Hefley residents shouldn't have to move

The $18 million Phoenix Project could improve the look and the comfort of dormitories in the coming years at Ole Miss. With improved dorms, one of Ole Miss' current biggest drawbacks could becoming a selling point. Yet for all progress, there is a price. Just ask the residents of Hefley Hall.

Hefley residents are being pushed out of their dorm, transferred into other residence halls and the previously vacant Zeta Tau Alpha house on Sorority Row as the University prepares to close Hefley for renovations in Phase One of the Phoenix Project.

Students who moved in just one month ago are being told it is time to move on and are being packed off to new dorms with new roommates. Freshmen Hefley residents still trying to adjust to the college atmosphere have been given one more worry in their first month of school.

Hefley was originally intended to be closed this fall, but with increased enrollment and a record number of freshman living on campus, the university ran out of space and reopened the dorm for a handful of incoming students.

The university owes it to these students to let them have the choice to stay there.

Hefley students should not have to balance the burden of switching dorms while in the midst of studying for tests and participating in campus activities. At this point in the school year, housing should be a comfort, not a concern.

The ramifications of the Hefley exodus are not just limited to Hefley residents. The Phoenix Project begins in February, but residents are being cleared out in September. Why should Housing force them out now, four and a half months before the project is slated to begin?

Housing should allow remaining Hefley residents the choice to move out or stay in the dorm until the end of the fall semester. This way, residents unhappy with the poor condition of the dorm can move out, while residents who don't want the burden of moving out of the dorms while class is in full swing can remain.

Allowing Hefley residents to remain until the fall semester ends would be much more convenient for students and would take away the burden of worrying about housing. Students could then move into new dorms after the holiday break. This is not unusual, as some universities require students to move out of their dorms each semester. Allow Hefley residents the choice to move after the semester, not during.