The Living Learning Complex will begin housing only freshmen this fall instead of upper-class honors students, as it has done in the past, and some residents disagree with Residence Life’s decision to make this change.
Former LLC residents said Residence Life has made catering to freshmen their priority by not allowing the upper-class honors students to stay at the LLC for their remaining time at the University of Memphis.
"I was in the LLC for three years," said Ed Witherspoon, a 21-year-old accounting major and former LLC resident, "and then they just decide, 'Hey, you can't live here anymore because these freshmen are more important.'"
Because the LLC has been reserved for freshmen for the fall, honors students no longer have a designated residence hall on campus.
"I think that the freshmen should be able to get that experience, but it shouldn't come at the cost of removing everybody who was already in those dorms,” Witherspoon said. “To me, it sounds like a cash-grab to get more money from the upperclassmen because in Carpenter, I had to cut my meal plan drastically, and it's still more expensive than a single room (in the LLC).”
Darrell Ray, the vice president for Student Affairs, said the goal of this change is to give more freshmen a better living-on-campus experience.
"We see more students who want the on-campus experience, which is a good thing because it allows us to do additional touch, outreach and support for students that they wouldn't get if they were living off campus," Ray said.
Ray also said that upperclassmen populated a quarter of the LLC last year and that students wanting to return there may go through the room changing process when the fall semester begins if space is available.
"There were only about 130 students that were non-freshmen that lived in LLC last year, so it's not like the building was predominantly upperclassmen," Ray said.
According to Ray, an increase in demand for first-year student housing occurred last year, causing many freshmen who applied to live on campus to be assigned to Carpenter Complex apartments. Residence Life is trying to avert that by converting the LLC into an all-freshman dorm.
"As we are seeing more and more first-year students being attracted to the University of Memphis, we are attempting to make sure we can house as many of those students who want the on-campus experience as possible," Ray said.
Aside from their goal of housing as many freshmen in on-campus dorms as possible, Residence Life administrator Peggy Ball said they are trying to transition upperclassmen to independence by encouraging them to live in the apartment-style dorms, such as Park Avenue and Carpenter Complex.
However, Eli Womack, another former LLC resident and 21-year-old mechanical engineering major, will be commuting from home during the fall due to the changes.
"The apartments, and even the apartments around campus, are more expensive than dorm life, and it's unfair to expect independent students to pay more to live closer to campus than it would be for freshmen,” said Womack.
