By Julia Wallace
Editor-in-chief
When this semester began there were two empty beds on campus. Singles were turned to doubles, and common rooms converted into bedrooms to make room for the unprecedented number of students on campus. With no room to spare in August, students and faculty were already concerned about the lack of space for students returning in the spring from their semester abroad.
According to Larry Jones, Dean of Student Affairs, there are currently 76 students studying abroad, three of whom plan on staying abroad next semester. That makes 73 students returning to Sewanee in the spring. The number of students leaving to study abroad in the spring is not yet official, but Dean Jones believes with “a fair amount of certainty” that there will be fewer students going abroad in the spring than in the fall following precedent. Kate Reed, Associate Director of Residential Life for Housing and Programs, said that they are expecting around 30 students to leave in the spring to go abroad. This leaves a need for roughly 40 beds in the next semester.
According to Reed, as of November 5 there were 46 empty beds on campus due to students leaving for family reasons, health reasons, homesickness, or problems with classes. She also predicts that when grades come in over winter break, more people will not be able to come back. This leaves just enough room for people coming back to campus from their semester abroad.
There will not be many singles available, and most students will end up living in Gorgas. Others will be able to take rooms in language houses that pertain to their area of study.
Despite the fact that many of the students who left during this semester are freshman, juniors coming back will not need to replace their specific beds. Freshmen who have roommates that left will be paired together, making room for juniors to live with juniors.