Kathryn Walters |
Last Monday, ASUP senate passed its first resolution of the semester – Resolution 14-01 – which asks the administration to keep the International House’s current place on campus in Haggerty & Tyson residence halls.
The resolution is a response to the Office of Residence Life’s new approach to theme housing at UP. The current Faith and Leadership and International Houses are being reorganized into new faith and formation ambassador and global ambassador leadership positions within each residence hall starting next year, meaning that the current format of theme housing in Haggerty & Tyson will be discontinued.
ASUP took up this issue after junior Kim Turner, a current resident of the International House, approached ASUP with her and her peers’ concerns about the fate of the International House.
“There was a lot of frustration in there and students felt their voice had been cut out from the whole process,” said junior senator Josh Cleary, a sponsor of the resolution. “We wanted to make a formal statement toward the administration noting the students’ concerns and their feelings toward being cut out of the process altogether of determining a program that they’re a part of.”
Students in the International House were not informed of this decision until late January, which left many of them unsure of where they would live next year. Although Residence Life offered the International House students two University-owned off campus houses, many of the current International House students decided to independently apply for housing in Haggerty & Tyson because they preferred to remain on campus.
Sophomore senator Temo Ledua, a sponsor of Resolution 14-01 and an international student, feels having an on-campus International House is an important resource for international students to unwind and cope with cultural differences.
“At the end of the day, we could come to the house and talk about the differences we see with our culture, and the American culture we see through how people interact,” Ledua said. “And just talk to each other about the differences we encounter and how our culture is compared to other students’ cultures.”
Freshman Katherine Miller, a Corrado Hall senator who opposed the resolution, said she voted based on what her constituents in Corrado thought about the situation, but she also thinks that Residence Life’s new hall ambassador approach is a good way to promote diversity on campus.
“I think a bigger goal should be increasing diversity throughout the entire campus and also getting those leadership positions back into the dorms,” Miller said.
The close timing of this resolution in relation to Haggerty & Tyson’s housing selection yesterday also prevented sophomore senator Mariah Wildgen from supporting the resolution. She said while she sympathizes with the International House students and agrees with other senators that they were not given enough warning in the housing process, she doesn’t want the International House to displace other students who want to live in Haggerty & Tyson.
“It seemed really rushed with the housing process,” Wildgen said. “And that’s also a reason why I was against that, because with everyone signing up for housing now, those (other) students would be displaced for something they didn’t have control over too.”
Turner appreciates ASUP’s effort to stand up for the International House, but is unsure of what the outcome will be.
“For now, I’m glad it passed and that it shows that people care about the international house and that it’s important to students,” Turner said.
Next Monday, ASUP President Quin Chadwick will present Resolution 14-01 to University President Fr. Bill Beauchamp, who will either approve or deny it.
