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Morgan Students Angered by Housing Snafu

By Kristin Gray
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Morgan View Apartments Promotional material touts the comfort at Morgan View Apartments, but the complex became ovecrowded after Morgan State University ran out of housing space.

Like Morgan State University students of past years, members of the class of 2010 paid their money to the university, many of them owing thousands of dollars.

Their cars were packed tightly with clothes, kitchenware and school supplies. Many parents hugged and kissed their children goodbye with the thought that their lives in college had officially begun.

Yet several days before the first day of classes on Aug. 28, hundreds of students converged on Morgan State only to find that they were virtually homeless. More students arrived at the school than the university had expected.

"I was told that I was going to live on campus and got a call asking if I would live in Morgan View," off-campus apartments that chiefly housed sophomores, juniors and seniors, said Will Maldanado, a senior English major.

"My brother and I came here on Friday and were told, 'go home' after waiting for about 12 hours because they shut the leasing office down."

The class of 2010 was one of Morgan's largest incoming classes. According to President Earl Richardson, nearly 13,000 students applied for the 2006-2007 academic year and only 2,000 were accepted. Many of the 2,000 indicated their need for housing.

However, the number requiring housing exceeded the number of dorm rooms available. Still, Morgan accepted these students.

"We were told that because the number of people that said they were going to come last year and backed out was so high, enrollment was down tremendously," said Alicia Joynes, 21, Student Government Association president. "So many people applied, but the school didn't believe that they were going to come. But they did come."

More than 100 students were directed to nearby Morgan View Apartments, where the scene quickly became a chaotic battle of wills.

Morgan State police officers patrolled the halls of Morgan View's main office center, fearful of a possible riot. Tired and angry parents demanded housing for their children, while Morgan View administrators appeared swamped by the number of people entering their limited office space.

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Morgan spokesman Clinton Coleman said about 130 students were without housing on the first day of class. "It was insane," said Morgan View bookkeeper Carroll Ridgeley. "We worked for months to get things in order, only for things to fall apart. We gave up our free time, but it was unavoidable what happened." Ridgeley said she was shocked by the disarray and unfolding pandemonium at Morgan View, and even more appalled by the behavior of some parents.

"I was in the parking lot and I heard parents cursing their children out for not being rude and not having their situations straightened out before hand," she said.

Maldanado, one of the students waiting for hours in and around the Morgan View facilities, said, "At noon on Sunday, I still didn't have a room. I got one around 9:30 p.m, but the room that they gave me already had someone living in it. I finally got a room around 10 p.m."

After several weeks of housing students at a nearby Ramada Inn, Morgan View distributed blue fliers offering female residents who allowed another student to move into their living rooms a $50 discount off one month's rent. The fliers promised bedding for the visitors.

Some Morgan View residents were insulted by the offer and declined it. "I've lived in Morgan View for three years now," said Kene Thompson, 21, an accounting major. "This is by far the most outrageous thing I've ever heard of." The monthly rent at Morgan View is $520. In addition, the small, confined apartments comfortably house four students with little room for visitors and friends.

Many returning students were given significantly younger roommates who are unaccustomed to the mores and behaviors of college life.

"I personally feel that all freshmen should have the opportunity to live on campus and interact with their peers," said Genera Wright, a senior and Morgan View resident. "I don't know if the transition, per se, is a good transition for them, especially for someone who has never been away from home."

All students are now living comfortably, insisted Dana Roberts, Morgan View's assistant general manager.

"All of our students have housing," said Roberts. "No one is homeless."

Kristin Gray, a Morgan State University student, writes for the Spokesman.

Posted Oct. 2, 2006