University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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I at f i , 1 g S. ff W K Ev l l Q l f. l s 5 fr g g i ,fg- XA? Shaw Apartment dwellers find that one advantage is room for parties. Maureen Guthrie invites guests to an upcoming bash at the Broadway Apartments Finding time alone is a Challenge when three women live in a double occupancy apartment. Susan Cotten takes advantage ofthe solitude for some booking, Janet Lammers likes being an RA., not only for the great room prices, but also for the company of the women on her hall. -um,

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In search: The crunch continues These people have the answers. This year, these people and 8,500 like them, were forced tofind the answers to a sometimes overwhelming question: Where am I going to live? With enrollment leaping to a record 26,000 plus, more students than ever want- ed to live in the relatively low-cost dorms - more students than there were rooms lfor. In March, 1981, the Housing Assign- ment Office announced that only fresh- men and sophomores could be guaranteed dorm rooms. For the first time, every up- perclassman - not just the ones wanting out of the dorms - had to find off-campus housing. How did they do it? Basically, they had to search all over Iowa City, checking every available nook, cranny - or attic, like juniors Mark Christopher and Mark Jacobson. Two dark, narrow stairways lead up to the spacious attic room which both Marks have christened The Fortfl With few suitable apartments available, they were extremely happy to find this place - even though it meant living at the top of an old house and sharing a bathroom with the other tenants. Most rooms rented out are either cock- roach-infested, very tiny, or way over- pricedfl Christopher said. 'fThis was great. One of the drawbacks is some of the graduate students living in the building. 'SThey,re very stiff about a lot of things, especially about being super quietf' Ja- cobson said. We like playing our music and having people over. Otherwise, though, they enjoy their attic hide-away. Their rent is lower than dorm rates, they share a communal kitchen and living room with the other tenants, and we even have a porch with a swing and a place to put our bikesf' At times, no matter how hard students looked, there was just no place to be found. For those who didn't start hunting until the semesteris start, this was especial- ly true. Few, though, had to resort to what senior Mike Shier did until he found an apartment: for ten days he camped-out in his van. For Anne Valdespino, apartment living means being able to cook some specialties. Waiting for a Mexican meal, she grabs a book for quick studying. Fortunately, Shier is a seasoned camper, so he could handle roughing it. I either just ate out or went to City Park and bar- becued something, he explained. I also ended up going to bed really early and getting up early. I couldnlt study much after dark, and the birds were my alarm clock every morning at six. Admittedly, Shier's living arrangement wasnit exactly secure. 'fI said I wouldnit worry till it got cold, he said, but I guess I was ready to have a permanent roof over my headfl After all, he said, all I really had was my suitcase and my bicycle? So what did he appreciate most when he finally moved into his apartment? f'Having a showerlw Late-arriving transfer students also found out just how scarce housing was. In some cases, plans got drastically changed. When junior Leslie Baldwin transferred from Bradley University this year, she in- tended to join a sorority, as she had at her former school. But I wanted to take my own time,', she said, get an apartment and do it Qjoinj in a normal fashion. Unfortunately, Baldwin didnit arrive to look for that apartment until the end of August. HI was an ulcer casels' she said. ffl was so confused I didnlt know what to dof' Finally, Baldwin phoned Gamma Phi Beta -in the middle of a rush party -to see if they had any room openings. continued on page 22

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Housing continued Baldwin now lives in the sorority house with two roommates and 55 other house- mates and is happy with the way things worked out. She feels she would have missed a lot by living in an apartment. Here, thereis a lot going on, people to talk to and you have a base for coming into a new school a lot of people have helped me through itf, Even students who found a place to live before fall semester had to alter plans. Linda Wright, a second semester senior, expected to spend the year sharing a house with an 80-year-old woman. However, that arrangement lasted only one month. She was just too intolerant of my inde- pendence. I got the impression she wanted to mother me - which I don't need, Wright said. Wright became a boarder in the wom- an's home after growing disillusioned try- ing to find an apartment with 'foff-the- street parking, a six-month lease and cheap rent. Her room was quiet, clean and cheap, but it didn't mix well with Wright's social life. She went to bed at 10 ofclock at the latest and didn't want me to get any phone calls after she was asleepf' That wasnit all. uAfter I moved in, I found out my kitchen privileges were a half shelf in the refrigerator . . . I also got the impression that when I came home, I was supposed to go from the back door to my room, maybe to the bathroom on the wayf' Wright thinks living with an elderly per- son may work out well for some people and may have worked out better for her had she known the woman beforehand. Main- ly, though she's just really glad to be moved into another apartment. For some students, the challenge is not only finding the right place to live but keeping it. Susan Cotten, Beth Wissing and Kate Wissing have had to become experts at a game called f'How to Live With Three Girls in A One-Bedroom Apartment Without Telling Your Land- lord. For one thing, we have a Post Office box, so no one sees our mailf, Cotten said. We also avoid a lot of the neighborsf, Kate said. f'There,s only supposed to be two people living here,', Cotten said. Fitting three girls into a one-bedroom apartment demands organization and cre- ativity, along with one bed, a mattress and a living room chair that folds out into a bed. Whoever stays up latest sleeps in the living room, Cotten explained, But if you get up earlier, you sleep on the mat- tress we pull out, which practically covers A man's home is his castle - even if it's a van. Mike Shicr's I0-day vigil of Hroughing it, while searching for housing, resulted in finally finding an apartment. the whole bedroom floor - because if Kate were on the mattress and I got up first, I'd step all over her. No matter how small, the apartment seems a good place to get away from things. As Kate says, You feel less like you're in school all the time when you can come back here. A handful of upperclassmen were able to get dorm rooms - mainly transfer stu- dents or resident assistants like senior Ja- net Lammers. As Lammers describes it, being an R.A. can prove a unique way to earn room and board. This is a typical day - well, maybe not typical, but it happens quite often: being awakened at 12:30 a.m., 1:30, then maybe 5:00 again. One morning at 5 the fire hose was turned on and flooded my room and the room next door.', Responsible for 20 girls, Lammers em- phasizes, You have to be an R.A. 24 hours a day. I try to be around in the evenings as much as possible. I study in here, l have my own T.V. I can pretty . , ..., rrr.