It is no secret that Asbury University’s student population has grown exponentially in the last year, with the 2023 incoming freshman class being the biggest in Asbury’s history. According to The Assistant Vice President of Student Life, Joe Bruner, the incoming freshman class next academic year will be even bigger than last year’s freshman, the Beloved class.
Due to the growth of the student body, the issue of occupancy was brought to the forefront of discussions amongst both students and staff. In the fall of 2023, Glide-Crawford (GC) made rapid last-minute attempts to get students out of the dorms to make room for the freshman, leading to the reinstitution of the Kenyon house.
Now, due to the imminent influx of freshmen the next academic year, Asbury needed to make some changes, which have left many students frustrated and even outraged.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, an email was sent to the Asbury student body that has changed many students’ plans for the 2024-2025 academic year. The email was sent out by the Resident Director of Aldersgate, Emily Leininger, informing students that no apartments in Aldersgate will be offered as single rooms and that no apartments would be available to male students.
The email alerting students of these housing changes was brief and stated that the decisions were made due to the occupancy issue. Many students have become frustrated with the lack of further explanation about the intentions and heart behind the decisions.
There has been particular frustration about these changes among Asbury students with disabilities and accessibility needs who need access to single rooms. Asbury senior Mackenzie McCormick, Accessibility Senator for the Student Governance Association, provided helpful insights into why some students are so upset.
“Accommodations are a need, not necessarily a want,” McCormick emphasized, “And if the buildings on campus that can provide those accommodations aren’t allowed to be used for those accommodations, then that creates a whole problem.”
McCormick discussed the individual nature of students’ disabilities and accessibility needs and how the Aldersgate apartments provide male and female students with an overall better living environment than the dorms.
From chronic illnesses to food allergies and beyond, McCormick says, “Living in Aldersgate with a disability is a huge advantage compared to living in the dorms.” According to McCormick, it is even more of an advantage, and even necessary, for some students with disabilities or accommodations to have single rooms within the apartments.
“A good portion of us have single-room accommodations for one reason or another. Many different reasons go into having a single-room accommodation, specifically for a disability or chronic illness,” stated McCormick, “You cannot reduce accessibility to make space.”
In light of the conversation with McCormick, it became apparent that there are many students with disabilities or accommodations who feel as if Asbury is discriminating against them with these new housing changes. Bruner, however, disagrees and provides insight into the intentions behind the changes.
“It has nothing to do with discrimination; they still have access to places with kitchens, single rooms, all those things,” says Bruner, “Aldersgate was never intended to have single rooms in it. All the spaces there are double occupancy and are relatively bigger than normal, so we have to run it as intended.”
The decision to make Aldersgate an all-female apartment complex with no single rooms was made specifically in light of the increased number of female students. According to Bruner, the ratio of men to women on campus is about 35% male to the overwhelming 65% women.
When asked what changes could be made to help fit more female students, McCormick brought up the utilization of the expansive triple rooms in the basement of GC, most of which currently sit void of students.
Bruner was able to confirm that along with the changes in Aldersgate, changes will be made in GC to help with these occupancy issues.
“Some of them [the triple rooms] are being used as doubles, but they are about to go to triples,” says Bruner. These triple rooms of GC will be open to students this coming academic year, but having them open is still not enough to justify keeping men and single rooms open in Aldersgate.
In light of the single-room issues McCormick brought up, Bruner explained how he has been working to provide single rooms for students who absolutely need them.
“The Glide-Front rooms, there are about twenty of them; in times of high occupancy, we typically turn those to doubles instead of singles,” says Bruner, “but I have advocated to keep those singles for our students who need them.”
Because of the male-to-female student ratios and the even larger incoming freshman class on the horizon, Asbury had to make these housing changes. These changes were not made on discriminative premises against either the male population of Aldersgate or students with accessibility needs. Mackenzie communicated, however, that these policies are discriminatory in practice because of the advantage Aldersgate presents to students with accessibility needs. This situation is not easily navigated, and many changes will need to happen on campus in order for all students to have the opportunity to have suitable living environments.
Bruner communicated that the Asbury Student Life team is doing the best they can in the present circumstances to provide a good environment for all students and are willing to work with students who have very specific needs. However, students with single room accessibility needs, and the current men of Aldersgate, will be faced with more challenges as they will have to enter different forms of housing next year.
Featured image by Rebecca Hedman.
Aldersgate changes
It is no secret that Asbury University’s student population has grown exponentially in the last year, with the 2023 incoming freshman class being the biggest in Asbury’s history. According to The Assistant Vice President of Student Life, Joe Bruner, the incoming freshman class next academic year will be even bigger than last year’s freshman, the Beloved class.
Due to the growth of the student body, the issue of occupancy was brought to the forefront of discussions amongst both students and staff. In the fall of 2023, Glide-Crawford (GC) made rapid last-minute attempts to get students out of the dorms to make room for the freshman, leading to the reinstitution of the Kenyon house.
Now, due to the imminent influx of freshmen the next academic year, Asbury needed to make some changes, which have left many students frustrated and even outraged.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, an email was sent to the Asbury student body that has changed many students’ plans for the 2024-2025 academic year. The email was sent out by the Resident Director of Aldersgate, Emily Leininger, informing students that no apartments in Aldersgate will be offered as single rooms and that no apartments would be available to male students.
The email alerting students of these housing changes was brief and stated that the decisions were made due to the occupancy issue. Many students have become frustrated with the lack of further explanation about the intentions and heart behind the decisions.
There has been particular frustration about these changes among Asbury students with disabilities and accessibility needs who need access to single rooms. Asbury senior Mackenzie McCormick, Accessibility Senator for the Student Governance Association, provided helpful insights into why some students are so upset.
“Accommodations are a need, not necessarily a want,” McCormick emphasized, “And if the buildings on campus that can provide those accommodations aren’t allowed to be used for those accommodations, then that creates a whole problem.”
McCormick discussed the individual nature of students’ disabilities and accessibility needs and how the Aldersgate apartments provide male and female students with an overall better living environment than the dorms.
From chronic illnesses to food allergies and beyond, McCormick says, “Living in Aldersgate with a disability is a huge advantage compared to living in the dorms.” According to McCormick, it is even more of an advantage, and even necessary, for some students with disabilities or accommodations to have single rooms within the apartments.
“A good portion of us have single-room accommodations for one reason or another. Many different reasons go into having a single-room accommodation, specifically for a disability or chronic illness,” stated McCormick, “You cannot reduce accessibility to make space.”
In light of the conversation with McCormick, it became apparent that there are many students with disabilities or accommodations who feel as if Asbury is discriminating against them with these new housing changes. Bruner, however, disagrees and provides insight into the intentions behind the changes.
“It has nothing to do with discrimination; they still have access to places with kitchens, single rooms, all those things,” says Bruner, “Aldersgate was never intended to have single rooms in it. All the spaces there are double occupancy and are relatively bigger than normal, so we have to run it as intended.”
The decision to make Aldersgate an all-female apartment complex with no single rooms was made specifically in light of the increased number of female students. According to Bruner, the ratio of men to women on campus is about 35% male to the overwhelming 65% women.
When asked what changes could be made to help fit more female students, McCormick brought up the utilization of the expansive triple rooms in the basement of GC, most of which currently sit void of students.
Bruner was able to confirm that along with the changes in Aldersgate, changes will be made in GC to help with these occupancy issues.
“Some of them [the triple rooms] are being used as doubles, but they are about to go to triples,” says Bruner. These triple rooms of GC will be open to students this coming academic year, but having them open is still not enough to justify keeping men and single rooms open in Aldersgate.
In light of the single-room issues McCormick brought up, Bruner explained how he has been working to provide single rooms for students who absolutely need them.
“The Glide-Front rooms, there are about twenty of them; in times of high occupancy, we typically turn those to doubles instead of singles,” says Bruner, “but I have advocated to keep those singles for our students who need them.”
Because of the male-to-female student ratios and the even larger incoming freshman class on the horizon, Asbury had to make these housing changes. These changes were not made on discriminative premises against either the male population of Aldersgate or students with accessibility needs. Mackenzie communicated, however, that these policies are discriminatory in practice because of the advantage Aldersgate presents to students with accessibility needs. This situation is not easily navigated, and many changes will need to happen on campus in order for all students to have the opportunity to have suitable living environments.
Bruner communicated that the Asbury Student Life team is doing the best they can in the present circumstances to provide a good environment for all students and are willing to work with students who have very specific needs. However, students with single room accessibility needs, and the current men of Aldersgate, will be faced with more challenges as they will have to enter different forms of housing next year.
Featured image by Rebecca Hedman.