren't going to listen to what Student Senate has to say. If they want to move off-campus they're going to move off-campus. It's just because Student Senate says we don't want you to do it until now. [The resolution] isn't going to affect anything." Said Boisvert.

There are mixed feelings in Student Senate about how this resolution will impact the housing selection process for next year.

"I think it's going to go the same way next year," said Boisvert. "Student Senate can't control what private businesses do. We don't have any actual power to do it. Landlords are going to do it as soon as people start offering. Because it's a business."