Conflict has risen between Housing and Residence Life and the 
residents of Wheatshocker Apartments at Wichita State. Starting this fall, all apartments at Wheatshocker will be furnished by WSU.

This policy change is frustrating many residents.
 Esther Cao has lived in Wheatshocker Apartments for the last year and always requested an unfurnished apartment. Her main concern is potential increased cost for a furnished apartment. There will not be an increase for those who have an unfurnished apartment contract.

Cao says when she learned about the policy change two weeks ago by e-mail, she wanted to take action. By teaming up with other students in Wheatshocker, she surveyed 49 people about the change from some furnished/some unfurnished to all furnished apartments. Forty-eight of the 49 oppose the change.

“This has been a tough situation, but we’re excited about this positive change that we are making at Wheatshocker,” said Katie Austin, associate director for residence life.

Housing and Residence Life recognizes that residents are unhappy and held a series of meetings at Wheatshocker last week. These meetings were organized to allow residents to ask questions and give their concerns before the furniture started being moved.

“We do understand the concerns this has raised but we are hoping to just continue working at making all of the students’ resident life experiences as enjoyable as possible,” Austin said.

Not all residents are convinced they will be comfortable with the new arrangements.

“I’m upset that I might be sleeping on an uncomfortable, used, old mattress from Fairmount (rumored), and I’m a 6-foot-2 man who is too tall to sleep on that bed comfortably,” Wheatshocker resident Justin Hall said.

Hall was one who immediately questioned the change to all furnished apartments. On July 2, he received an e-mail from Housing and Residence Life stating, “You have been assigned to Wheatshocker Apartments (WS). New to Wheatshocker this fall is the furnishing of all apartments with beds, dressers, desks, and a desk chair. With this change, upholstered ‘stuffed’ furniture such as sofas, chairs including large beanbags, and bed/futon mattresses are not permitted.” Hard furniture such as tables and night stands are still permitted.

Hall, a three-year Wheatshocker resident, had some furniture of his own and requested to keep it in his apartment this fall. His request was denied.

Hall also questioned the timing of the communication with residents, as he understood the last date to cancel a housing contract was July 1, the day before he received notification of the policy change.

“I was frustrated at the time frame this was communicated to us, the nature of the new rules, and putting forth new rules that affect a large student population without first polling this student population for input and thoughts,” he said.

Housing and Residence Life sympathizes with the residents being inconvenienced by the decision to furnish formerly unfurnished apartments.

“We understand the students’ frustration with this situation and we know the timing of this decision is less than ideal,” Austin said.

A letter dated June 27 sent by Housing and Residence Life provided reasons about why the decision was made to furnish all the apartments.

“The decision to provide furniture in all units was made for the following reasons:

-Furnished units diminish initial and reoccurring incidents of pests, including bed bugs.

-The lifecycle of University-owned furniture is increased by reducing movement of these items.

-Eliminating furniture movement decreases wear and tear on the facilities.”

Included in the letter was confirmation the furniture would be moved from Fairmount North and South to Wheatshocker and notification that the deadline for canceling housing contracts would be extended to July 15.

Also in the letter was the request for removal of all personal furniture from Wheatshocker by July 28. If a resident fails to do so, they will face disciplinary action.

This worries Cao. She recently purchased furniture for her new apartment, and does not know what to do with it. She says she was asked to throw it away, give it away or put it in storage.

Housing and Residence Life has posted information in Wheatshocker about storage places for furniture to help residents with this situation.

Another concern is how residents will furnish the living room area that is part of some apartments’ floor plans. Housing said they are exploring sitting room furniture options and will notify residents as soon as they have information to share.

Cao and Hall have made it their mission to make sure the information gets to all Wheatshocker residents. Both have spoken with other residents about the changes.

“When I was meeting with the students door-to-door in Wheatshocker, a lot of people expressed they were moving out either because of the new rule, or said they were already planning on it, but the new rule was a large factor in their decision,” Hall said. “Students should have the right to come home to their room, with their furniture.”