While most Ohio University students go home for their first and only break of Spring Semester, some students will choose to remain on campus during Spring Break.
Jneanne Hacker, director of business and conference services, said the university administered a survey asking students if they planned to stay on campus.
“Approximately 140 students self-reported that they would be staying on campus either a portion of or the entire spring break,” Hacker said in an email.
This information will help Housing and Residence Life with its staffing plans and help them plan for any programming and activities that will be offered during the break, Hacker said in a news release.
There will not be a fee charged to those who have decided to stay on campus, but they will be asked to register with Housing and Residence Life.
There has been a change in the way OU’s Department of Housing and Residence Life will allow students to remain on campus, according to the news release. Any student who is staying on campus can remain in their current residence hall.
Sarah Rieman, a sophomore studying child and family studies, said allowing students to stay in their own rooms over Spring Break is convenient.
“Students can come and go when they please,” she said. “The only bad thing will be if dining halls are not open, students will have to spend money on food Uptown.”
Hacker said Housing and Residence Life has been watching the need for on-campus housing during Spring Break since the university converted from quarters to semesters in 2012 and there has been an increase in students who want to stay on campus during Spring Break.
Last academic year, students were required to stay in Fenzel House, Sargent, Wilson, Luchs, Tanaka, Sowle and Carr halls, and students who lived in one of those halls were allowed to stay in their own rooms. About 200 students stayed on campus during break for the 2015-16 academic year.
“We collectively as a department determined that it was in the best interest of our students and department to keep the residence halls open over Spring Break,” Hacker said in an email.
Ali Overmyer, a sophomore studying accounting, is not staying on campus for the break, but she found last year’s rule for staying on campus strange.
“It is kind of weird you don’t get to stay in your own room,” she said. “You would have to pack up your things to stay in another room on campus.”
Overmyer will be visiting her sister in Washington D.C. over Spring Break.
“We’re looking forward to having our halls open during Spring Break,” Hacker said. “There’s a certain level of energy when the students are here on campus, and we feel that having the residence halls open during break will provide the best overall experience for those students who don’t have an opportunity to leave campus or go home.”
