Miami University's new sophomore living requirement has left many students unsure of where they will be living during the 2009-10 school year. The department of housing, dining and guest services has told students without housing they will be unable to notify them until mid-July on whether they have room for them in university housing. The department of housing has confidence the university will find room for all sophomores during the summer through openings by transfers or incoming first-years who decide to go elsewhere.

The editorial board of The Miami Student believes the university should have made absolutely certain it had room for all sophomores to live on-campus before implementing a sophomore living requirement. The board acknowledges such discussions were likely part of the decision-making process to implement the program, but the recent problems could indicate a shortfall in planning or a mistake in calculations. This board understands the desire to have second-year students live on campus to enhance the sophomore experience, but they should not have rushed into this requirement when another residence hall was not ready to house students.

It is unfair to force students to wait until mid-summer to know if they need to make other living arrangements. If they are not given a room, it forces students to find an apartment, furniture and all the other necessities one must purchase when first living off campus. The money they were planning to spend on a residence hall may not be comparable to what they have to pay off campus. Sophomores were planning to live on campus and by mid-July, many of the off-campus living spaces available are not in as close proximity to campus as a residence hall.

There are currently 900 juniors and seniors who have already signed contracts to live on campus, and they have been guaranteed housing. Miami knew they were forcing sophomores to live on campus, and they should have done the calculations of how many rooms they needed earlier, capping the number of upperclassmen who could live on campus at a lower number.

Many students are frustrated by the lack of transparent communication between the university and students. The department of housing said it expected there to be a waiting period because of the requirement. Sophomores should have been told this was a possibility earlier in the year, and the university should have done everything possible to explain to sophomores how it would take time to work the kinks out of this new requirement. It is unfair that sophomores are left guessing and unsure about where they will be calling home when classes resume in August.