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Early Arrival Yet to Feature

On the 12th of September, Princeton opened for the academic year. A huge barrage of loaded Dinky trains, excited hugs, orange carts and the sudden reminder of the doors that are magically open to you with the card with Princeton written on it soon followed. No, I am not talking about your future business card, but our beloved Prox, which grants us access to our food, clothing and shelter on campus.

For most returning students, this card was magically activated on Sept. 12. If you wished to move in early, however, you could either be a part of a program pre-approved for Early Arrival (like Peer Academic Advisers, Outdoor Action, Residential College Advisers, etc.) or apply to Housing Services individually for Early Arrival. It is necessary for Housing Services to provide access to those in the first group, and it is great that they offer the possibility to other students who might need housing for any reason. However, Housing rejects most applications for Early Arrival, and this presents problems for many students.

On one hand, it makes sense. It takes time to get the rooms ready for the next group of students, and nobody wants to move into a room that still has the remnants of the last occupants. Housing Services states on their website, for Early Arrival in Fall 2015, that “Students returning before Sept. 1 will be housed together in assigned dorms rather than spread throughout campus in academic-year rooms" as “this will enable longer access to dorms for renovation and cleaning, and concentrate early returns in an area that enhances safety and security at a time when the University is still on a summer schedule.”

However this is no longer the policy for students returning after the 1st; and if the above were the only reason, it would make sense to allow roommates of those given Early Arrival to also be given Early Arrival, as the room is ready for them as well. However, this is never treated as valid grounds for granting Early Arrival.

Further, in some cases, such as for Freshman Scholars Institute staff, Housing allows the students to leave their stuff in their rooms, but the students themselves cannot move in. This leaves almost two weeks where the students don’t have access to their rooms and are forced to go back home or stay with family or friends close by. Unfortunately, this option is quite complicated for international students, or students living far away, who can’t go home for just two weeks. The rooms would have to be ready for the students to leave their stuff, and as it would be very difficult for Housing to get it ready after the student occupies the room with his stuff. This is also the situation with students who come for International Orientation, but decide not to go for OA or CA trips, who are initially given access to their rooms to move stuff in, but then have that privilege revoked.

It would seem that Housing has many other reasons for not granting Early Arrival to many students. However, it is never mentioned in their webpages. If the reasons become clear, then students could work with housing to see if they could qualify for Early Arrival. For many students, Early Arrival can be crucial, such as for international students who often have to arrive a few days earlier due to their flights. Or students who only have a week between what they did for summer and the move-in date, during which they cannot go home. Or students who have been working near campus and living off-campus, whose lease runs out at the start of the month.

It is completely understandable that Housing may need Early Arrival to be available only for certain students; however, Housing should be transparent regarding the reasons why it turns down the majority of the students, so that students can work with them to make it possible, rather than be forced to find accommodation off-campus, which can be ridiculously expensive and extremely inconvenient.

Avaneesh Narla isa physics major from Calcutta, India. He can be reached at avaneesh.narla@princeton.edu.

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