Kitty Beaver's Blurty

Hampshire College Temporary Hotel Housing, Fall 2006

Where will students in temporary hotel housing be living?

Hampshire College has reserved 30 rooms at the Howard Johnson Hotel, 401 Russell Street, Hadley, MA 01035. The hotel is approximately 4 ½ miles from the Hampshire campus. Regularly scheduled transportation (busses and/or shuttles) will be provided for students temporarily housed at the Howard Johnson to the Hampshire campus. Hampshire students will be housed together in the hotel, along with two professional Residential Life staff. House staff will continue their presence at the hotel as long as students are assigned there.

We are housing two students in each room, which features two beds and a private bath. Standard hotel furniture will be supplemented with an extra desk, bureau and bookcases. All rooms are air-conditioned. There also is an outdoor pool open until October 1st and the fitness room will be available for students living in the hotel. Laundry facilities are available at the hotel.

What about meals for students living at the hotel?

Students assigned to rooms at the Howard Johnson will be provided a meal plan, compliments of the college, at the Hampshire College dining commons for the fall semester. Microfridges and microwaves are allowed at the Howard Johnson, as long as they are inspected first by the hotel’s engineering staff to ensure they meet fire safety requirements.

How was it decided which students would be assigned housing at the Howard Johnson?

We know that new students are more successful and make a better transition to college when they have established strong relationships with other students early in their time at college. It is for this reason that social groups form the core of Hampshire’s Orientation program. By housing all new student members of two Orientation groups at the Howard Johnson, we will build on those students’ relationships with each other and their social connections. The orientation groups will spend their pre-college orientation time on campus and will have ample opportunity to get to know Hampshire’s grounds, facilities, classrooms and dining areas well.

In the past, temporary housing in lounges was assigned to those students who were the last to pay their admission deposits. However, in the case of temporarily housing students in the hotel, our priority has been to support social connections. Consequently, the groups at Howard Johnson are not based strictly on the date of the receipt of the admission deposit.

How long will students remain in temporary hotel housing?

Moving students out of the hotel as soon as rooms become available on-campus is our top priority. The Housing Director will work closely with hotel residents to place them in available permanent assignments that will best meet their needs. Even now, before the academic year has begun, we know that some students assigned to the Howard Johnson in August will be moved to permanent assignments before their arrival on August 31st as we continue to receive word of student cancellations. We expect to move many more students within the first 2-3 weeks of the semester. By mid-October we hope the majority of our hotel residents will be living in permanent assignments on campus, though it is possible that some students may spend the whole semester at the Howard Johnson. We anticipate that all hotel residents will be in permanent assignments by the beginning of the spring semester.