Housing fix necessary

If there's a silver lining in the university's current housing crisis, it's that Santa Clara is further on its way to becoming a nationally recognized, prominent Jesuit university. The number and caliber of students applying is up, and the fact that more and more people are choosing Santa Clara makes all of our degrees more valuable.

But the current situation where returning students are being turned away from any of their top choices for housing, and incoming freshmen are facing the prospect of triple rooms in numerous residence halls, is irresponsible and unacceptable.

The university cannot commit to increasingly growing class sizes without the resources and facilities to support them.

Returning students have a right to a say in where they live and should not be limited based on unsustainable class sizes or an ineffective Residential Learning Community program.

The university must realize that, while it may be valuable as a marketing ploy, the RLC system, as of yet, has had very little effect on community on this campus.

Students who live in dorms build community, yes; but that community is based on living in the same space and sharing experiences, not necessarily on similar interests and taking the same classes.

Limiting students' choices based on RLCs is far more of an inconvenience than it is a community builder. Returning students should have the option of applying directly to the building they want to live in and should not have to be constrained by RLCs.

Outside of housing, these growing class sizes will have other ramifications, as well. Large or unavailable classes and growing lines in university dining services will all also have a negative affect on students.

We can all be proud of the strides that Santa Clara is making in terms of being a nationally recognized university. But until administrators realize that we cannot realistically and successfully hold a bigger student body until we have the resources to support them, the experience of all students will suffer.