A small portion of ASU students from the Downtown campus are being put up in the nearby Westin hotel because the campus residence hall was overbooked.
On Saturday, 31 freshmen were moved into the upscale hotel about a quarter mile from the campus, where they will live until space in the dorm becomes available, spokesman Marshall Terrill said.
“When housing assignments were first released, we had about 150 students scheduled to live in the Westin, but we’ve since been able to move most of them in and we’re confident we’ll be able to move them all in within the next two weeks,” he said.
This is not the first time a University residence hall has been overbooked, but Taylor Place has not been overbooked since it opened in fall of 2008, Terrill said.
Trends show that space will be made available as students decide not to move in to Taylor Place or attend ASU, Terrill said.
“Historically, we see 3 to 4 percent attrition," Terrill said. "Students who have rooms in Taylor Place either decide not to come to ASU, choose to transfer to another campus, or got accepted to another college and chose to go there, so there’s a multitude of reasons as to how space will come open.”
All first-time freshmen are expected to live in the dorm unless they receive an exemption, Terrill said.
“ASU has a policy that every freshman is required to live on campus and is guaranteed housing," he said. "That’s not something we’re looking into changing."
The overbooked students are living on two floors in the Westin with rotating Taylor Place community assistants.
These temporary student rooms include two queen beds compared to Taylor Place's twin beds. They also have a large bathroom with a bathtub, while Taylor Place only has small showers in their bathrooms.
Tania Mendes, assistant to the Downtown campus dean of students, said each floor had its initial floor meeting after move-in and walked over to Taylor Place together for freshman events.
“We want to make sure that these kids aren’t missing out on the community experience of living in Taylor Place,” Mendes said.
Health policy freshman Jasmine Diaz checks in with ASU officials at the Westin hotel. Taylor Place was overbooked and the Westin Hotel is renting rooms to students. (Photo by Arianna Grainey)
Journalism freshman Logan Newman, one of the overbooked students, said he was concerned about isolation from other freshman.
"I thought it was cool that it’s in a hotel, but I thought that I’d be isolated from people in the dorms," he said. "It’s not far from campus, and we’ve already gone over there for meetings and events.”
Kinesiology freshman Davon Martin, who lives in Taylor Place, said he would have mixed feelings if he lived in the Westin.
“I’d be happy, because it’s a five-star hotel, but I feel I’d be missing out on the college experience, because I wouldn’t be immersed in the residential hall life,” Martin said.
Terrill said the University is covering any additional costs for these students, and the overbooked students do not have to pay extra to stay at the Westin.
“We can’t just build another tower for an overflow of 50 students," he said. "It’s just a lot more economical to place them in the Westin and place them back as space becomes available."
As the Downtown campus continues to grow, ASU may have to build new dorms, Terrill said. The Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law is expected to move to the campus by 2016.
"If this is a continuing pattern, we may eye an expansion, either on what we have or possibly a new location," Terrill said. "The one thing I should point out is that the people on the waiting list are people who applied for housing later than most."
Reach the reporter at stheodor@asu.edu or on Twitter @shane_writes
