In the middle of March, residents of dorm 13 were announced to leave their rooms by Apr. 30 since the remodeling period has been set from May. 1 to Aug. 15. The residents of the dormitory, mostly graduate students, were furious with this one-sided announcement that has not taken any of the students’ opinion. The main points of the argument were from having to move in the middle of a semester and not being able to live with their roommates. It has been a widely known fact among the residents that dorm 13 will soon be remodeled. They just did not know when and it turned out to be a big surprise when they found out it would start in May.
To find out why the schedule was set as such, The Postech Times held an interview with the Director of Housing Affairs. Before moving on to specific questions, the Housing Affairs team has sincerely apologized for the inconveniences from the remodeling plan. However, there were plausible reasons behind the actions.
First, the Housing Affairs thought both moving in the summer/winter vacation and spring/autumn sessions would cause the same amount of trouble for graduate students, since they are always busy. This was the biggest reason on making the decision of informing residents to move out during the semester; they did not think this was a big deal. However, graduate students did not feel the same way. It is true that they are always busy throughout the year, but they are even busier during spring/autumn sessions because they are signed up for more courses.
Second, dorm 13 was not scheduled to be remodeled this year. The budget for remodeling is settled on February. The Housing Affairs requested a budget for remodeling three dormitories: dorm 9, dorm 13, female dorm 2. However, on February, when the budgets were settled, there was only enough money to remodel two dorms. Since dorm 9 and female dorm 2 were first and second on the priority list respectively, dorm 13’s remodeling was not included in the schedule. Astonishingly, or rather miraculously, the budget for dorm 13 remodeling was secured, leaving the residents of dorm 13 with no choice but to leave their dorms suddenly.
Third, even with the budget, the Housing Affairs were left with another choice: when to start the work. Usually, the remodeling of dormitories for graduates begin in the fall semester. Unprecedentedly, the remodeling of dorm 13 was set to begin in May. One of the reasons is mentioned above, from the thought that graduate students are always overloaded. Another reason is that the term is shortened if the construction began on May. The shorter the period is, the cheaper the cost gets. Also, the Housing Affairs team was looking forward to finishing the remodeling during summer break and providing a refurnished dorm to the students at the beginning of the next semester.
Starting dorm 13’s remodeling in the middle of a semester turns out to be inevitable. There are lots of factors to count. However, the residents feel the Housing Affairs have not taken the most important into account: the thoughts of the students themselves. The next remodeling scheduled are dorms 15 and 16. Students are hoping such consequences do not happen again.