Home sweet home, but where is home?

On August 3, 2020, President Farvardin alerted the Stevens community that all non-incoming students would be taking classes virtually this fall semester. Leading up to that moment, upperclassmen were running blind on whether they should renew their lease, opt for Stevens Leased Housing, live amongst their brothers and sisters in their fraternity or sorority houses, or ultimately abandon those options and sanction in their family homes. With COVID-19 comes procedures that many are unfamiliar with — social distance protocols, cleanliness, and mask wearing has altered the safety of living with others and therefore left students in complicated, unwanted, and for some, costly situations.

Prior to the email sent on August 3, over 300 students applied for Stevens Leased Housing (SLH) and 134 students planned to live in Greek Housing. In the email, President Farvardin stated, “Housing applications will be withdrawn for upper-class students who had planned to be on campus and who must now study online.” This was the first explicit announcement stating that all SLH and Greek Housing options would be cancelled for the fall semester.

All students in SLH and Greek Housing were given a full refund of housing and dining charges. In June and July triples and quads were eliminated, which displaced some students and created complicated housing arrangements.

A housing survey conducted by The Stute was disseminated through social media and acquired 23 responses. Of those responses, 66% of those who lost SLH or Greek Housing could not find another housing option for the fall.

Alexei Nikiforov, a brother of the Sigma Nu fraternity said, “They just straight up cancelled on us after working through all the changes and restrictions they were putting on us.” He was unable to find housing and is currently living at home.

As more COVID-19 updates were released to the public, housing restrictions became tighter. Trina Ballantyne, Dean of Residential & Dining Services said, “The University complied with guidance from local and state authorities which changed frequently over the course of the summer months and may continue to change as the pandemic evolves.” Due to social distance mandates, between June and July, the Stevens administration removed the option of triple and quad housing.

Another change that was made was the gas to the kitchens on Frat row were shut off, which pushed students to buy a Stevens meal plan. Stevens also restricted students in Greek Housing from having guests, which included not only members who do not live in the house, but their chefs as well. This further pushed students to order take-out food or sign up for a Stevens Meal Plan Delivery service.  

Reva Grover, a sister of Phi Sigma Sigma said, “Personally, a main reason I chose to live in Greek Housing was the affordable meal plan and without it the housing option did not make sense financially.”

For students who were fortunate enough to find new housing for the fall semester, 85.7% said their new leases are more expensive than their previous situation. However, each student is experiencing something different — some are living at home while still paying rent, others are stuck in apartment leases they had already signed, some have not experienced any hardships, and some are now separated from their families who moved across the globe.

When questioned why Stevens decided to eliminate all SLH and Greek Housing even though both of those options are not on campus, Ballantyne responded, “The decision to close SLH and Stevens-owned fraternity and sorority houses was based on the University’s decision to only bring new freshmen, new transfers and new graduate students to campus.”