Director of ResLife Fran Koerting and Associate Director of Physical Plant Facilities Management Jeff Miller detailed housing changes and policies for next year at the WSA meeting on Sunday night.

At the forefront of the discussion were item and cost details on the plan to furnish senior woodframe houses next year. According to Miller, the common rooms will be provided with a three-seat sofa, a lounge chair, a coffee table, and an end table. Kitchens will be provided with a table and chairs, and bedrooms will likely contain beds, dressers, and desks.

“Overwhelmingly seniors said yes to furnishing houses,” Koerting said.

In order to pay for the furniture, there will be a $100 cost increase for woodframe residents next year. The remainder of the cost will come from an increase to the base housing rate for students from all four years, which, unlike the extra $100, will be covered by financial aid. The exact details on the fees will be finalized at a URLC (Undergraduate Residential Life Committee) meeting today.

Koerting and Miller explained that most students preferred to have beds provided by the University. The wording of the survey, however, was called into question by several members of the WSA, who pointed out that the type of bed and storage cost for an unwanted bed were not specified on the survey. According to Miller and Koerting, the beds will be standard twin-size beds like those found in already-furnished University housing, and the expected cost to store an unwanted University bed for the semester will be approximately $175.

“You always have the option of doing something within the house that won’t cost anything, [such as] putting two single beds together,” Koerting said.

“Putting it in the basement won’t be an option,” Miller said. “If you put something wood or fabric in the basement, it will get moldy and unusable for the next year.”

Anda Greeney ’07 suggested the possibility of storing unwanted beds in the attics of woodframe houses, where mold is not an issue.

“Not every woodframe has an attic,” Miller said. “[But] I think it’s something that can be considered.”

Koerting was less optimistic about the idea of attic storage, noting that it would not be fair to students living in woodframes without attics, which was similar to the reason for providing twin-size beds, rather than larger beds.

“Some bedrooms are too small to put double beds in,” Koerting said. “If we couldn’t do it for all, we couldn’t do it for some.”

According to Miller, furniture will be ordered within the next three weeks. Miller added that providing furniture for senior houses means that the University will guarantee the furniture and will have to replace an item in the unlikely event that it is stolen over the summer.

“Institutionalized furniture [is] not the type of furniture people want to steal for their houses,” Miller said, pointing out that the furniture would also be harder to steal because it would be spread throughout the house rather than stored in one common room.

Koerting and Miller also pointed out that woodframe houses are being improved, and completely phasing them out is not a goal. Making them more energy efficient, however, is a priority. Fifteen houses received new windows, insulation, and thermostats over the summer, and 11 are on schedule for complete renovations this summer.

One student concern about housing is the cost of various fines, many of which will increase next year, and other unchanged fines, such as $500 for entering a woodframe basement or attic, that many students view as excessive.

Koerting stressed that ResLife isn’t trying to make money off students.

“The fines are composed of three factors: the cost of the repair, the administrative cost, and a deterrent factor,” Koerting said after the meeting. “The deterrent is important because most of the infractions jeopardize the safety and security of other residents, and we need to make the fine prohibitive enough that students don’t take that risk.”

During the meeting, Koerting and Miller specifically pointed out that cleaning up for students at the end of the year is expensive, and fines can easily be avoided if students simply clean up after themselves before moving out of their residences.

Koerting also discussed the new pet policy, explaining that most Universities do not allow any pets at all.

“I’m very concerned about health risks over the next three years,” Koerting said. “Some pets eat [crickets or rats] and cause disease. [They also] might be washed in the bathroom sink, which means [the pet] is not just in that student’s room.”

She also explained why the grandfather clause, allowing students who already have pets to keep them for the duration of their time at Wesleyan if a better home is not found, was added.

“I don’t put a lot of stock in a petition signed by students without all the facts,” Koerting said. “It wasn’t your petition, it was your representatives who [helped institute the grandfather clause for pets].”

The final issue Koerting and Miller discussed was graffiti, which they say many students are using to replace chalking.

“Graffiti [is] such a waste of time and money,” Miller said. “It’s very expensive to clean.”

In response, some members of the WSA brought up the idea of having designated graffiti areas or walls on campus in the future.