Residence halls to stay open during Thanksgiving and spring break

The Department of Housing and Residential Education announced via email Tuesday that residence halls and Ram Village will be open for students during the Thanksgiving and spring breaks.

Rick Bradley, associate director of the housing department, said the idea was approved this week. Bradley said an important factor in making the decision was the short length of the breaks, particularly Thanksgiving.

“If you are international or out-of-state, it would be unlikely that you would go home for that period,” he said.

Bradley said the international student community has already communicated this change to international program partners.

“There’s lots of excitement and positivity around the fact that we’ll remain open now for international students and any other student who needs it,” Bradley said.

He added that requiring students to apply for break housing and to move out of their rooms and into lounge spaces over shorter break periods was not a convenient situation.

“The desire was to provide a better service to students and to provide a better space as well,” he said.

Keeping the residence halls open does not add any additional costs to the housing department since the staffing pattern is not affected, Bradley said.

The residence halls will still be closed during winter break, but students who are unable to go home can apply for accommodated break housing.

Taylor Bates, president of Residence Hall Association, said that during a Housing Advisory Board session last spring community governors brought up the idea of keeping residence halls open during break.

“One of the issues that the housing department came and asked us for feedback on was whether or not staying open over these break periods would be something that benefitted the students,” Bates said.

Bates said it is not always possible for out-of-states students to travel back home.

“It would definitely be nice for those people to be able to stay in their rooms without having to apply for break housing during these shorter breaks,” Bates said.

He said it helps students who have jobs in the area that don’t align with the University’s break schedule.

First-year Torrey Doell works with Carolina Athletic Hospitality and said this change will be helpful for her since she has to be on campus to work a home football game Nov. 25.

“It’s beneficial because I don’t have to come home, go back to school, then come home again,” she said.

Sophomore Jin Lin said the previous residence hall policy was especially difficult for first-year out-of-state students who don’t have many nearby connections.

“I don’t live on campus this year, but last year it was inconvenient for me,” she said. “I had to stay in Stacy and move a whole suitcase of stuff.”

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