The University should find permanent overflow housing

The University recently opted not to renew its lease of the Hopkins Inn for the 2016-2017 school year. Hop Inn has been used as overflow housing in recent years when the freshman class has exceeded 1,300 students, and based on the Class of 2020 enrollment size, the hotel will not be needed next year.

Hop Inn is currently the only freshman residence hall not owned by the University, and its location is not ideal for promoting unity within the freshman class. The proximity of the AMRs to Buildings A and B as well as Wolman to McCoy creates a sense of community that is lacking for Hop Inn residents. Furthermore, every freshman dorm except Hop Inn, houses hundreds of students. The Inn can only accommodate about 60, so residents have fewer opportunities to meet new people and socially integrate on campus.

Hop Inn also has many maintenance issues that the University has been slow to address. The building is not J-Card accessible, which creates security issues. If one student loses his or her front-door key, the lock has to be changed and every resident has to pick up a new key. Residents have also complained about the lack of water fountains and slow response time to maintenance issues.

Because of such issues, the Editorial Board agrees with the University’s decision to not renew the lease for the Hopkins Inn. However, we also recognize that overflow housing will likely become an need again in the future, and we implore the University to start considering its options sooner rather than later. The Editorial Board urges Hopkins to seek a more permanent solution to accommodating large freshman classes rather than acting on a year-by-year basis.

The Editorial Board believes that the University should invest more money in underclassmen housing. There are University-owned options for upperclassmen like The Charles and Blackstone, not to mention an abundance of apartments and rowhouses just outside campus. The Editorial Board suggests considering the conversion of The Charles or The Blackstone into sophomore dorms or allocating more floors of McCoy to freshmen, should there be overenrolled classes in the future.

The bottom line is that the Hopkins Inn is overflow housing, and it feels like it. The University either needs to bring it up to par or find a more suitable option for future freshmen classes.

This editorial was written by the 2016-2017 editorial board.