In response to the influx of applications this semester, Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) extended its enrollment limit, admitting more students than it had in seven years.
With the incoming class being larger than usual, student housing reached maximum capacity, creating new challenges for resident advisors (RAs) across campus.
Sophia Angelo, a fourth year in the teaching credential program, has been an RA at CSUMB for three years. As a self-proclaimed “veteran” of North Quad housing, she’s faced many firsts this semester.
“I’ve had the most residents I’ve ever had,” Angelo said. “I had a freshman this year. I’ve never had a freshman resident before, ever. All my residents have been sophomores or juniors.”
With housing being full, many residents were placed in unconventional housing. A handful of students were assigned to East Campus’ Schoonover Parks I and II, housing usually reserved for CSUMB employees.
New requirements for roommate agreements, a contract of non-negotiables created at the beginning of the semester by roommates, were also created by Student Housing and Residential Life in response to housing being full.
“We had to have the agreements in person with each room,” said Angelo. “The room had to have a roommate agreement, or they got written up. That’s brand new–we’ve never had that before.”
While these agreements added to RAs’ workload, first-year RA Riley Siruno, a third-year liberal studies major, believes they were critical.
“Having housing at maximum capacity emphasized the importance of roommate agreements and roommate mediation,” Siruno said. “It was really important for RAs to create detailed roommate agreements with residents and their roommates at the beginning of the semester.”
Prioritizing roommate agreements was done by student housing to try and solve problems before they began. . However, first-year RA Ian Buchanan, a second-year environmental science major, noted that more residents inevitably led to more disputes, especially in freshman housing.
“There has been an increase in roommate conflicts, which translates into angry parents–which isn’t always my favorite,” Buchanan said. “I would credit this toward there being more residents, meaning higher chances of roommate conflicts, especially in these tiny dorms.”
The full-capacity housing also made it more difficult for students to transfer rooms. According to Angelo, the necessary process for a room change is typically that a conflict occurs, a mediation is held with an RA present during which adjustments are made to their roommate agreement and if the new rules are broken a supervisor is contacted about a room change.
However, with there being little space left over due to more student residents, gaining approval for room changes has been harder.
“This year it’s been worse, honestly,” Angelo said, “In the years before we’d go through all the steps, they’d request a room change and they’d get it, but this year it’s been worse because of how active it is.”
Although room changes have been harder to grant this semester, some were deemed necessary. “There have been a few extreme roommate conflicts that resulted in immediate room switches because of safety hazards,” Buchanan said.