Western Kentucky University - Talisman Yearbook (Bowling Green, KY)

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20 Housing LLUOWIME) SDAGE con apartment was that it was getting crowded as they accumulated more items and that they had to leave their cat at home, since no pets are allowed. She said it bothered her that some college students had to live in apartments that are “filthy,” like the ones they first looked at. “T had almost decided to live in the dorm and Greg live at home before we found this one,” she said. For freshmen and sophomores dorm life is saan eran | | their only choice — unless they have a good excuse. John Osborne, a housing official who often handles requests for exemptions from on-cam- pus housing, said that 14.6 percent of the freshmen and sophomore classes have been

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For married students, finding apartments near campus can be a real challenge, as Mohammad and Mehvash Boca found. The Bocas were on a waiting list for one of the four on-campus married student apart- ments for almost two years before they got one in the basement of South Hall. Horace Shrader, housing director, said that the university has two apartments in South Hall and two in West Hall that are available for married students. The university has also acquired several oth- er apartments surrounding the campus, Shrader said. ‘ — Harold Sinclair He said that the lack of funds was the major reason there was not more university married housing. Bowling Green has more apartments avail- able in the community for married students than most other state schools, Shrader said. The Bocas say they like their two-bedroom, $95 a month apartment because it’s cheaper than the one-bedroom apartment they had lived in before. Boca, a fifth-year business major from Iran, said he liked being close to classes and the libraries and not having to worry about driving to class. Noise from 200 upstairs neighbors has not been a problem, Boca said. ‘‘The only time its really noisy is at the first of the year,” he said. The Bocas have a two-year-old son, Ali, and they often socialize with other married stu- dents on campus. Their neighbors across the hall have children and a swing set outside the dorm, where Ali sometimes plays. “Ali likes having all the girls’ attention,”’ his father said. ““They’ve even offered to babysit for him.” When Sandy and Greg Kemper began looking for an apartment before they were married 214 years ago, they began to realize the shortage of married student housing close to campus. Mrs. Kemper, a sophomore business admin- istration major, needed to be in walking dis- tance of campus since her husband drove to work. “We couldn’t find a place fit to live in,’’ she said. “It was hard to find a place without holes in the walls or bugs.” The Kempers finally found a one-bedroom apartment in a new complex near campus. And they ended up finding a job as well — Sandy and Greg are resident managers at West Q Apartments on Fourth and Clay Streets. As resident managers, the Kempers take care of the grounds and do odds and ends, such as cleaning snow off the sidewalks. The Kempers get their rent and utilities free for being resident managers. Their cozy apartment is decorated in rusts, browns and earthy colors with lots of plants, pictures and brightly colored afghans and pil- lows in the living room. Mrs. Kemper said they received several of the furnishings as wedding gifts, but most of the furniture came from family. A refinished whiskey barrel serves as a small table in the living room. ‘‘Someone left it in the front yard o f the apartment, so we decided to use it,” Mrs. Kemper said. She said the only thing bad about their continued on page 20 SURROUNDED BY TILE, Magsoob Ahmed Choudry shaves in the third floor restroom of Pearce-Ford Tower. Choudry is a graduate student from Pakistan. 19 Housing

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granted exemptions and are living off campus. Students commuting or living with parents and relatives may be exempt but the only oth- er reasons for exemption are situations that are “‘out of the ordinary,”’ he said. Often students request exemptions because — Harold Sinclair of special medical reasons. ‘‘The reasons range from psychological problems to handicapped problems, where students believe they have better facilities off campus,” Osborne said. Students may also be exempt for financial reasons if they can show that living off campus with relatives would be more economical. George Bachert, a Fern Creek sophomore, lived in an apartment his freshman year after requesting to live off campus for financial rea- sons. “I thought it would be cheaper living in an apartment with my brother,” Bachert said. He moved back into Poland Hall this year because he found the dorm was less expensive. Osborne said some students have asked to be exempt because they “‘felt they couldn’t study in a residence hall.” “If you gave everyone an exemption for this, we would no longer have an on-campus policy,” he said. Osborne said they review each request on an individual basis and try to take everything into consideration. A sophomore, who asked not to be identi- fied, said she wrote a note saying she was going to be living at home, when she was actu- ally living in an off-campus apartment with two other sophomores. “My father signed the note because he thought I was mature enough to have my own apartment,” she said. For the remaining 4,344 students living in campus residence halls, the year was fairly typical with sharing one-room homes, commu- nity bathrooms and friendships with a variety of neighbors. But the new closed-door policy may have added some zest to open house visitation. However, Sharon Dyrsen, coordinator of hall programming, said participation decreased slightly, but she attributed this to th e fact that there are now more open houses allowed by the university, with the maximum being 24. In the fall, each dorm conducted a survey asking residents the number of open houses they wanted. The housing office took the total number voted on in each dorm and then divid- ed this by the number of residents in that dorm — which means that it would take a 100 per- cent vote to get the maximum 24 open houses approved. Ms. Dyrsen said that she believed the open houses were more relaxed now and “‘less of a hassle.”’ The doors can be locked with the new policy. The closed-door policy has made the job easier for resident assistants, too. ‘“‘All we do now is make sure the guests are checked in and A FLAG serves as a tablecloth for Phil Evans, Jenny Connerly and Roger Hinkle. Evans cooked steak, baked potatoes and corn for the dinner during an open house at Keen Hall. He and Hinkle were roommates. out,’ Randy Sallye, a Barnes-Campbell RA, said. Sallye said that more students used open houses during the fall, probably because of the football season. Stu Wilson, a Poland Hall resident assist, said he thought that participation had not changed that much with the new policy. He said that most of the men used the open houses to “‘cook meals, watch television and just spend some time with their girlfriends.” Sallye said that Barnes usually had an aver- age of 30 to 40 guests during open house. He said he thought open houses were good be- cause “sometimes you just don’t feel like going out and spending a lot of money.” — Laura Phillips — Harold Sinclair BOWLING GREEN apartment dwellings run the gamut from well-kept to obviously run-down. This Kentucky Street apartment is similar to several surrounding campus. — Harold Sinclair A SMALL DANCE FLOOR was created during a Keen Hall open house for Carl Brazley, a Louisville junior, Rhonda Taylor, a Columbia junior, and Sharyn Cole, a Nashville sophomore. They were in Brazley’s room. 21 Housing